Outgoing Ward 5 Coun. Joni Baechler Will Be Joined by Other Former and Current Female

Outgoing Ward 5 Coun. Joni Baechler will be joined by other former and current female politicians in running a workshop to encourage London women to run in the upcoming municipal election.

By Carl Hnatyshyn, Special to QMI Agency

London Free Press

Jan 21, 2014 8:54:22 EST PM

http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/21/outgoing-ward-5-coun-joni-baechler-will-be-joined-by-other-former-and-current-female-politicians-in-running-a-workshop-to-encourage-london-women-to-run-in-the-upcoming-municipal-election

Retrieved Jan 22, 7:30 pm

THE ISSUE

With three of its five city councillors bailing out in this election year, London — whose longest-serving mayor was a woman — risks a widened gender gap at city hall. One-third of London’s local politicians are women. That’s in sharp contrast to Ottawa and Queen’s Park, where London is equally represented by men and women.

“You can’t strive to be what you can’t see,” says departing council veteran Coun. Joni Baechler. “Young women don’t see women in positions of political power, so they can’t envision themselves in those roles.”

ONE SOLUTION

Taking a page from the Big Three political parties, Baechler and former city controller Gina Barber and others are organizing a civic candidate training school, expected in March, for women. A new move in local politics, the idea is to get more women interested in running and give them an overview of what to expect if they do.

Other Canadian cities have gone that route, with Western University political scientist Martin Horak saying civic politics is the “most accessible” for women.

HOW IT WILL WORK

Baechler, Barber and others in the Women in Politics group are voluntarily organizing the event. It will include a general introductory session and a more detailed part dealing with candidacy issues such as managing finances, media relations and the nitty-gritty of running a campaign. Included will be presentations by politicians and former politicians, giving women some of the “tricks of the trade,” Barber said.

THE MODEL

Nearby Waterloo is it, holding its third women’s municipal candidate school since 2006. Waterloo Region councillor and organizer Jane Mitchell said the schools have been a huge success, attracting about 100 women to each session. Women get an idea of the “nuts and bolts” of running for office, said Mitchell, who notes the gender gap in Waterloo politics has since closed. “The city council of Waterloo was all men (before 2006). And now the council is balanced, half women. And the mayor is a woman, too.”

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"Women are busy . . . they’re also much more self-critical than men, so they don’t jump into a candidacy without thinking it through.” Margaret Hoff, former chair of London task force on government

“The biggest barrier is getting women to believe they’re capable of running. They typically undervalue their own capabilities.” Gina Barber, former London controller

“The process of getting elected is a fair one to undertake . . . women often don’t have the connections and contacts that they need.” Janet McEwen, former London controller

“I think that the barriers are definitely down and I don’t think that they’re very different for women than for any other segment of the population.” London Coun. Judy Bryant, Ward 13

Comments

L P • an hour ago− Comments that suggest this is an effort to replace a "Gina/Joni" cabal are misguided and unnecessary. And maybe my own comments on this story earlier contribute to this misunderstanding.

Too many women who have achieved high office have only done so with the help of their families who are already politically influential.

This kind of training helps the average women, with no influential contacts, understand how they can participate and get elected in their own right, without powerful help from male relatives or political families.

And women do think differently than men. That may not make them more ethical or honest, but in most cases women do tend to think in a more nurturing manner. In that sense, they often are more likely to think about long term consequences and not risk future stability for short term gain.

mn • 5 hours ago

Gina was always decent to me during my active-activist past. One event in she was staying at a student hostel and I was at a pretty fancy-schmancy hotel in Halifax.

NOW, the tables have ironically turned. Her husband won the lottery in 2011.

Congratulations to them.

Nh • 8 hours ago

I am not concerned about some politicians having burgers at a restaurant.

Londoners should be far more concerned with the Gina/Joni cabal pulling

the puppet strings for their replacements on council.

D S to Nh • 5 hours ago

How are they pulling puppet strings? Will the public not have a vote?

E H to D S • 4 hours ago

Yes, but if all the (viable) candidates are really the same ...

This comment was deleted.

mn to S McP • 4 hours ago

There is influence. But, the best candidate can rise above that level and win.

It happens.

GV to Nh • 6 hours ago

You should be concerned about those politicians spending 97,000 dollars on legal fees when A) they already have a lawyer on city retainer; and B) the lawyer was an absolutely unnecessary part of the ombudsman process.

D A to Nh • 8 hours ago

Hand selected, groomed, and handed the seat. The appointment process at the Womyn's University would have been a decent event.

r • 9 hours ago

Ah! the ignorance of being a tax payer under the mushroom. What are the requirements of a person being on a council, or for that matter any position in government? whether it be local or at one of the multi steps to federal? Is there any specific training, or testing, or protocol, or direction laid out. Are there specific issues past (mistakes, successes) Or more importantly present and future concerns that everyone that qualifies for council needs to be aware of, and have the strength and foresight to go forward to a positive outcome? Or does one just assume. (and we should all know by now what that word equates to) Just asking.....

S McP to r • 8 hours ago

For someone to be on council, they have to be accepted by their peers and members of the public as being able to do the job. If you have heard of the expression, It's not what you know but who you know, then you will know what I mean.

Whatever they learn at this "school for change" could be learned from knowing someone on council. But women are going one step further on this one. They are combining forces, so there will be less independence on the part of the women who 'graduate' from the course. To be seen as knowledgeable and having ability, what would matter most is having the group endorse one as such, or one member of the committee heading it up to take a personal interest.

It says above, under How it will Work, what the program entails, but there is so much more that this entails, and what it suggests for the future.

r to S McP • 6 hours ago

Education for the position is the priority, gender is nothing more/less than a façade. Qualifications for a position have to come forefront. Look at some of the women in politics in Ontario, no less the rest of the world. Right from the humble house wife giving her husband/partner direction, to the death mistress of the latest suicide bombing cult. Batch the rest of it in between. There will always be better qualified people for every position, can they be bothered with the diverse demands of a society? Things are in place for a reason. scrutinize, evaluate those reasons, change with the times...... Responsibility and integrity have to be first.....

D • 9 hours ago

Well if you watched last nights city council meeting you can appreciate the reason why we need new fresh candidates from any gender. Incumbents can't make a simple decision on what course of action to take on building a wooden fence along Veterans Parkway. 1/2 hour wasted time arguing semantics - having to ask our obviously flustered city staff to confirm with confusing answers and finally out of further frustration passing with a 14 to nothing vote just to get it off the table. So finally after 12 years we are going to build the estimated $500,000.00 sound attenuation barrier that had already been agreed to between the city and the neighborhood. GET OUT AND VOTE FOR A CLEAN SLATE!

E H to D • 4 hours ago

I really would like to think that a clean slate is the answer. The realist in me though, tells me that people only go into municipal (and other) politics for their own gain. The names and issues change, but the outcomes will be the same.

I remember when Dawn Erskine ran for council because of some polluted creek, only to find that she was shacked up with the Aboutown taxi guy, and there were issues regarding licencing to be dealt with. Polluted creek my butt-crack.

This comment was deleted.

S McP to E H • 39 minutes ago

My comments keep disappearing,

Did mention the piece on my blog about London municipal election:

London City Council: controversies relevant to the 2014 election

Jan 19, 2014

You should take a look.

D... • 10 hours ago

Sadly many of the comments here show how backwards some Londoners are in their way of thinking. Clearly what we need are the best candidate possible and that clearly this should transcend gender. This article is not suggesting that we should merely vote for females so as to spread power equally amongst gender. These councillors are merely trying to point out that in London, and at pretty much every level of government in this country, women are very much underrepresented in the political process. Women make up slightly over 50% of the population but do not come anywhere close to holding that much representation in our country's political institutions. Many argue that it is a poor reflection of democracy when elected officials do not in any way reflect the makeup of the electorate.

So, yes, some people do think it is a problem when only (or mostly) men make up council or any political institution for that matter. Clearly there are many talented women who would make great elected officials. The individuals mentioned in this article want to get more women to think about political life and to consider getting involved in this process. Perhaps many of you think we should just accept 12 white men running the city and accept 1950s style politics. The world has changed and this program would seek to make our city's democracy more democratic...

S McP to D... • 7 hours ago

Since when has politics been about electing the best candidate for the job?

It's about power, and although the basics are needed in order for someone to get started, what is more important is having the support of a mentor or better yet, a group of like-minded people.

Yes, a lot of women do claim it's a problem when men make up more than 50% in any company, in higher education, or in politics. But this won't accomplish anything for London, if this group starts working on women here, getting them to combine forces.

Going ahead with this will make it harder for individual women - or men - to get their foot in the door. Only ones who are considered acceptable by the group will be allowed to stay - something like this discussion forum, from which I have been banned and am now posting under a slightly different name. I'm beginning to think it could be the moderators themselves (approved by the newspaper) who have done this to me, to silence me.

No one wants to think that women (and the men who benefit from supporting them) would do this - excluding some, letting some in, on some basis other than merit. But this is what happens in politics.

What this ensures (in the realm of local politics) is that it becomes even more class-based. Only women who are approved will get the credentials offered by this new program which will allow them to say, See, I am better qualified to be a councillor. It won't be that much different from university politics, whereby those those don't toe the party line (male or female) will be left out of the running, and excluded from participating on any meaningful level. It will just be assumed by those who don't know any better that they weren't good enough.

This is a dangerous move, and I would think the question now is how to stop it or make it known that it is not an acceptable course of action.

This comment was deleted.

E H to S McP • 7 hours ago

They seem to be deleting mine today. LOL

This comment was deleted.

E H to S McP • 7 hours ago

"Nobody knows ... the trouble I see ... nobody knows, but me."

This comment was deleted.

E H to S McP • 6 hours ago

If you feel so persecuted by the moderators, why keep coming back for more? This isn't a free speech thing, it is a private forum. Your problems here have more to do with your perpetual self-promotion than they do with your message. I don't think that anyone here could count the number of times you have shilled your blog ... and when people push back, you accuse them of persecuting you. I feel a bit sorry for you. You just don't get it.

S McP to E H

I come back when I see a reason to, such as this new enterprise, of training women for politics. It is a bad idea, and I have written about that on my posts here. Feminism leads women to seek power for the sake of power and I don't know how to not let women in who want in so they can control London.

They have done the same thing in academia, and the women who make it are the ones who toe the party line. As women increased in the work force, and in universities, it was capable young men who got excluded. In the end, it becomes about power and money, not about merit.