Group calling for more women candidates

A local organization is encouraging women to run for city council in next year’s municipal election.

The organizing committee of Her Seat at the Table (HSATT) is providing women with information on how council works and what they should expect if they run for one of the 11 seats on Brandon’s council, co-founder Tracy Baker said.

“There hasn’t typically been a history of balance of gender on city council,” Baker said. “We feel we need — as a city, to have a balance, a more gender-diverse council because we feel that both men and women bring different things to the table.”

Currently, only one seat on council is held by a woman, while the city has only ever had one woman serve as mayor.

The committee officially started in April and has about 25 women helping to organize meetings and an open house early next month. Focus groups on the topic had happened even before then, however.

“It will allow the people that are considering to understand that maybe it’s not quite as scary as they thought,” Baker said. “The more information they have in making their decision, the easier the decision is.”

Baker, a certified financial planner, said one of the reasons why there aren’t a lot of women on council, is because there are barriers in the way.

Those barriers include not having the time to work as a councillor along with other work, not knowing what the job completely entails, and not having the expertise of what a campaign would look like.

“We’re trying to get rid of those things so that we attract more women,” Baker said. “We’re here to support them in that way, that we can provide the education, we can get someone to mentor them, explain the campaign process, all of the ins and outs.”

The organization doesn’t have a political leaning, Baker said, and is simply there as a resource for women.

The organization is also happy with however many women it can help, she said.

“We would love to have five or six women come and say, ‘yes, we’re interested in running,’” Baker said. “We’d be happy with one person. It’s one more woman on city council that we feel is necessary.”

The group started after Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett spoke to the Professional Networking Group for Women in 2023. He asked them why there weren’t more women interested to run on council, Baker said. Fawcett said he spoke to the networking group because they had done a lot of productive things in the community.

“We do need to figure out ways that we can have people run for council,” Fawcett told the Sun last week.

He noted that three women ran for last month’s Brandon School Division trustee byelection, and that there a lot of women who serve as mayors and reeves around the province.

“We’re always looking for good candidates,” he said, adding there are “a lot of good candidates” in the networking group.

Coun. Heather Karrouze (Ward 1) is currently the only woman currently serving on city council. She said the organization’s goal is a “laudable ambition,” and she supports it.

“I think that it is important that the council table is representative of the community, and we are a very diverse community,” Karrouze said last week.

Karrouze said she has spoken to the group in the past about her experience. She said many women have busy lives, which takes availability away when councillors only have part-time hours and pay.

Lois Ruston, executive director of YWCA Westman and a member of the HSATT organizing committee, said “it’s important for women to see themselves at these tables and in these conversations.”

“There’s a lot of barriers,” Ruston said. “Some of the biggest barriers are just not having access to resources, not having support, not knowing what to expect.”

Ruston said there has been a lot of excitement and enthusiasm around the initiative.

“Lots of folks are coming to learn about this group, and they may not be interested in running for council, but perhaps they know someone who is,” she said.

Baker said there are currently zero people who have declared they will run for office as part of the group, but the first big public event is happening next week.

The group is hosting an open house on Dec. 3 at The Backyard On Aberdeen between 5 and 7 p.m.

Organizers will have stations set up with different pieces of information, like what a campaign looks like. The mayor and other council members will be present, Baker said, with past women councillors also there.

People in attendance will be able to ask questions as well, she said.

There will then be a second open house in February, which will be more strategic, Baker said. The organization is planning a panel discussion, which would also include women politicians from other municipalities.

Baker added that another barrier to more women running as a councillor is that the position is only part-time.

City council recently asked administration to look at the feasibility of full-time councillors. Baker said that would attract more people — women and men — to the position. She said the lack of time was an issue for most people in the focus groups.

The next municipal election is Oct. 28, 2026.

» alambert@brandonsun.com