Seven female city councillor candidates came to Carleton on Oct. 14 to talk about their experiences running for office.
The panel was part of the Women in Municipal Politics event hosted by the Carleton Equal Voice Chapter and the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA).
It was held in the University Centre atrium and attracted students from both Carleton and the University of Ottawa.
Women make up about 17 per cent of candidates running in this year’s municipal elections, said Samantha Somerville, president of Equal Voice.
“We have an issue about representation in this election so we wanted to have a discussion about it,” said Sakshi Sharma, vice-president (external) of Equal Voice. “We think women bring a unique and different voice to politics.”
River Ward candidate Barbara Carroll agreed, and said women bring a different quality to politics.
“What we do have is a willingness to listen to people,” she said. “We do that so well as women and that’s what we bring to city hall. We can make the conversation change.”
Kim Sheldrick, the Osgoode candidate, countered that gender shouldn’t distinguish the candidate.
“I don’t differentiate between male or female. I just think that it should be the person who has the best skills, the best qualities, and can get the work done,” she said.
Catherine Fortin LeFaivre, who is running in the Rideau-Vanier Ward said her short stature of five-foot-three and higher-pitched voice have influenced how others perceive her.
“I think those factors, when people initially meet me or they don’t know me, they may form certain opinions,” she said.
“Those are from natural assumptions that people have, but that just means that maybe you’re the underdog and expectations for you are lower so you can go and prove them wrong.”
Michelle Reimer, candidate for Kitchissipi Ward, said her gender never had an effect on her professional life.
“Unless I’ve been really naive and missed it, I haven’t actually felt that there’s been any bias towards me,” she said.
Reimer advised women who face bias because of their gender to persevere.
River Ward candidate Vanessa Sutton said male family members have always been supportive of her campaigns. Her son, she said, was heavily involved with her last campaign and her husband currently runs the sign crew for her campaign this year.
“[Female representation is] not the best at the moment, in terms of numbers definitely,” said attendee Megan Bowers, a third-year political science student at the University of Ottawa. “And then there’s lots of issues about women’s voices—whether they’re actually heard, or taken into account.”
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