Study: Inuit women turned off by municipal politics4

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

Many Inuit women are turning away from municipal politics in Iqaluit because their culture clashes with Qallunaat concepts of government, says a national report.

Iqaluit women interviewed for a study on the lack of women involved in municipal government complained they face sexism, racism and a host of other barriers when considering the jump into local politics.

The comments will be published this summer as part of a project called Increasing Women’s Participation in Municipal Consultation Processes, an as-yet unreleased document by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

The study, which compiles interviews with women from six communities across the country, aims to find out why relatively few women run for municipal office or participate in city hall events, compared to men.

“Some women basically have no faith in government,” said Colleen Purdon, national coordinator for the study.

Women in Iqaluit said they specifically weren’t comfortable with the jargon used in meeting procedures; they feel guilty for leaving their kids at home; and they find men dismiss their opinions because they’re Inuit, or they’re speaking Inuktitut.

Non-Inuit tend to participate more because they’re aware of the benefits of participating in local government, says the report.

And the women interviewed suggest these non-Inuit consider their Inuit counterparts as “simple or naive, incapable of understanding complex municipal issues.”

Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik, who took the highest position in city hall after less than a year on municipal council, said she agrees with the study’ main findings that women are turned off local politics, but says city hall is working to change that.

Since she and three unilingual Inuit elders were elected in October, the use of Inuktitut has skyrocketed in municipal documents and proceedings.

Sheutiapik said the key to encouraging more women to participate will be convincing them to ignore “older gentlemen out there,” who believe a woman’s place remains strictly in the home, raising children.

“I think it’s a matter of women learning to identify that they have the skills and abilities,” she said. “If I can do it, all women out there can do it.”

For now, the report concludes that many Inuit women question whether their voices would be heard at municipal meetings.

The report recounts how women view consultation with Inuit as Southerners asking for input, and using the feedback only if it fits with their agenda.

As part of the study, an Iqaluit-based researcher met with 29 women in focus groups late last year to develop questions for more in-depth interviews with five other women.

Purdon, who received $170,000 for the project last year from Status of Women Canada, said the report shouldn’t be viewed a statistical report but as “important, detailed information to consider.”

The report, to be released in June, outlines a number of concrete recommendations for Iqaluit council.

The reports states Iqaluit city council needs to:

* use more Inuktitut,
* adopt more Inuit traditions like lighting the qulliq before meetings,
* consider hosting meetings outdoors,
* and encourage schools to develop a course in municipal government.

Purdon also recommends councils across Canada develop policies such as a parity bylaw, which reserves half the seats on a committee for women.

She said Iqaluit city council should review whether their bi-monthly meetings are scheduled at a convenient time for women.

At a recent meeting, Iqaluit council created an ad hoc committee in order to handle future funding proposals related to the reports recommendations.

The proposal faced resistance from some councillors and administration, who were concerned about the costs of an extra committee, or suggested an equal amount of attention should be paid to involving young Inuit men in local politics.