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Sara Conrad

Editor, skirt! Jacksonville

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I love thinking and talking about feminism and writing for skirt!. I went to the University of Iowa and I'll put up a good fight about spelling. ...

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JCCI asks: Why is there a lack of gender balance on the current City Council?

Here are the facts accroding to JCCI Forward:

14 women ran for City Council (30%)

32 men ran for City Council (70%)

3 women sat on City Council (16%)

16 men sat on City Council (84%) 

JCCI Forward and the many who are passionate about women’s success attended the forum on May 1st and discussed why we are seeing a decline in women running for City Council in Jacksonville.

We know women are great leaders, so why the stall?

Many voiced that it could be the lack of training and mentorship available to women desiring to run for office. It also seemed that some women were waiting for someone to tell them that they should run for office. But why are we waiting for the green light, the approval, and the permission?

I think a lot of times, as women, we think about others (friends, husband, family, children, co-workers) before we think of ourselves. Now, that’s a nice quality to have. But sometimes, I think, we should be selfish and do what we want--especially if it has the added benefit of helping others...like showing Jacksonville that women make wonderful leaders.

What do you think? I think we should discuss this more often. The meeting was full of intelligent scheming without a plan in place. I say we make one!