Researcher clarifies study

I am responding to the May 21 story in the Nunatsiaq News: “Study: Inuit women turned off by municipal politics.”

Iqaluit was selected as one of six sites from across Canada to participate in this national project.

The goal of the project was to speak to primarily Inuit women directly and ask them what they felt were barriers to participating in local politics. The purpose in identifying these barriers is to develop a plan to address the issues both at a local level and at a national level.

I was the primary researcher for the Iqaluit site. The City of Iqaluit and the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women supported the research.

Our methodology consisted of holding focus groups at a variety of locations around town mostly where women gathered and also interviewing individual women. Women were asked to identify what they saw as barriers to their own participation and many women identified sexism and racism as barriers to participation.

Issue such as childcare, the availability of free time and the complexities of city council were also among the barriers identified by women. However, our findings showed that women are often involved in addressing community issues, but often do so in informal ways rather than through formal City of Iqaluit committees.

The research suggested to us that the current way in which city council operates may not correspond with how women go about being involved in their communities. The challenge to the City of Iqaluit is to develop a variety of ways to involve women in consultation and to develop ways of operating that reflects the needs of women in Iqaluit.

The report was well received by the City of Iqaluit and work is under way to increase women’s participation in the municipal process.

Carrie Elrick
Project Coordinator
Increasing Women’s Participation in Municipal Process Project