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When this panel was announced, I saw the usual thinly-veiled derision on social media that accompanies any event advocating balance in boardrooms and equal opportunity for genders.

Here are the top 2 predictable culprits:

Women are already equal.
I vote for the best person for the job whether they’re a man or a woman. Why does this even need to be a conversation?

While things are improving for Canadian women when it comes to opportunity and feasibility in elected capacities, it must be noted that the counterpoints to those tired and mind-numbingly flogged tropes are fairly simple:

1. No we aren’t. This argument is easily disproven with overwhelming evidence. Seriously, just google it. You don’t have to be a statistician or political analyst to back this one up. From the wage gap to organizations that still bar women from serving on their boards — and a thousand other examples between — women are still discriminated against based solely on gender. And if that wasn’t true, then we wouldn’t still be having this conversation.

2. You can’t vote for the best person for the job if the best person for the job can’t get on the ticket because of societal barriers. Centuries of suppression, underrepresentation and hurdles specific to gender make the challenges for women called to public service vastly different than those of their male counterparts. Regardless of supporting evidence or basic common sense, the “gender is irrelevant” rhetoric refuses to acknowledge that the patriarchy was not reversed overnight. We know that when people don’t see themselves reflected in a position — particularly of leadership — it becomes exponentially less likely that they will attempt it themselves; the challenge seems insurmountable. And correspondingly, when society does not see a people group reflected in leadership capacities, they do not easily accept or support the minority person making the attempt.

Don’t hear me wrong; I’m not saying that every woman should run. It’s a very specific calling for very specific people.

My point is that the calling is not specific to gender but the obstacles often are, and because of that, women are substantially and irrefutably underrepresented in government.

Kamloops will have some incredible, qualified and ready women running in the next municipal election, and we’re fortunate to be able to say so.
Get to know them. Hear what they have to say. Learn the incredible value of having balance in the rooms of power that significantly affect your money, your home, your children, your community and your future.

And come October 2018, for the good of us all, may more than three-eighths of the people around “the horseshoe” in Kamloops be women.

by Refraction

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