Minnesota

'Change doesn’t happen with the same voices': All-female St. Paul city council makes history

USA TODAY

St. Paul City Council members, Mitra Jalali, Anika Bowie, Rebecca Noecker, Saura Jost, HwaJeong Kim, Nelsie Yang and Chenique Johnson are introduced at the start of the inauguration ceremony for St. Paul City Council members in St. Paul, Minn. on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

The city council in St. Paul, Minnesota is now made up entirely of women, a first not only in the city's history but also likely among major cities in the U.S.

The council, comprised mostly of women of color and all under 40 years old, was sworn in Tuesday and began the city's business at its first meeting on Wednesday, including approving mayoral appointments and appeals of abatement ordinances

"We’re a multifaith, multicultural group of women. Our professional experiences are what people trusted as much as our personal ones," St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali told the Associated Press. "We have a clear policy vision that we got elected on.”

Experts who spoke to the Associated Press said that the council is the first all-female council of a major American city.

"To have a 100% female city council in a major city in the United States is really significant," Karen Kedrowski, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University told the AP. "If it’s not the first one, it’s one of the first where this has happened – so it’s a big deal."

Minnesota lieutenant governor says this should be 'the way it is'

Members of the St. Paul City Council hold their first meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. Experts who track women in politics say St. Paul, with a population of about 300,000 people, is the first large U.S. city they know of with an all-female city council.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said that while the all-female council has made history, "it should also simply be the way it is,” according to The New York Times.

Flanagan spoke to a packed auditorium as the council members were sworn in, telling them that young people “are going to dream big and achieve their dreams because of the risk you were willing to take," the newspaper reported.

Six of the seven women on the council are women of color and all are Democrats.

"This is the vision I had when I first started organizing eight years ago," Nelsie Yang, the representative for Ward 6 who was first elected to the council in 2020, told the Times. "Change doesn’t happen with the same voices at the table."

Yang, 28, is also the first Hmong-American to serve on the council.

St. Paul City Council President Mitra Jalali gives her dad, Dr. Hossein Jalali, a hug after her oath of office during the inauguration ceremony for St. Paul City Council members in St. Paul, Minn. on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. The youngest and most diverse city council in the history of Minnesota's capital city was sworn into office Tuesday, officially elevating the first all-female St. Paul City Council into public service at City Hall.

Jalali noted at the swearing-in ceremony that the historic first was not without blowback.

"A whole lot of people who were comfortable with majority male, majority white institutions for nearly 170 years of city history are suddenly sharply concerned about representation," she said. "My thoughts and prayers are with them in this challenging time."

The audience erupted into applause.

Stats show women underrepresented in municipal politics

According to data from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, nearly 70% of municipal offices in the United States are held by men.

In Minnesota, 35% of municipal officials in the state are women, placing the state in a tie with Michigan for the 16th highest state in the country for male representatives.

Arizona and Alaska are tied for the states with the most women holding municipal offices at 45%. North Dakota ranks 50th with 20% of the state's municipal offices held by women.

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