FINAL REPORT “Action on Systemic Barriers to Women’S Participation in Local Government” June 2020

FINAL REPORT “Action on systemic barriers to women’s participation in local government” June 2020 Written by Halena Seiferling and Rebecca Bateman. With contributions by Willow Allen, Luna KC, Negin Khaleghi, and Wendee Lang. CONTENTS Executive Summary………………………………………………….3 Introduction……………………………………………………………7 Research Overview…………………………………………………..8 Methodology…………………………………………………………13 Data Analysis………………………………………………………..18 Promising Practice Recommendations…………………………...99 Assessment of Study Cities………………………………………104 Summary and Conclusions……………………………………….127 Outcomes and Outputs/Actions………………………………….130 Next Steps………………………………………………………….133 References …………………………………………………………134 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY “Action on systemic barriers to women’s participation in local government” Background With funding from Status of Women Canada (SWC), now Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), this project was one of six funded nationally under the theme, “Democratic Leadership: Empowering Women for Political Action.” Funding recipients were Women Transforming Cities (WTC) and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW). The project focused on two BC cities: Vancouver and Surrey. The three-year project concentrated on four areas in which women participate in local civic life: as candidates and elected decision-makers; as participants in citizen-led municipal advisory bodies; as municipal employees; and as participants in city-led public engagement efforts. Project staff conducted quantitative and qualitative research for each of these areas to establish an evidence base of barriers women encountered, opportunities they experienced, and their recommendations for change and action for each of these areas. The focus was specifically on what cities as institutions can do to create more opportunities for women from diverse backgrounds to participate fully in these civic forums. Approach To develop an evidence base for recommending actions, project team members researched the literature on women’s participation in local government; conducted surveys and in-person interviews; talked to subject matter experts; and gathered data from Web-based sources. We also organized two public forums, one in Surrey and one in Vancouver, that brought together women who had run for and held elected office at the local level to share their experiences with interested women, some of whom were considering becoming candidates themselves. Through a formal agreement with the City of Vancouver, project researchers were able to have access to otherwise inaccessible information that not only informed our research, but also enabled us to assist the City’s implementation of its Vancouver: A City for All Women, Women’s Equity Strategy 2018-2028 by developing, administering, and analyzing the results from surveys 3 with City leadership personnel and former members of its advisory bodies, and sharing aggregate results with City staff. Overview of Findings Cities need explicit policies to increase the participation of diverse women (and we use the term here to mean all women in all their diversity) in all areas of civic life. Policies and strategies provide a basis for immediate action and for the development and improvement of both current and future policies and actions. A city’s reliance on descriptive representation, such as gender parity on a city council, is not enough. Gender equity and increased diversity on elected or volunteer bodies is unlikely to happen without policies specifically intended to counter pervasive sexism and prejudice. Changes to electoral systems (proportional representation and/or wards) in conjunction with robust voter engagement and education strategies, are key to having elected bodies at the municipal level that are more representative of their cities’ demographics. Surrey and Vancouver both have first-past-the-post and at-large electoral systems. They have done well in terms of achieving gender parity, and beyond, for their Councils. But those Councils are still overwhelmingly white in cities that have long been, and are becoming increasingly, diverse. And this pattern is true for cities across Canada. Proportional representation systems, such as single transferrable vote, and cumulative voting have the potential to be effective at the local level in terms of encouraging participation of non-white voters, resulting in more diverse elected bodies, especially when combined with voter outreach initiatives. District, or ward, systems do show advantages when it comes to electing women and people of colour. Critics of the at-large system in both Surrey and Vancouver have emphasized that the system is discriminatory and unusual for Canadian cities. People of colour and Indigenous candidates are running in municipal elections in cities across Canada, but they are not receiving the votes. This is largely owing 4 to low voter turnout, and the unrepresentativeness of the members of the electorate who do vote. Robust voter engagement and education programs, conducted by cities in conjunction with community organizations, are crucial to turning out more and more diverse voters. The collection of disaggregated demographic data on voters is crucial for cities trying to understand who does and does not vote in civic elections. The analysis of these data can help focus voter engagement efforts on groups that tend not to vote, and who may need extra support to understand how to vote, and why it is important to their communities. Activism and advocacy are important, but so is collaboration. Establishing an evidence base for policies and actions is critical both for cities, and for activists/advocacy organizations. Cities need information, and advocacy groups need a solid and defensible evidence base to increase both their effectiveness and their credibility. Cities need to be held accountable and continuously pressed to fulfill their promises and implement their strategies when it comes to increasing the presence of diverse women in civic life. But this project has demonstrated that collaboration with cities, to gather data and do the analysis City staff might not have the time/resources/expertise to do, can be of mutual benefit by supporting and informing City policies and strategies, and by providing the evidence base needed for on-going evaluation and advocacy on the part of community groups. Collaborations among cities, advocacy groups, universities and research institutes, and community women—and that privilege all types of knowledge—are the most effective means to develop policies, programs, and actions to increase the participation of women in civic life. Cities should adopt a gendered intersectional perspective across all departments and programs to inform gender and diversity policies and procedures. Even strategies and practices that are considered to be “gender neutral,” “inclusive of all,” or “open to all applicants” often are not. For example, cities need to collect as much disaggregated data as possible for all public 5 engagement approaches, including in-person events. And cities need to regularly collect information on diversity among their employees to identify and address pay inequities, develop specific policies to make the workplace more welcoming, and to rectify underrepresentation of women and other diverse people in leadership positions and specific professions across City departments. Elected municipal officials and leadership staff need to lead by example in ensuring that City gender and diversity policies are given priority. City employees at all levels need to be informed and educated about City gender and diversity policies, their benefits, and why they are important, and included in their implementation. Some Recommendations for Action Both Surrey and Vancouver can point to the number of women on their City Councils as evidence that women’s voices are being included in decision-making; Surrey has also had two female mayors. However, the two cities need to work toward more equitable representation of women from diverse backgrounds on their elected and advisory bodies. Vancouver has achieved measurable success in diversifying its advisory bodies through policies designed to increase participation based on gender and diversity criteria. Adoption of a similar approach in Surrey could lead to better representation on its advisory bodies, as well, resulting in more equitable representation of diverse women on bodies other than those specifically focused on “women’s issues” or diversity. Both cities need to work on increasing participation of diverse people in their public engagement activities, including their on-line survey platforms, Talk Vancouver, and CitySpeaks (Surrey). Achieving systemic change throughout a city’s operations can be a slow process. Having a roadmap with clear objectives, such as Vancouver’s Women’s Equity Strategy, can help cities work toward measurable goals. We highly recommend that all cities develop a comprehensive strategy to ensure that women in all their diversities have an equal opportunity to participate fully in civic life. 6 Final Report: Action on Systemic Barriers to Women’s Participation in Local Government 1. Introduction With funding from Status of Women Canada (SWC), now Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), this project was one of six funded nationally under the theme, “Democratic Leadership: Empowering Women for Political Action.” Funding recipients were Women Transforming Cities (WTC) and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW). The project focused on two BC

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