Jane’s Walk celebrates the ideas and legacy of urbanist Jane Jacobs by getting people out exploring their neighbourhoods and meeting their neighbours. Free walking tours held on the first weekend of May each year are led by locals who want to create a space for residents to talk about what matters to them in the places they live and work. Since its inception in Toronto in 2007, Jane’s Walk has expanded rapidly. In May of 2013, more than 600 walks were held in over 100 cities in 22 countries worldwide.

May 5, 2013 was a warm, sunny Spring day and we were very excited to see over forty people attend our first ever Jane’s Walk. For those of you who were unable to attend, here’s a rundown of the highlights with information about some of the people, places and organizations we talked about on the tour: including a link to the Jane’s Walk page for our walk (for as long as it’s active) and our route map.

Toronto Police Services HQ

We started our inaugural Jane’s Walk at Toronto Police Services HQ where Jessica told us about the history and impact of SlutWalk and the women who started it.

We began our walk at Toronto Police Services HQ, the destination of the first SlutWalk, a protest led by Sonya Barnett and Heather Jarvis in reaction to comments made by TPS Constable Michael Sanguinetti at a January 24, 2011 safety briefing at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. Const. Sanguinetti suggested that in order to avoid being victimized, “women should avoid dressing like sluts.” Const. Sanguinetti’s comments, which many believe were honestly intended to be helpful, revealed a gross misunderstanding of the pathology of sexual assault and the problems associated with a crime response that stems from a root belief that a woman who is assaulted is somehow responsible for the crime committed against her. 

The SlutWalk website puts it perfectly:

“As the city’s major protective service, the Toronto Police have perpetuated the myth and stereotype of ‘the slut’, and in doing so have failed us. With sexual assault already a significantly under-reported crime, survivors have now been given even less of a reason to go to the Police, for fear that they could be blamed. Being assaulted isn’t about what you wear; it’s not even about sex; but using a pejorative term to rationalize inexcusable behaviour creates an environment in which it’s okay to blame the victim.”

The walk, which took place on April 3, 2011, attracted over 3,000 participants. SlutWalks have occurred since all over the world, including in the United States, Australia, India, London and Jerusalem.

We took a moment to remember one of Toronto’s great sex worker advocates and former Osgoode Hall Law School student, Wendy Babcock. For a time before entering law school, Wendy was a sex worker and activist for both the rights and safety of sex workers in Toronto. She contributed to a number of initiatives, including the Bad Date Coalition, Regent Park Community Health Centre’s Safer Stroll Outreach Project and  Sex Workers Women’s Drop In, the Health Bus Sex Worker Stop and Wen-Do safety training for sex workers and was on the advisory group to the TPS Special Victims Unit. She participated in documentaries, wrote on sex worker issues and testified at the Bedford trial. In her short life, she went from being homeless to respected activist to pursuing a law degree at one of Canada’s most reputable and respected law schools.

Det. Suzanne Kernohan talks about being a woman police officer and the progress her unit has made in supporting sexual assault survivors.

We also had the privilege of hearing from Detective Suzanne Kernohan, Sexual Assault Coordinator of the TPS Sex Crimes Unit, on the progress that the Toronto police have made in the meantime. She told us about the implementation of the final four of sixty recommendations of the City Auditor report on sexual assault investigations, Sexual Assault Awareness Month and a current project that TPS recently launched in collaboration with Seneca College students (“Report/Support”). She also gave us a window into how much things have changed for women officers from the time she first became a police officer to today, and the hard work she has put into improving the support for survivors of sexual assault. TPS is fortunate enough to be supported by a number of Toronto support and advocacy organizations who participate in its Sexual Assault Advisory Committee.

From there, we made quick stops at the Native Child & Family Services of Toronto, the Ministry of the Attorney General, the Human Rights Tribunal and the Mature Women’s Health Centre. The latter is run out of Victoria General Hospital and is geared to older women’s needs, including sexual health, which is unique as older women tend to be treated as non-sexual beings by most health providers. They offer medical and counselling services to women dealing with hysterectomies, menopause, and osteoporosis, and provide research and resources about controversial topics like hormone therapy.

YWCA

As early as the 1870s, YWCA Toronto has been a resource for women and girls, and an agitator for women’s safety, equity and dignity. While its inception was motivated by a desire to keep young women away from “immoral” activities like drinking, gambling, or going to the movies while finding financial independence, the YWCA has consistently been  an organization with strong values of inclusion, anti-racism, and anti-colonialism. Their service delivery is built on an understanding of intersectionality.

Since the 1870s, the YWCA has developed programs to support women exiting the prison system, settlement services for women immigrating to Toronto, skills training programs, affordable housing, emergency shelters, parenting, mental health, domestic violence, counselling, interest-free loans and many more.

We hear from Steph about the Elm Centre and the amazing ways it’s supporting women in Toronto.

The YWCA has also been a strong advocate for women’s rights. In 1965, they began advocating for birth control and sex education programs, complemented by taking an officially pro-choice stance on the abortion debate in 1971. The ‘70s were a key period for the gay rights movement, and YWCA Toronto was on the frontlines as an advocate for lesbian rights beginning in 1973. Beginning in 1998, the YWCA has offered public support for the rights of trans people as well as being a voice in the successful bid to legalize same-sex marriage in Canada in 2005. They began working in support of gun control in 1997 – particularly long guns, which are regularly used in incidents of domestic violence.

YWCA Toronto has partnered with Wigwamen Incorporated, St. Michael’s Hospital, and the Jean Tweed Centre on their Elm Centre, which we stopped at on the walk. It is both the headquarters of YWCA Toronto and an affordable housing project, with 300 units, and is the largest one Toronto has seen constructed in at least a decade. The Elm Centre’s philosophy is a combination of affordable and supportive housing designed with an understanding of the many issues and oppressions that intersect with poverty and precarious housing. 

The Elm Centre is also home to Oasis Centre des Femmes, which is an interdisciplinary centre dedicated to Francophone women 16 and older, in the GTA. Oasis provides support and assistance to women affected by violence in all its forms, including sexual assault and domestic violence. Whether through housing support, counselling, job search or entrepreneurship, Oasis’ programs and services help empower women to gain their independence. 

On our way to the next stop, we passed by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, whose Chief Commissioner is Barbara Hall, Toronto’s second female mayor, a community activist and well-respected leader.

Toronto City Hall

We stopped to talk about Toronto’s first and second female mayors: June Rowlands and Barbara Hall.

From Nathan Phillips Square, you can see Old City Hall, where Toronto’s first female city councillor, Constance E. Hamilton, worked from 1920-21. There, we profiled Toronto’s first female mayor, June Rowlands. June was also Toronto’s first female budget chief, and first female TTC commission board member. Armed with some helpful information from June’s children, we heard about a woman who worked hard, who was extremely intelligent and never worried about being a woman in a “man’s world.” Before her political career, she was involved with the Women Electors Group, a non-partisan group of council observers, who produced and circulated very well-regarded reports on council activity and decisions. While June did not consider herself to be a feminist, she is certainly admired by women who do.What allowed June to forge ahead where other women didn’t? According to her daughter, she’s very strong-willed, determined, and highly intelligent, and always followed her own path regardless of what others thought.Toronto’s second female mayor, as mentioned before, was Barbara Hall. Barbara was the last mayor of the unamalgamated City of Toronto, a lawyer, and is now Chief Commissioner of the OHRC. In her pre-politics career, she worked with rural black families in Nova Scotia, created youth programs and started one of Toronto’s first alternative schools.During her time in office, Barbara consulted Jane Jacobs on urban planning decisions, one of the most successful being the “Two Kings” projects: King and Parliament and King west of Spadina, which in the 1990s were known for old empty warehouses. A 2012 study by the Altus Group estimated that 38,000 jobs and more than $7 billion in economic activity have been generated by the Two Kings. The re-use of existing buildings and new development projects increased total taxable assessments by about $400 million between 1998 and 2002 alone. What about Two Kings residents?  62% bike to work, walk or take transit. And 42% don’t even own cars. The best part? Changing zoning by-laws cost City Hall nothing.Osgoode Hall

On our way to Osgoode Hall, we stopped at the Law Society of Upper Canada, Ontario’s lawyer and paralegal regulatory body and the organization that controls who enters the professions most often used to fight battles in equality. The Law Society is a strong promoter of women and recently approved a new law school at Lakehead University to promote Aboriginal law, issues and lawyers.

Originally opened in 1889 as Osgoode Hall Law School, one of Canada’s oldest, and now the home of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Osgoode Hall is the place where some of the most important cases for women have been argued and won.

Jane Doe v. Metropolitan Toronto (Municipality) Commissioners of Police

One of the most famous was that of Jane Doe. In 1986, Jane Doe was raped at knifepoint by a stranger who broke into her apartment from her balcony while she was sleeping. Little did she know that this was not an isolated incident, as four other women in her neighbourhood had reported very similar attacks in the seven months prior to Jane’s. The police did not dedicate a lot of resources to these assaults and did not immediately realize they were related. Once they did realize the connection, they chose not to warn other women who matched the characteristics of the other women who had been attacked.

Jane Doe brought a lawsuit against the Board of Commissioners for the Metropolitan Toronto Police flowing from the way the police handled the case. At the time, most legal commentators would have said that you could not sue the police for doing a bad job. Jane Doe, with the help of some creative lawyers, brought the action on three grounds: one, the police were negligent in failing to warn her; two, her right to equality was violated because the investigation was conducted on the basis of sexist stereotypes about women and rape myths stemming therefrom; three, her right to security of the person was violated because in deliberately withholding valuable information from her about the rapes, the police denied her the opportunity to take steps to protect herself.

Jane Doe was successful on all three claims after twelve years of litigation. She didn’t win a large settlement, but did receive formal apologies from Toronto City Council and the Toronto Police Services Board. The most concrete evidence that the City was paying attention to this case was the 1999 City Auditor Report on the investigation of sexual assault complaints. In total, the Auditor made over 60 recommendations. It’s taken some time, but all 60 of these recommendations have now been implemented.

Bedford v. Canada

The Ontario Court of Appeal is where Terri Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott took on Canada’s prostitution laws last Spring – and won.

When three women, Terri-Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch and Valerie Scott, took on the Criminal Code of Canada, they showed us that sex workers can be some of the most powerful women you’ll ever meet. As many people know, sex work, or prostitution, is not illegal in Canada. What is illegal, is everything else that comes with it, including: public communication for the purposes of prostitution, operating a “bawdy house” or living on the avails of prostitution. These laws have been challenged before, with little success. What was always lacking was a true appreciation of how sex workers are actually affected by sex work. The three argued that these laws, which purport to protect women, actually put them in harm’s way by depriving them of opportunities to take steps to protect themselves (sound familiar?). Preventing women from communicating with potential clients prevents them from screening them. Preventing women from using any place they have control over ( i.e. a “bawdy house”) prevents them from having a safe place to work – no security cameras, intercoms, locks, panic buttons, baseball bats. Preventing women from paying others from their earnings prevents them from hiring body guards. All of this means that women must work in secret and give up opportunities to seek help. In a very detailed decision, the Court of Appeal agreed to strike down the bawdy house provision. The Court also “read in” to the living on the avails provision a requirement that the circumstances be exploitative; in other words, body guards are fine, but pimps are not. The Court of Appeal did uphold the communication provision, though. The Attorney General of Canada has appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada and it is scheduled to be heard on June 13, 2013. The hearing will be webcasted.Toronto Court House

Up the street from Osgoode hall is the Toronto Court House, which is one of the buildings comprising the Superior Court of Justice, and is where the Family Court sits. Here we talked about Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella. When she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court, she was Canada’s first female Jewish judge and the country’s youngest judge ever. She was also Canada’s first pregnant judge. On the Supreme Court, she has been an ardent supporter of women’s rights and is most famous for her contributions to the law on equality.

Equal Pay Coalition

Leah tells us about that time when Frances Lankin and the Equal Pay Coalition sold sandwiches to women for $0.70 and men for $1.00 to highlight gender pay inequality.

The Equal Pay Coalition, located at 400 University Avenue, is the organization Frances Lankin was supporting when she infamously sold sandwiches to men for $1.00 and women for $0.70 in order to highlight systemic pay inequality. Frances Lankin is the former president and CEO of United Way Toronto, and a former Ontario MPP and cabinet minister. She currently co-chairs a government commission review of social assistance in Ontario. Frances was also one of the first women correctional officers to work at the Don Jail, an all-male institution.Frances’ brilliant stunt was several years ago – and not much has changed. In 2010, Canadian women made $0.68 cents for every $1.00 men made (Statistics Canada).  That means women need to work an extra 15 years to make the same as men. The gap is greatest among people with less than a high school education, where women only make 52% of what men make and lowest among people with some post-secondary education (73%). 70% of part-time workers are women. The stats get more dismal when you add on layers of intersectionality: race, religion, sexuality, gender identity and expression.The wage gap is even more harsh when you consider gender-based pricing. Ever wonder why it costs three times as much to dry clean a woman’s shirt than a man’s or to cut a woman’s hair? Scarborough MPP Lorenzo Berardinatti’s 2005 private member’s bill against gender-based pricing did: after his marriage (to current city councillor Michelle Berardinetti) made him aware of the steep disparities in price for the goods and services many consider important to project a professional appearance, and have a professional career, he proposed a bill that would give consumers the right to take cases of purely gender-based price differences to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, with fines of $2,000 imposed for the first offence and $5,000 for a subsequent offence.  The bill passed second reading and was referred to the Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs at the Ontario Legislature, but has never been called for examination there, and has not moved forward in the eight years since.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Mary Ann Shadd and Heritage Plaques

The AGO holds art from some of Canada’s pioneer female artists, including Emily Carr. For the art enthusiasts, the AGO offers private guided tours centred on women in art. While taking a minute to rest in the shade, we discussed Timeraiser, an annual auction where art lovers can bid hours of volunteer time instead of money for works of art – and which is one of the newer sources of eager volunteers for a multitude of women’s organizations in Toronto.

From the AGO to our next stop at Dundas and Spadina, there are a number of heritage plaques. We discussed the importance of these plaques and HerStories Cafe, which holds monthly lectures around the city on women’s roles in Toronto history, and their May talk on the history of Toronto’s women in commemorative plaques.

George Brown is known for being one of Toronto’s preeminent newspapermen, but fewer people know about Mary Ann Shadd. There are a number of heritage plaques dedicated to Shadd in Toronto. Shadd was a free black woman who came up from the United States following the passage of some particularly egregious legislation. After arriving in Toronto, she started the Provincial Freeman, an anti-slavery newspaper which advocated equality, integration and self-education for black people, and known for its excellent writing. Not only was Shadd the first woman newspaper publisher in North America, she was exceptionally articulate and literate considering the levels of education of women, particularly black women, in the 1850s. Shadd is also responsible for the founding of racially integrated schools. After her husband died, she moved back to the US and became one of North America’s first female lawyers and continued her activism.

Emma Goldman’s Apartment

Emma Goldman has been called the most dangerous woman in America.

We stopped at Emma’s original apartment in Toronto, on busy Spadina Avenue, just north of Dundas. Emma was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and incendiary speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, and was a writer and renowned lecturer on anarchist philosophy, women’s rights, and social issues, attracting crowds of thousands. She was imprisoned several times for “inciting to riot” and illegally distributing information about birth control. In 1906, Goldman founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth and is the arguable founder of anarcha-feminism, which challenges patriarchy as a hierarchy to be resisted alongside state power and class divisions. In 1897, she wrote:

“I demand the independence of woman, her right to support herself; to live for herself; to love whomever she pleases, or as many as she pleases. I demand freedom for both sexes, freedom of action, freedom in love and freedom in motherhood.”

Emma was also an outspoken supporter of equality for gay men and lesbians, which was a belief almost unheard of in her day. 

Former Labour Lyceum

The Bright Pearl Seafood Restaurant  is the location of the former Labour Lyceum. It is rumoured to be haunted and once housed the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. On April 14, 1937, Emma Goldman gave a talk here called “The Youth in Revolt” on the role of youth in politics. Here we discussed how young women are impacting politics today, from the Toronto Youth Cabinet to Gashanti Unity and Rathika Sitsabaiesan, Canada’s first Tamil MP, who was elected at age 29.

The Labour Lyceum was the centre of labour activity for Jewish garment workers for over four decades and served as a cultural centre for various Jewish societies and fraternal organizations. It hosted a range of activities from lectures and rallies to dances, plays, and concerts.

Toronto Women’s Bookstore

Did you know that this Kensington hangout used to be the first stand-alone home of the TWB? We miss it too :’(

Now home to quintessential Kensington Market hangout The Last Temptation, this was the first proper, stand-alone home of the Toronto Women’s Bookstore.  Founded by Patti Kirk and Marie Prins as a shelf in The Women’s Place on Dupont Street, the bookstore settled into Kensington for a handful of years, where it provided space for literary and non-fiction discussions of women’s stories, women’s ideas, and women’s conversation. It later moved up to its last home at Spadina and Harbord, where it was  neighbour to the Morgentaler Clinic, and mistakenly firebombed in 1983 – in one of the many pro-life attacks the clinic has endured over the years.Here we talked about CWILA (Canadian Women in the Literary Arts), a new organization that is carrying on TWB’s work of supporting and amplifying women’s voices in print. CWILA raises public awareness about issues of gender, race, and sexuality in Canadian literary culture by collecting data on Canadian authors and publishers, keeping track of book reviews by gender, and establishing a Poet-In-Residence position for a woman poet – all in less than a year!  Looking ahead, they will be conducting an analysis of systemic inequities in reviewing practices on the basis of race and sexuality. Take Back the BlockOur own Steph Guthrie came along to tell us about the Take Back the Block parties last fall. Over the summer, there was a steady increase in the number of tweets about public sexual assaults in Toronto – links to police reports and news stories, plus women venting their fears and frustrations about these assaults. Some of those assaults happened right around the outskirts of Kensington, one at College and Spadina. The annual march against sexual assault, Take Back the Night, was something many of us said we looked forward to, as it would give us all a sense that we had a constructive place to channel our anger and hurt. But we were also vocally wishing there was something happening in the specific neighbourhoods these assaults were taking place (they were clustered in a handful of specific areas, including this Kensington, Christie Pits, and Ryerson).Steph mused in a tweet “I wonder if block parties in the neighbourhoods affected would work. Like Take Back the Night after-parties.” A single tweet morphed into an idea for a thing that simply must happen. The idea resonated with women (and men), many of whom stepped forward to help, including a leader for each of the two parties we were planning. Neither of these women had taken on leadership roles in an activist context before and both were a tad apprehensive, but were also energized by the challenge. And both of them rose to it beautifully. We held two parties: one at the Pitman Hall Quad at Ryerson, and one in Kensington’s Bellevue Square Park with the support of councillors Vaughan, Wong-Tam and Layton, MP Olivia Chow, and nearby taco purveyor Seven Lives.

While the parties were about staying safe, we placed the emphasis on safety being a community responsibility rather than the responsibility of individual women. The parties’ philosophy explicitly drew on Jane Jacobs’ theory of “eyes on the street”: the idea that a well-used public space is more likely to be safe than a deserted one. If we make active use of our public spaces and keep our eyes on them, especially at night when we feel safe to do so (for example, sitting out on our porches at night or in a park with a group of friends), it will be more challenging for people to inflict violence on others.

Kensington Cornerstone

After our 4km journey into Toronto Women’s History, we were delighted to be fed FREE COFFEE, thanks to David and the excellent folks at the Kensington Cornerstone, where we had an opportunity to sit down face to face, chat about what we had learned, and get to know each other. We want to give a big thank you to the folks at Kensington Cornerstone for giving us a room to ourselves – and lots of cold water too!

Of course, this was only our first walk!  Due to the nature of a Jane’s Walk (it has to be walkable!) and the sheer amount of amazing women’s history – and women’s advocacy – all over Toronto, our 4km journey barely scratched the surface.

The only solution: next year!

We’re already looking forward to leading a walk in another area of Toronto next time out, and highlighting a different set of amazing contributions to and by Toronto women.  If you know an amazing person or story that should be told to everyone, please let us know, and see you on the sidewalks!

Jessica Spence (@jmspence), Leah Bobet (@leahbobet) and Steph Guthrie (@amirightfolks). All photography in this post © Philippe McNally, 2013 and many thanks to him for the photos!

WiTOpoli Executive Director Steph Guthrie deputed on our behalf about police misunderstandings of harassment laws in the Criminal Code of Canada. Check out the text of our deputation below. We regret to inform you that the TPSB had no questions following our deputation. We will keep you posted on any response we receive regarding the deputation.

Jennie Worden holds up some ideas we generated

Last night was a perfect example of how passion, ingenuity, and a sense of humour can turn a frustrating incident into something constructive.

On Sunday, Mayor Rob Ford made some (I expect) very well-intended but clumsy comments offering to “explain how politics works” to interested women in Toronto. Many women in my Twitter feed seemed outraged in that kind of bemused, exhausted way. We needed an outlet.

On Monday, we penned an open letter to the Mayor to take him up on his offer and organize a WiTOpoli event about running for office at which the Mayor could be keynote. On the same day, Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam did us one better and organized an event for the #WiTOpoli community (i.e. any woman interested in Toronto municipal politics). She cheekily called it the “Explain How Politics Works to Women” Coffee Party, and framed it as a collaborative opportunity for women to discuss the representation/inclusion of women in politics amongst themselves, with the input and support of a councillor. A portion of the proceeds from food and drink sales will go to Fife House, a supportive housing organization for people living with HIV/AIDS. Naturally, we were enthusiastic.

Last night over coffee and beer, we shared our experiences engaging with politics and politicians, our perceptions of the unique challenges women might face breaking into the field, and what kinds of changes we could effect on a micro or macro scale. I met a bunch of whip-smart people for the first time, including firebrand activist Susan Gapka (who I’ve admired from afar for some time and was thrilled to finally meet). The room was filled with other women whose names I expect will become familiar to you in the future as they shape the political landscape in Toronto.

Siva Vijenthira and Susan Gapka – new friends!

New friend Arianne Matte circulated sheets of flipchart paper with ideas about how to break down some of the barriers for women who might otherwise run for office. Other attendees jotted down their thoughts on post-its until every sheet was covered with them. I chatted at length with one attendee about the logistics and challenges of deputing before Toronto Council committees. I chatted at length with another about her plans to run for office in the near future. Read more in Robyn Doolittle’s Toronto Star article about the evening.

It was hard not to be inspired and energized by the ideas, connections and ambition that emerged from what began for many of us as a negative experience. From mayoral lemons, a truly delicious lemonade.

Steph Guthrie is co-founder of Women in Toronto Politics. You can follow her on Twitter at @amirightfolks.

So, do you watch The Voice? Neither do I. But I am still able to grasp its basic — and apparently very successful — premise: that during blind auditions, the decisions from the musician coaches are based solely on a competitor’s singing voice, and not on their physical looks. Thanks, rotating chairs!

Not going to lie: When I first heard about it, I respected the small innovation. For I, too, am swayed by the comparative attractiveness of those brave enough to brave American Idol,  So You Can Dance, and other similar stages. I’m not really listening – I’m looking.

The thing is, I realized that I do this in politics, too: I search for charisma and relatability. I (yes, foolishly!) survey fashion and demeanor, and scour facial expressions.  I’m looking for clues: Who is this person? Can I trust them? Do I like them? Will their Twitter feed annoy me? Which is to say: I think about the wrong stuff. Maybe you do, too.

So if this – initial blindness – can “work” in the inherently corporeal entertainment industry, why not transfer it to public life? The great work being done by Women in Toronto Politics has forced me to really think about the gender of elected officials.  I suppose that I’m passionate about gender equality. And in caring so much about women in politics, I’ve realized that maybe I don’t care about gender at all.

Perhaps it’s time to remove personhood from politics. Platforms matter, not people.  If anything, people obscure platforms, to the detriment of the voting populace. A singular leader is not responsible for the entire design of a political strategy, so let’s stop pretending. I mean, what if we could get over whether a politician is sexy or if they look goofy in a sweater vest? (FYI: everyone looks goofy in a sweater vest). What if we talked about their goals and values a little more than we mocked them, parroted their poor word choice, or speculated whether they could really have it all?

The leader of a party is just that: the representative of, and for, that party and its platform. This person who we place so much social primacy on is merely a conduit for the voice of an institution.  Do I care if they are male or female? No.

Do I care if they have a bad haircut? No.

Do I care about their weight? Guess? No.

Do I care if they creepily stare directly into the camera during debates? No.

Do I care if they are married, or divorced, or gay, or have tattoos, or accidentally got a bellybutton ring when they were 17? Well, maybe I’m curious, but it won’t – or rather, shouldn’t – be a determining factor when I’m at the ballot box.

Here’s what I care about: their intellect, experience, and capacity to lead. Are they effectively communicating a coherent strategy for Canada, or their ward?  Can they think, on their feet and otherwise?

The novelty of Vote Compass gets close to that. It offers an accessible framework for learning about party platforms, stimulating discussion on a wide variety of election issues, and encouraging democratic participation within the electorate.

I want to get closer. I can imagine a political debate hosted in the style of the awesome game show, Blind Date. Because if XTina can do it, we can, too! And the best part? We’ll all be the judge.

Now, for Bachelor Number One…

Vass Bednar loves her male twin Alex, who supports her aggressive feminism and knows that boys and girls are “the same.”  She works as EA to the Director at the School of Public Policy & Governance, is an Action Canada fellow and blogs affectionately at www.vicariousass.com

Initiating a new public project is also completely terrifying. It’s a tremendous amount of work to get a new idea off the ground, particularly if it’s unaffiliated with your job or schooling. It eats up most of your spare time, all of your energy, and maybe some of your money, too. It can really be worth it if you get going, but the financial and emotional barriers to getting started are prohibitive.

My experience with #WiTOpoli is that a few passionate, intelligent collaborators can break down these barriers. By distributing the weight of expectations and hard work across multiple pairs of shoulders, the daunting task of translating an idea into reality becomes manageable – fun, even. You have the benefit of five people’s contact networks, five people’s pocketbooks, and obviously five people’s brains. The trick is to find people as excited about the mission as you are, and even that doesn’t have to be so tricky.

I connected with most of my #WiTOpoli collaborators through Twitter. Since I followed them, I knew what they tweeted about, giving me a sense of who might be interested in what I was trying to do. The connections we forge on Twitter are typically based on shared interests, making it an ideal avenue for recruiting compatriots to your cause. It’s important to meet them in person though, as this can give you a better sense of how committed they are to the idea and how much time they’re able to volunteer to translate it into action.

Once you have your trusted collaborators on board, the rest seems easy. A new task rears its head, you ask the group who can take it on, someone volunteers, and it gets done: rinse, repeat. Eventually you build a rhythm with your group, learn which tasks are best suited to which folks, and things go even more smoothly. Before you know it, you’re launching the initiative – it sneaks up on you, almost as if it materialized out of thin air.

So, why aren’t more women running?

As we heard numerous times at both WiTOpoli panels, women are socialized to be the helpers, the nurturers; to be docile and kind and simple. But @ChefWendy B‘s passionate speech at last week’s Comment Section panel paints a different picture: that if the women in the room (and on Twitter) are any indication, we are not all that docile or kind a crowd. We just need to get going.  But a different barrier to political office, one about which there seems to be less said or written, is money.

During the first panel, 2010 mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson reflected on the challenges she faced in getting donations for her campaign – all while some of her opponents were able to build six-figure campaign budgets. She told the crowd to just get out there and raise money, or to give money to a deserving candidate. A wonderful call to action, but I shared sideways glances with other members of the audience as we thought: Oh, just like that!

That financial point was raised again Wednesday night by Councillor Shelley Carroll. She asked who in the room had ever raised money for a cause, be it for bake sales, 10k runs, Movember, or anything else, and almost every hand in the room went up. At some point or another we’ve all given, or asked for, money for a good cause. Councillor Carroll then followed up by asking how many had ever raised money for themselves, and — not many hands.

Getting elected is a challenge. But before you do that you need to run a campaign, and running a campaign is a challenge in itself: an expensive one. Unless candidates plan on bankrolling their own way, they need to get over their anxieties and make the ask. Tell people, “Support me. Back me. Because you need me and I will be the best person in this position.” Not only that, but in the event that they lose, a candidate needs to be confident enough to go back to those same people after the loss and say it again.

We perceive our form of government as fair (enough) in that almost any citizen can run for office, regardless of race, age, gender, or sexual orientation. It can be uncomfortable to think that while this is true, it’s a lot easier to run for office if you’re rich. Or know rich people. And if you’re not rich, and don’t know rich people, it’s going to be a much harder battle to build financial capital.

So what can you do if you’re low on accessible financial capital? Build political capital.

Build trust. That trust is the foundation of getting the money needed to run a strong political campaign. Are you not ready to run for office? It’s never too early to start building that trust, that political capital.

Find a councillor you support, and help them in their campaign. Study up: The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has helpful information for prospective women candidates here, and Getting to the Gate provides an free online campaign training workshop for women of all ages and backgrounds. There are even campaign training boot camps held around the city. Learn from others’ experiences. Get in touch with Shawnte Clow, who is coordinating ward auxiliaries to get folks living in the same ward together and talking, and go out to ward meetings.

And that way, when it’s your turn to run for office?  You’ll be a natural.

Emma Jenkin (@indeedemma)

The July executive committee meetings were the start of something valuable, not just in the direction of this city’s government, but in our civic discourse.  And at #WiTOpoli there we were, in one room, with snacks and drinks and no 140-character limit.

Activist Dave Meslin (@meslin) has been pushing from several directions to improve the accessibility of City Hall, an approach incorporating his The Fourth Wall exhibit and work with RaBIT.ca.  Tweeter @catfish8888 picked up on one of the ideas Dave has floated after the panel: “I was thinking of your ‘guide to City Hall’ idea. Make it easy to grasp and less daunting to newbies.”

Navigating City Hall is a skill, and one too often couched in jargon because we tend to forget that not everyone speaks the subcultural languages we ourselves know.  Making a 101-style guide to accessing both the political and services side of our city government would give women wanting to get involved a great starter resource for how to get their own projects off the ground.

#TOpoli 101
The tweeters, activists, council-watchers, and self-described “wonks and nerds” of #TOpoli are in our own way not as accessible as we’d like, too.  We throw around inside jokes and references, know who all the councillors are, and take for granted, just like in any social group, that the knowledge is common.

As council-watchers and overall city activists, we don’t always think on the ward level, or speak to our councillors as constituents living in their ward; as the people who represent our interests.  And we don’t always talk to our geographical neighbours about how they’re making our city better.

And that’s why the #WiTOpoli committee members, after the panel ended, were discussing a group blog for women in Toronto politics: a space for people to speak occasionally, as part of a community, and still have a platform where they can know they’ll be hear. This way, we can increase the diversity of opinions and viewpoints in our public discourse, and build our city together.

Here’s to the hope that this week’s post, these projects, and the way #WiTOpolipanel attendees have started volunteering for each other’s ideas — exchanging our metaphorical business cards! — is just the beginning! Feel inspired by any of these ideas? Tweet at the folks who raised them – many hands make light work, and your collaboration might be just what’s needed to get something started.

-Leah Bobet (@leahbobet)

We channeled that frustration-turned-creative-energy into a panel series, the first of which (a huge success in my opinion) kicked off at CSI Annex on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. I have to admit it was pretty inspiring to see a small group of women (including @indeedemma, @godmere, @brige_noel, @ChefWendyB, @erinjamesabra, @laura_and_, and @sarahmckitrick) put together a movement, a panel series, a call to arms in such a short period of time. Working as a community, the impossible fell into place.

The Comment Section panel was more than I could have hoped for. Not only did we have a diverse group of wonderfully intelligent and thoughtful guests, men and women, but we had a group of fearless panelists with such energy that their two hours under the hot lights melted away. They were funny, they were brutally honest, they did not agree on things, they had perspectives I’d never heard before. They were the epitome of women who had successfully fought their way into the discourse.

While it is true that this event would never have happened 30 years ago, it’s not enough. We want #WiTOpoli to be more than a few wonderfully fun and inspiring evenings. We want to be a force of critical advocacy but we also want to actively promote the voices we all need to hear more. Just as Steph sponsored me and as she herself was sponsored by @goldsbie, we want to be the platform that identifies intelligent but ignored voices in #WiTOpoli and be their megaphone.

In line with this goal, as I circulated the room after the panel wrapped up Wednesday evening, matching Twitter handles to faces, I spoke to a number of women about contributing to this blog. After all that was said by the panel about women undervaluing their own efforts, I still heard too many women say, “but I can’t write.” I do not write for a living. I am not a prose master, and by no means an expert in the area. But, I tend to believe that if you can get your point across in 140 characters, you can write.

When I circulate the room next Wednesday, May 30, 2012 after the Front Page panel, I’m not taking “no” for an answer.

Stop telling yourself shit and write for us. Then email us at womentopolitics@gmail.com.

Jessica Spence (@jmspence)

This whole situation would be almost tragi-comic did it not involve the top elected figure in our city on the one hand, and a reporter charged exercising his profession on the other. The incident poisons the well of what should be a civil relationship, even while it may grow tense at times, given the high stakes of politics. We know now that the macho posturing will continue, right into future press scrums.

  -Anonymous #WiTOpoli contributor