Windsor has 1 female city councillor. Here's why some say more women need a seat

Even though 13 women ran for a seat on Windsor's city council this year, only one was elected — an outcome some women say isn't good enough. 

In 2003, the City of Windsor had three female councillors. But, since then, female representation on city council has dwindled, with two women on council between 2006 and 2018. For the last four years, Ward 6 Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac has been the only woman. 

Gignac did not respond to a request for comment. 

"I think the way the world is going, we're seeing more female representation, so it's a little bit upsetting to see Windsor sort of going backwards on that," said Iman Berry, a political science major who has lived in LaSalle and Windsor.

She said women make up roughly 50 per cent of Windsor's population and to know that half of the region's needs might be unmet is not a "bright outlook." 

According to the Canadian Women's Foundation, several barriers keep women from leadership roles, including stereotypes and bias about a woman's leadership abilities, systemic sexism and discrimination, fewer opportunities to network, domestic duties and lack of accessible and affordable child care. 

Essex County had a different outcome than Windsor. Four women were elected as mayors and 14 as councillors. 

In an interview with CBC Radio's Windsor Morning, Essex mayor-elect Sherry Bondy said that during her campaign, she faced "quite a bit of sexism and derogatory comments." 

"Women, I believe, are picked on a little bit more when they run, you know strong women are scary to some and we need to break those barriers so women feel comfortable running and some of them have seen what some of us go through so they're like, 'Yeah we're not doing that,'" said Bondy.

She said she's hopeful women will be inspired and more comfortable to run following this election. 

'No one like me on council'

One of the unsuccessful female candidates this election campaign was Gemma Grey-Hall, who was running for Ward 8. Grey-Hall has campaigned in two other political elections — Windsor's last municipal vote in 2018 and the provincial election earlier this year. 

"We have several committees and boards within the city. I think it's really important for those particular organizations to ask themselves as they look across that board table, where's the diversity? If they're not seeing it, where's the female representatives, and asking themselves what they're doing to encourage that," she said. 

Hannah Ruuth, who sat on Tecumseh's Youth Advisory Council, said involving women in other leadership roles across the city will help them also get on council. 

"These [roles] are viewed as traditionally pathway positions to city council or other elected representatives in the area and if we don't have that representation, I'm worried that the city won't make progress." 

It's important to have women and other diverse groups at the table because they bring different lived experiences that could inform the issues a municipality prioritizes or the decisions it makes, both Grey-Hall and Berry said. 

"One of the main issues is that there is no one like me on council ... who are making those decisions from my lens ...  if there's nobody that has been in my shoes I don't think that they'd best be able to make decisions for someone like me and there's so many others like me out there," said Berry. 

Child care, family-friendly public spaces, safety, transit, health and creating space for female entrepreneurs were issues the advocates said might make take more priority if there were more women on council.

Leadership opportunities, programs needed

Berry said making the political space less daunting, having people encourage and support women to run, and having the city invest in programming for youth, women and diverse groups might help train and grow people as leaders. 

Meanwhile, Ruuth suggested that as a longer-term strategy, the city or an organization could take a "cradle-to-career approach." 

"Working with young girls to increase their confidence is a great step ... and then as women get older, providing them with leadership opportunities," she said. 

Ruuth added the city could also do a case study on other municipalities with female councillors and look at the ways in which they were supported.