When His Worship was a Her

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This article was published 26/07/2015 (3196 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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His Worship. The honorific written on the first official document in 1992 Winnipeg’s first and only female mayor, Susan Thompson, had to sign.

Two words Thompson describes in 2015 as a pretty big message the city was not prepared for a female mayor.

“I said to them, ‘Are you trying to tell me that here I am, the first woman to become mayor, the city is 119 years old and never once when you printed those documents did you ever think to put her/his? Did you never anticipate that a woman might someday become mayor of Winnipeg?’ ” she told city officials that first day as mayor in 1992.

Her solution was prudent and simple: take a red pen, cross it out and scribble, “Her Worship” on every single one. A practice she continued until the supply of gender-specific documents ran out.

When they eventually reprinted the documents, they read, and still do this day: His/Her Worship.

Thompson pulled off a surprise victory when she bested 16 opponents, including then councillor Greg Selinger.

Not only was she walking into a council unfamiliar with having a female leader, she was an outsider who stole the mayor’s chair out from under three incumbent councillors who ran against her.

As part of the Free Press’s Women’s Democracy Project, a series of news stories written in advance of the 100th anniversary of Manitoba women’s right to vote in January, the Free Press sat down and spoke with Thompson about the challenges she faced on the road to the mayor’s chair and her six years in office.

“I believe most women go into politics to make things better; it is not a power game,” she said when asked how she decided to enter politics. “They are driven to go in to make a difference, and that was my motivation.”

From the onset, it was not an easy glass ceiling to break. During the campaign, she spoke of a radio interview in which a host questioned whom she’d take to the social events required of a mayor, since she wasn’t married.

“Not a question about my economic policy, or social policy or my qualifications — the second question was who is going to be my escort because I was single,” she told the Free Press. “You’re not asking the three other lead candidates if their wives are going to join them; you’re asking me because I am single and a woman.”

Once in office, she faced councillors who spoke down to her, accusations from the media she lacked “substance” and constant criticism about her weight or choice of clothing.

Criticism that male or female, a new mayor could face, but compounded by the fact Thompson was a woman.

In 1995, she was able to prove the naysayers wrong and won a second term.

It’s been 20 years since Winnipeg has elected a female leader. In last year’s civic election, two women ran for mayor, and Judy Wasylycia-Leis spent a large portion of the race as the front-runner, although she ultimately lost. However, four women were elected to council, one of the best showings for women in recent years.

Echoing the wise words she once heard from Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella, Thompson argues for women to achieve equality, it is through legislation and laws.

“And the way you do that is by getting elected,” she said.

“When you talk about why women should run, it is a much bigger picture, and in my opinion, right about now women have to understand that the most important level of government going forward is city government; the majority of people live in cities.”

When asked how she feels, knowing she blazed the trail for future women to lead Winnipeg, the word she used was “fantastic.”

“Another barrier was broken, and history was made for women, so just by the very nature of history and breaking that barrier, it opened up a whole world of possibilities for other women to know this was possible,” she said.

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca