Sometimes it just takes a person to step forward and do something for something to happen.
The first woman to serve on the school board was Miss Bessie Nichols, elected in Feb. 1912, the first election after the amalgamation of the cities of Strathcona and Edmonton.
The first woman to be elected to Edmonton's city council was the first woman to run for a seat there, nine years after Bessie's success.
Izena Ross ran for city council in 1921. Receiving not an overly large amount of votes she was declared elected to just a one-year term, to finish off a two-year term of another who had resigned early. (In those days, only half the councillors were elected each year, a pattern meant to provide continuity that also prevented any mass turn-over caused by the democratic principle. Elections were held each year, with those elected generally serving two-year terms.)
"Mrs. W.J. Ross", as she was named in newspapers of the time, was the president of the local Council of Women. She is remembered as an upper-class tea-party-visiting-card type of lady and was among the candidates of the Citizens' League, a business front organization, in this election.
It was said that women voters came out in unusually large numbers in this election and were responsible for her election, demonstrating the potential to increase voter turn-out when a variety of groups have "skin in the game."
(Izena received a vote from only about a third of the voters. That was enough to win a seat. Only one candidate received support from an actual majority of voters in that election. Izena was lucky to win - two candidates received just 200 votes less than her tally and were not successful.)
The value of direct representation was affirmed by the new mayor who said "the women of Edmonton have in no uncertain way expressed their desire by the election of Mrs. Ross to have an active participation in the affairs of the city in the future, and I personally welcome her to the new council, being confident that the ability and advice that can be gained from this new channel will prove of benefit to the city at large." It is this kind of sentiment in favour of the representation of all substantial groups, both the majority and minorities, that fires the drive for proportional representation - then and now.
A survey of newspaper articles of the time reveal that Izena's support for the adoption of Single Transferable Voting for Edmonton municipal elections was critical. Her support tipped the balance in favour of council ordering a referendum on the change in 1922. That same election Izena ran for re-election but her effort was not rewarded with a seat. She received more votes than she had in 1921 but under the plurality system Edmonton used, that did not count for anything when other candidates got more votes and filled the seats.
After Izena Ross's election in 1921, no woman would be elected to city council until Margaret Crang in 1933. This seems odd because, after Edmontonians endorsed STV in the referendum, STV was used in Edmonton city elections 1923 to 1927 and STV is praised for increasing the chance of minority representation - women are described as a minority although they are numerically the majority. (see Montopedia blogs on women's success under STV and PR)
But the phenomena is explained by fact that very few women ran for election during the STV period. Actually very few women ran for council before 1964. Not until 1951 would more than two women run in an Edmonton city election, for the city's 12 aldermanic seats. And still, as of 2020, it had not happened that women competed for every open seat in a city election.
Not until 1954 would more than one woman be elected to city council at any one time. A record was set in 1980 when six women were elected at one time to the City's 12 aldermanic seats.
Prior to 1980, only 14 women had been elected to city council. Prior to the 2001 city election, there were 27 women elected to city council. From then to 2017, four more women were elected. In 2021, seven new women were elected to council, plus Sarah Hamilton was re-elected. So as of 2024, 38 women have served on Edmonton's city council.
The first woman to run for mayor was Miss McBain in 1925. The second woman to run for mayor was not until 1989 - Jan Reimer. She was elected!
Here are the women who ran for aldermanic seats in Edmonton elections:
Candidates elected for first time are in bold.
(Those not marked elected were unsuccessful in their bids.)
1921 Izena Ross Citizens League elected
1922 Izena Ross Citizens League (later served on school board 1935 to 1945)
1923 Esther Saunders Independent
1924 Gertrude McBain Independent
1925 (Gertrude McBain ran for mayor)
1931 [Lin S. Bell woman?]
1932 Mrs. I.G. Ringwood Communist
[I.W.I. McEchern United Citizens of Edmonton woman?]
1933 Margaret Crang Labour elected (Youngest ever elected to city council. The first Edmonton-born person to sit on council. The only woman on city council anywhere in Canada at the time. The book Protest and Progress Three Labour Radicals in early Edmonton by Tom Monto (available at Alhambra Books) covers her life.)
1934 L.E. Price Labour [woman?]
1935 Margaret Crang Labour re-elected
1937 Margaret Crang Independent
1938 Margaret Crang Progressive
1939 Isobel Ringwood Independent Progressive Association
1941 Gwendolen Clarke Civic Progressive Association (Joe Clarke's widow) elected
Margaret Crang Civic Progressive Association
1942 Isobel Ringwood Civic Progressive Association
1943 Gwendolen Clarke Civic Progressive Association
1944 Gwendolen Clarke Independent
Edith Rogers CCF (previously she had been a Social Credit MLA)
1945 Ethel Browne Civic Democratic Alliance
Julia Kiniski Independent (Cloverdale neighbourhood mother-hen)
(Kiniski ran 13 more times before being elected!)
1946 Julia Kiniski Independent
1947 Julia Kiniski Independent
Amy Speed Independent
1948 Julia Kiniski Independent
Reta Rowan Independent (leftist wife of UofA ornithology professor Dr. Rowan)
1949 Julia Kiniski Independent
1951
Violet Field Citizen's Committee elected
Ethel Wilson Labour (industrial union activist, SC MLA and cabinet minister 1959-1971)
Julia Kiniski Independent
1952 Ethel Wilson Citizens Committee elected
1953 Phoebe McCullough Independent
Julia Kiniski Independent
1954 Ethel Wilson Citizen's Committee re-elected
Laurette Douglas Citizens Committee elected (served 1955-1960)
Julia Kiniski Independent
(1955 none - unsuccessful candidate Tempest Aitken was a man)
1956 Ethel Wilson Citizen's Committee elected
Laurette Douglas Citizens Committee re-elected (served 1955-1960)
Julia Kiniski Independent
(Tempest Aitken was a man)
1957 Edith Rogers Edmonton Property Owners Association
Julia Kiniski Independent
(Tempest Aitken was a man)
1958 Ethel Wilson Citizen's Committee re-elected
Laurette Douglas Independent
Julia Kiniski Edmonton Voters Association
1959 Julia Kiniski Edmonton Voters Association
1960 Ethel Wilson Civic Government Association re-elected
Laurette Douglas Independent
1961 Julia Kiniski Independent
1962 Ethel Wilson Civic Government Association re-elected
Julia Kiniski Civic Rights Protective Association
1963 Julia Kiniski United Voters Association elected (finally elected on her 14th try)
1964 (12 seats filled at one time due to end of staggered elections)
(elections for next while were held every other year)
Julia Kiniski Civil Rights Association re-elected
Ethel Wilson Better Civic Government Committee re-elected
Kathleen McCallum Better Civic Government Committee elected
Joyce Kurie Civil Rights Association
Jan Motyl Independent [female?]
1966 Julia Kiniski Civil Rights Association re-elected
Una Maclean Evans Better Civic Government Committee elected
(wife, Edm. Journal columnist; mother, CBC TV correspondent Margaret Evans)
Kathleen McCallum Better Civic Government Committee
Catherine Chichak Independent
Laurette Douglas Independent
Joyce Kurie Independent
Lila Fahlman Independent (from google: Lila Fahlman was an educator, philanthropist and social-justice advocate who founded the Canadian Council of Muslim Women in 1982)
1968 (12 elected) (no party labels) Julia Kiniski Civil Rights Association re-elected
Una Maclean Evans Better Civic Government Committee re-elected
Kathleen McCallum Better Civic Government Committee
Bev Booker
Catherine Chichak
Lila Falhlman
1971 (12 elected) (4-ward system adopted) (elections held each three years)
Una Maclean Evans re-elected
1974 12 elected (party labels back in use)
Bettie Hewes Urban Reform Group Edmonton (U.R.G.E.) elected
Olivia Butti Independent elected
Sheila McKay Independent
Elaine Johnson Independent
Angela Mueller Socialist Action
1977 Lois Campbell U.R.G.E. elected
Olivia Butti E.C.G.A. re-elected
Bettie Hewes U.R.G.E. re-elected
Sheila McKay Independent
Olga Cylurik Independent
1980 (six-ward system, two elected in each ward)
(Block Voting system - each voter casts two votes for councillors)
(Six women elected)
Ward 1. Olivia Butti E.C.G.A. re-elected
Ward 2. Jan Reimer U.R.G.E. elected
Lila Fahlman U.R.G.E.
Ward 3 June Cavanagh Independent elected (wife of Terry Cavanagh, mayor and alderman)
Judy Bethel U.R.G.E.
Sheila McKay Independent
Ward 4 Carolyn Nutter U.R.G.E.
Ward 5 Lois Campbell U.R.G.E. re-elected
Olga Cylurik Independent
Ward 6 Bettie Hewes U.R.G.E. re-elected
1983 four women elected
Ward 1. Olivia Butti Independent re-elected
Ward 2. Jan Reimer Urban Reform Group Edmonton (U.R.G.E.) re-elected
Ward 5. Lillian Staroszik Responsible Citizens Committee (R.C.C.) elected
Ward 6. Bettie Hewes U.R.G.E. re-elected
1986 (no party labels) five women elected
Ward 1. Helen Paull elected
Ward 2. Jan Reimer re-elected
Ward 3. Judy Bethel elected
Ward 4. Donna Artuso (not elected)
Ward 5. Lillian Staroszik re-elected
Patricia Mackenzie elected
Ward 6. Sheila McKay (not elected)
From here on, women candidates are too numerous for me to list in total. Only elected women are noted.
1989 six women elected, plus Jan Reimer as mayor.
(no party labels although Brian Mason was elected in Ward 3 as an Edmonton Voters Association (E.V.A.) candidate.)
Ward 1. Helen Paull re-elected
Ward 2. Catherine Chichak elected
Ward 3. Judy Bethel re-elected
Ward 4. (no women ran)
Ward 5. Lillian Staroszik re-elected
Patricia Mackenzie elected
Ward 6. Sheila McKay elected
1992 (four women elected) (six wards electing two each)
Ward 3. Judy Bethel re-elected
Ward 5. Lillian Staroszik re-elected
Patricia Mackenzie re-elected
Ward 6. Sheila McKay re-elected
1994 by-election Sherry McKibbon elected
1995 two women elected (six wards electing two each)
ward 1 Wendy Kinsella elected
Ward 2 Rose Rosenburger elected
1998 two women elected (six wards electing two each)
Ward 1 Wendy Kinsella re-elected
Ward 2 Rose Rosenburger re-elected
2001 3 women elected (six wards electing two each)
Ward 1: Karen Leibovici elected
Ward 3: Janice Melnychuk elected
Ward 4: Jane Batty elected
From now on, there are 12 wards, each electing one councillor. (Note that there is no proportionality, and also that many councillors are elected with less than majority of votes in the ward.)
To 2001, 28 women served on city council.
2004 five women elected 12 wards each electing one
Ward 1: Karen Leibovici, Linda Sloan both elected
Ward 2: Kim Krushell elected
Ward 3: Janice Melnychuk re-elected
Ward 4: Jane Batty re-elected
2007 four women elected 12 wards each electing one
Ward 1: Karen Leibovici, Linda Sloan both re-elected
Ward 2: Kim Krushell re-elected
Ward 4: Jane Batty re-elected
2010 four women elected 12 wards each electing one
Ward 1: Linda Sloan re-elected
Ward 2: Kim Krushell re-elected
Ward 5: Karen Leibovici re-elected
Ward 6: Jane Batty re-elected
2013 1 woman elected 12 wards each electing one
Ward 2: Bev Esslinger elected
2017-2021) Sarah Hamilton and Bev Esslinger are the only two women on city council at this time. (Hamilton was the 31st woman to serve on city council.)
2021-2025 (eight - record number of women on city council at one time)
Erin Rutherford (beating out incumbent Esslinger)
Karen Principe
Anne Stevenson (beating out incumbent Tony Caterina)
Ashley Salvador
Sarah Hamilton
Jennifer Rice
Keren Tang
Jo-Anne Wright (beating out incumbent Moe Banga)
(in order of the districts alphabetically by name of district)
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Thirty-eight women have served on the city council.
Obviously the struggle for equal representation is still not won.
And our single-member wards are not doing women any favours. It is noted that if there is only one seat in a district, it usually goes to a man. In 1980, when six women were elected at one time - a record for Edmonton up to that time - in only one ward were two women elected. In every other ward at least one man was elected. So it seems that often the first seat goes to a man, but if there are additional seats, women have some kind of chance. Thus we need multiple-member districts.
From 1923 to 1927 Edmonton used STV to elect city councillors. they were elected at-large so there was a multi-member district. You would think women would do well but as the list above shows, only two women even tried for election during the time STV was used in city elections. only one in 1923 and one in 1924. Neither were elected. If 14 percent of voters had voted for the woman candidate, she would have been elected (barring some interference by the southsiders' guaranteed representation) but in the 1923 election, woman candidate Saunders came in tenth place on the first count, getting about 4 percent of the votes; in 1924 Gertrude McBain came in dead last on the first count and was quickly eliminated. The fault was not the election system used but the way voters voted - most just did not vote for the women candidates. After those two disappointments, in the next three STV elections no women even bothered to run.
Oddly a woman was sitting as an Edmonton MLA at that time. When Block Voting was used to elect Edmonton's five MLAs in 1921, with the city as one big multi-member district, a woman was elected. This is an example of how a multi-member district, where voters have the choice of a wide range of candidates, gave a woman candidate a good chance of being elected.
Strangely, no women ran in Edmonton in the 1926 provincial election, the first election when Single Transferable Voting (STV) was used, so STV was not tested as a way to produce more-equal gender representation at the provincial level. (In 1926, Edmonton's woman MLA (Nellie McClung) ran for re-election in Calgary. She was not elected. She did well enough on the first count to be elected if SNTV was used, but then lost her place when votes were transferred under the STV system that was used in 1926 prov. election. It was 1959 before the next woman MLA (Ethel Wilson) was elected in Edmonton.
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The 2021 Edmonton election looks to be the first Edmonton city election where a female candidate will run for every spot on council. The results show how the particpation of women led to more women-filled seats than ever won before. (Note that all eight of them were elected by only a minorty ofhe vote in ther ward, so their hold on the seat is not secure by any means. One woman was elected with little more than a quarter of votes cast. It is only a matter of luck if even two of them are re-elected in the next election.
While with a more scientific method (proportional representation), if there is support for for women, women will be dependably elected to their due share of seats - maybe not to two thirds of the seats but to half or so of the seats on council.
Thanks for reading.
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100 Years Izena Project lists:
Ross Crang Clarke
Brown Field Wilson Douglas
Kiniski McCallum Evans Butti
Hewes Campbell Reimer Cavanagh
Starosik Paul Bethel MacKenzie
Chichak McKay McKibbon Kinsella
Rosenberger Leibovici Melnychuk Batty
Sloan Krushell Esslinger Hamilton
31 in total as of early 2021
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