After seeing the City of Calgary’s new council, one thought immediately came to mind — where are the women? On Oct. 24, Calgary’s municipal election results confirmed Jeromy Farkas as the city’s new mayor. Alongside him, the new council includes 12 male councillors and only two female — Kim Tyers and Jennifer Wyness.

As a soon-to-be political science graduate at Queen’s University who has conducted gender-based policy research for Ward 8 in the City of Calgary, I find this outcome deeply disappointing. The city’s persistent lack of gender representation in politics is not a new issue, but it is one we seem to have collectively stopped caring about.

Of the 1,590,639 people who live in Calgary as of the latest census data from 2021, 790,320 are men and 800,320 are women. Yet, women make up only 13 per cent of council, the lowest proportion since the 2013 municipal election. This is despite three women running for mayor, and female candidates in all but two wards. Representation has slid backward, not forward.

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