Seven women will represent Chatham-Kent residents on the next municipal council.
That’s the most women on council since amalgamation in 1998. That first council only had one woman representative. The most recent CK council had just two.
“That’s pretty good, isn’t it?” said Marjorie Crew, who will be filling one of the six Chatham seats. Crew has eight years experience on past councils, but was unsuccessful when she ran for mayor in 2014.
“I think that women in politics have been underrepresented,” said Crew. “You need that balance and diversity. We need all of those minds working together. It’s important to have women’s points of view brought forward.”
Crew said the number of women winning seats wasn’t something she was paying attention to until she realized women had won half of the six Ward 6 seats.
“I wasn’t even looking at it as the results came, and then I went ‘Oh my. We’re almost half of council,” said Crew.
Women also make up five of the 11 school board trustee spots across all three area school boards.
“People are starting to pay attention and not picking someone because of their gender but picking them because they’re the best person for the job,” said Crew.
Joining Crew on council are Mary Clare Latimer, Jamie McGrail, Melissa Harrigan, Carmen McGregor, Amy Finn and Karen Kirkwood-Whyte.
“Our council should be representative of the community we represent,” said Crew.
The new council will be sworn-in in December.