A bit of jet lag won’t prevent a Collingwood councillor from helping more women get involved in politics, half-way across the world.
Coun. Kathy Jeffery travelled to Ghana, Africa from Feb. 2 to 8 as part of her work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and their Women in Local Leadership project.
This marked Jeffery’s third trip to Ghana since 2022 as part of the project, and she said she’s had the unique experience of seeing the impacts of her work over the past three years with her own eyes.
The long-time Collingwood councillor was appointed by FCM for the project as an expert on women in government, and the endeavour is personal.
“People tried to push me around early in my career. I know what it feels like,” she told CollingwoodToday this week. “I feel like I’m making a difference where it’s needed and I’ve always believed that if we have it to give, we should.”
Jeffery is a director on the FCM board, and had already been part of a similar project in Jordan where the aim was to improve opportunities for women in government leadership and help improve the state of local solid waste management.
The Women in Local Leadership project aims to increase women’s capacity to get involved in local governance in their countries, and to grow the local government capacity to deliver inclusive, gender-responsive services. Global Affairs Canada covers expenses for Jeffery to travel for the project.
“I had to learn a lot about their governance structure,” said Jeffery, adding that the president of Ghana appoints all 261 mayors of the Ghana communities. Members of council are elected within the regions.
“They have appointed and elected officials. I see my job as building the farm team so there are women ready to take those appointments and build up male allies within those communities.”
“It’s a very patriarchal system there, and still very challenging for the women in those communities,” she said.
While each trip for Jeffery to Ghana has focused on something different, this time around she focused training on conflict resolution and leadership styles/skills. She does team-building and talks with women about topics such as social media and its impact on politics, coming up with a platform and evidence-based decisionmaking.
“I tell them, number one, don’t react. It’s most important to be you. Don’t apologize for being a woman in politics,” said Jeffery. “It can impact your integrity after-the-fact if you don’t say what you mean, and mean what you say. Only promise what you can deliver.”
She said people in Ghana face completely different challenges than in the western world, with some areas of Ghana still without electricity.
“I have to adapt to come up with solutions for them that work with their reality,” she said.
As of now, Jeffery said Ghana has about nine per cent of government positions held by women. They have two women in parliament. She said even in Canada, when she was first elected to the FCM board there were about 20 per cent of government positions held by women. As of last year, that number is only at about 30 per cent.
“It took us two decades to get there. Ghana is just starting. They’re doing the right things and we can feel momentum,” she said.
In January, Ghana elected its first-ever female vice president, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang.
“They’re really hopeful about what that’s going to do to generate other appointments,” said Jeffery.
On this trip, Jeffery managed to take a day trip to a rural area and met with 45 elected women officials.
“Every woman spoke. At the end, a group of women with disabilities spoke. They’re really not seriously considered for government. They asked me if you could run (for office) in Canada if you’re disabled,” Jeffery recalled.
“When I picked my chin up off the floor, I told them anybody can run with the same supports for elections. We make accommodations as a nation,” she said.
Upon arriving home, she said she received word that some of the women she spoke with chose to run for elected positions. Although none were successful, Jeffery said the women participating at all was a major step.
“That made me very happy,” she said.
She also had the unique experience of participating in a Feb. 3 Collingwood council meeting remotely from Ghana.
“I got a little teary-eyed thinking about what I had just done. I was able to participate in my home council meeting while halfway around the world helping other women. It hit me profoundly,” she said.
- With files from Erika Engel