Regina councillor says being a female politician an ‘extra hill to climb’

A story from the 2024 campaign trail sticks out in Sarah Turnbull’s mind as she contemplates the additional hurdles women face – especially in politics.

“I actually door-knocked someone who told me that they would only vote for a man,” the Ward 5 councillor recounted for reporters Wednesday. She responded by inviting him to an all-candidates forum scheduled for that evening.

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“At the end of that debate, he came and found me, and he’s like, ‘You did it, you sneaky girl.’ And I was like, ‘Hey, what did I do?’ He’s like, ‘You’re gonna make me vote for a woman.’

“And I felt like that was sort of like a really fun moment for me during the campaign, but also really telling.”

Turnbull expressed her frustrations in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

“Being called a ‘hot councillor’ isn’t the compliment you think it is, in fact it’s outright degrading and I’m done pretending it’s okay,” she said in the post.

“It means getting interrupted, dismissed and steamrolled while male colleagues get respect and credit,” she said in the post. “It means being told not to offer opinions in meetings, being told not to preach, having my motions scrutinized in ways no one else’s are and being told I think I’m too cool, too smart, too emotional, too attention seeking.”

Turnbull elaborated on her thoughts during a break in Wednesday’s Executive Committee meeting.

“The criticism I receive the most often, or the most feedback I receive the most often, has nothing to do with my policy, has nothing to do with parking meters or playgrounds or accessibility,” she said. “What I hear more is, who does she think she is? What does she think she’s wearing? What colour is her hair, and really quite discriminatory comments which have nothing to do with anything that’s happening at council.”

Turnbull said she’s been accused of having a personal agenda, when in fact she campaigned on accessibility.

“I’m here because I wanted to make Regina a better place for my kids, specifically for the barriers that they have,” she said.

But she declined to comment on whether she feels there is a double standard in how council and committee meetings are chaired.

“I will say that sometimes council meetings run long and emotions run high and it’s a learning process for everybody,” she explained. “I wouldn’t say that there’s, like, a war between men or women on council or anything like that. I think we’re trying to work our way together through something.”

Mayor Chad Bachynski said he understands the challenges Turnbull has faced with the comments she receives.

“From my perspective, I absolutely think that’s completely inappropriate for some of the things I think she’s experienced,” he told reporters after Wednesday’s meeting, “and absolutely support her in making sure that she stands up against that, and I also stand up against any kind of, behaviours or messages like that.”

He added while topics may become heated at meetings, the relationships between council members are good.

“Sometimes topics can get frustrating or narratives can get frustrating. That’s the reality of some of the conversations, because everybody cares and everybody is passionate about these topics,” Bachynski said. “So I think sometimes things come out, and maybe in an unintentional way, and that does happen.

“But from my perspective, I’ve always had a good relationship with all of our councillors, and I think we have a good balance on council. I think we’ve said it to each other lots of times, where we debate hard in public, but after we’re all shaking hands and respect that decisions are made and we move forward.”

Turnbull believes changing attitudes over the years have helped shape behaviour.

“You’re dealing with people who are like, I don’t see what’s wrong with someone saying, ‘You’re pretty, or you’re this, or you’re that,’ because you have to understand if you are being seen that way, it’s taking away from the other things,” she said.

“And that balance is hard too, because who doesn’t like to be told they’re pretty, right? And you don’t want to be like, that’s what I’m all about. You just want to be there and be like, actually, I’m here for this purpose, and this is why I got elected. And stop telling me what to wear. I will wear what I would like to wear, because that’s who I am, and it represents my creativity and authenticity. And if I were to change that and put on a uniform, I’ve allowed people to tell me what to wear.”