Ottawa’s next city council will have more women than men, a historic election result that’s drawing happy reaction from politicians and beyond.
Thirteen councillors will be women, compared to 11 councillors and the mayor being men. It’s the first time since the 2001 amalgamation this has happened.
In municipal elections between 2006 and 2022, between four and nine women were voted in.
Three new faces in Monday’s election swung the numbers: Chelsea Walton in Stittsville, Joanne Chianello in Kitchissippi and Erin Coffin in Kanata South. Each takes a seat held by a man last term.
“I do think it’s important that our city council reflects the community that it actually represents,” Chianello told CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning, referring to demographics showing there are more women than men in Ottawa.
Walton told Ottawa Morning she encountered a few sexist comments during the campaign, like people asking her how she could manage her job as councillor if she has children at home.
“I think that we need [a] diverse range of voices around the council table and I’m thrilled to have so many women sitting there,” Walton said.
Returning Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr said the women of the previous council were overworked due to having to meet gender parity on committees.
“I think it’s an amazing development,” she said of Monday’s preliminary results.
The executive director of Equal Voice, a national organization that advocates for gender parity and diversity, said the results excite her.
Laurel Gillespie also pointed to how Canada ranks 72nd out of 183 countries in a recent ranking of the number of women in national legislatures. It was 28th in 2000.
Parties need quotas to get more women in Parliament, advocate says
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for Ottawa [to set] the tone as the nation’s capital for other cities to follow and to encourage other women that when you feel a calling, to get involved in municipal, provincial or federal politics,” Gillespie said.
“The goal is not simply just to elect more women in one election cycle, but to build sustainable pathways for leadership for generations to come.”
She and Kanata South’s Coffin said more needs to be done to get women from all backgrounds to run. Council fell short of the eight or nine racialized members it would take to reflect the city’s demographics, for example.
“Would I like to see some more diversity? Absolutely. But we’ll start with more women and then we’ll build from there and encourage and grow,” Coffin said.
