Unique webinar offers AUMA members opportunity to speak about women in government

AUMA and RMA have partnered with FCM to host the “Toward Parity to Encourage Women’s Involvement in Municipal Politics” webinar.  One of the Policy Advisors in AUMA’s Policy and Advocacy team shared a bit more about the webinar and why AUMA members should participate.

What’s the inspiration behind the webinar?

The webinar is part of an FCM initiative, Toward Parity in Municipal Politics (TPMP), which is aimed at achieving gender parity in municipal governance. AUMA and RMA have been actively participating on FCM’s national working group for the past few months. We are now at the stage in the process where FCM is looking for input and we are asking AUMA members to participate in the session and provide their thoughts and ideas.

What is gender parity?

Gender parity is basically a statistical measure that compares a particular indicator between women and men and helps understand relative equality. When we apply gender parity to women in government, we look at the comparison of the number of women versus men in any level of government. For TPMP specifically, the long-term goal is for equal representation between men and women in municipal government, with at least 30% representation by women by 2026.

Can you give an overview of the webinar?

FCM will be hosting the webinar and asking participants to offer their thoughts on various aspects, such as barriers to women’s participation in municipal government, what actions can be taken to reduce those barriers, and what other tools or mechanisms could help with this.

What makes this webinar unique from others?

This is going to be an interactive session, which is quite a bit different from other webinars people may have participated in. FCM will be actively requesting the participants to offer their thoughts and ideas on the various questions. FCM will be using the feedback to help develop a strategy and programs municipalities can implement to help encourage more women in local government.

Is this webinar just for women?

This webinar is for everyone – men and women. FCM and AUMA encourage all municipal elected officials and administrators interested in improving gender parity in municipal governance to participate along with organizations to who work to increase women’s participation.

What will be the key takeaways for people who participate?

The big thing is that AUMA members will have an opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences, which will be used to develop FCM’s pan-Canadian strategy to address barriers faced by women in municipal politics.

Where can people find out more about this webinar?

Interested people are asked to check out AUMA’s events webpage. Registration in advance is required so we encourage you to do so as soon as you can.