Getting to 30%

In 2005, FCM established the Standing Committee on Increasing Women´s Participation in Municipal Government to seek and support initiatives to increase women´s political participation in municipal government. The committee, composed of 24 elected municipal officials from across Canada, is working to ensure women make up 30 per cent of municipal councils by 2026.

The campaign grew to include a manual and research of its own, a Facebook page and an online toolkit, Getting to 30% by 2026. The toolkit provided the basis for a proposal to Status of Women Canada.

The Getting to 30% program was launched in March 2010. FCM gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Status of Women Canada. The program's goal is to increase the number of women of all ages involved in leadership and decision-making roles in municipal government.

The program is open to all women but reaches out especially to those in rural and remote areas through municipal campaign workshops and mentoring opportunities across Canada - all aimed at encouraging and training women to run in municipal elections. Results are promising, with almost 40 per cent of workshop participants going on to be elected to civic office.

Webinars series

FCM has produced a wealth of information for its workshops on women in municipal government. This information has also been shared through a series of webinars that FCM has hosted for women who have not been able to attend the workshops. Now available as audio-video recordings, these webinars provide instruction and best practices around five key electoral challenges:

• campaign financing
• deciding to run
• social media
• media relations
• campaign literature

Mission statement

The Standing Committee on Increasing Women's Participation in Municipal Government will promote and support the participation of women in government.

Goals

• Analyze the obstacles to women's participation.
• Take specific action to reduce these obstacles.
• Encourage women to participate.

Objectives

• Encourage a positive working relationship between all people working in a political environment.
• Provide a network for participation and membership for women elected to office in municipalities across Canada.
• Mentor newly elected officials, and mentor those facing difficult issues.
• Exchange information, ideas and learning at FCM's Annual Conference.
• Through a variety of annual scholarship awards, encourage women to consider becoming involved in municipal government.
• Recognize excellence of women in municipal government through the Ann Maclean Award.
• Spread women in municipal government's knowledge and experiences to communities around the world.