A group of citizens<\/a> will present to Lethbridge City Council this Monday, advocating for changing the usage of \u201calderman\u201d as a term for city council members to \u201ccouncillor\u201d. I support this change.<\/p>\nThe equality of women has become more important to me as I have been back in school. I have taken several courses that discuss women\u2019s right and feminist theory, and it is clear to me that while we have made strides in women being treated better than in the past, there are still institutional changes that need to be made before the hegemony of our patriarchal system is gone.<\/p>\n
There has been quite a bit of discussion regarding this proposed change, and there are a few common arguments I wanted to address:<\/p>\n
This will cost too much money and that money could be spent on more important things.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe costs of this change in terms of money and time is\u00a0negligible\u00a0if the change is done when the next council is elected and most of those changes have to be made anyhow. Also, calling the equality of women unimportant (or at the very least, less important) does nothing to further their equality.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlderman\u201d is a term that has come to refer to both men and women. It makes no difference what they\u2019re called.<\/strong><\/p>\nIf it makes no difference, then why is there even a debate? The fact that people consider a male-dominated term like \u201calderman\u201d to be acceptable for both genders is further evidence of how\u00a0embedded\u00a0the hegemony is in our society.\u00a0Additionally, if the term doesn\u2019t matter, then I assume supporters of maintaining the status quo would be fine with using \u201calderwoman\u201d instead to refer to both male and female city council members.<\/p>\n
There are more pressing issues requiring the time and attention of city council members.<\/strong><\/p>\nCertainly there are issues requiring more of the attention and time of the city council. This is precisely why this non-issue should be dealt with. It will take hardly and time, we can be done with it, and city council can move onto the so-called more important issues.<\/p>\n
If it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe problem is that it is \u201cbroke\u201d. Period.<\/p>\n
Supporting the change is the socially responsible thing to do. There is no compelling reason to keep the archaic \u201calderman.\u201d The Municipal Government Act uses \u201ccouncillor,\u201d and so do many communities across Alberta, even many smaller and more rural than Lethbridge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{EAV:bfe22a5c2d268e2c} A group of citizens will present to Lethbridge City Council this Monday, advocating for changing the usage of \u201calderman\u201d as a term for city council members to \u201ccouncillor\u201d. I support this change. The equality of women has become more important to me as I have been back in school. I have taken several courses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[77,90],"class_list":["post-982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sexism-and-women-studies","tag-lethbridge","tag-sexism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4NkW7-fQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1379,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2013\/08\/14\/if-my-facebook-page-gets-3000-likes-i-will-run-for-lethbridge-city-council\/","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":0},"title":"If my Facebook page gets 3,000 likes, I will run for Lethbridge city council.","author":"Kim Siever","date":"14 August 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I need your help. I\u2019m hoping to run for Lethbridge city council this fall, but I have placed a limit on myself (for various reasons):\u00a0I can\u2019t run until my Facebook page gets 3000 likes. I don\u2019t want to get into the reason why I chose to do it this way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"998578_491079224313235_626638741_n","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ourthoughts.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/998578_491079224313235_626638741_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ourthoughts.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/998578_491079224313235_626638741_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ourthoughts.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/998578_491079224313235_626638741_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":205,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2007\/06\/29\/lethbridge-growth-management-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":1},"title":"Lethbridge Growth Management Review","author":"Kim Siever","date":"29 June 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Apparently the City of Lethbridge requested public comments regarding their Growth Management review. I missed it, so I sent the following letter to Tom Wickersham, who was acting mayor at the time. Dear Mr. Wickersham, I apologise for the lateness of me message. I heard about the request for comments\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lethbridge"","block_context":{"text":"Lethbridge","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/lethbridge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4193,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2020\/02\/25\/the-extensive-consultations-of-the-scs-a-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":2},"title":"The extensive consultations of the SCS: a history","author":"Kim Siever","date":"25 February 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I don\u2019t understand how opponents of the supervised consumption site can say there wasn\u2019t enough consultation prior to the it opening.","rel":"","context":"In "SCS"","block_context":{"text":"SCS","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/politics\/scs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/833689470_80420cd11a_o.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/833689470_80420cd11a_o.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/833689470_80420cd11a_o.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/02\/833689470_80420cd11a_o.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4280,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2020\/03\/18\/lethbridge-is-not-a-mormon-town\/","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":3},"title":"Lethbridge is not a Mormon town","author":"Kim Siever","date":"18 March 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In fact, there are roughly 400% more non-religious people in Lethbridge than there are Mormons.","rel":"","context":"In "Lethbridge"","block_context":{"text":"Lethbridge","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/lethbridge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/240798_406789556048013_819195730_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/240798_406789556048013_819195730_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/240798_406789556048013_819195730_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/240798_406789556048013_819195730_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/240798_406789556048013_819195730_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":185,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2006\/12\/06\/revitalising-downtown-lethbridge-high-density-housing\/","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":4},"title":"Revitalising Downtown Lethbridge & High Density Housing","author":"Kim Siever","date":"6 December 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was running for a seat on city council in 2001, one of the most common issues I heard brought up was the fact Lethbridgians wanted the downtown revitalised. I think that is all and good and could go a long way to improving the city. Another thing I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lethbridge"","block_context":{"text":"Lethbridge","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/lethbridge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":995,"url":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2012\/04\/20\/why-im-voting-shannon-phillips-for-mla-of-lethbridge-west\/","url_meta":{"origin":982,"position":5},"title":"6 reasons I\u2019m voting Shannon Phillips for MLA of Lethbridge West","author":"Kim Siever","date":"20 April 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I hate the party system. Well, more specifically, I hate what it has done to our political system. We now live in a time where everything revolves around the party. We cannot discuss politics without others assuming we belong to one party or another. Politicians represent their party to us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=982"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4469,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions\/4469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}