Letter: A new day has dawned in Medicine Hat
By Letter to the Editor on October 27, 2021.
Dear editor,
I am extremely ecstatic with the election of our new mayor and council. It truly feels like the end of the “old boys club” and that people truly wanted change. But what is it that people were expecting? What difference would gender make?
We all have our theories and here is mine. Traditionally, according to scholars (Noddings, Thayer-Bacon, Martin, Farber, Rooney) feminine qualities are characterized by empathy, caring, compassion, collaboration and listening. Masculine qualities are competitiveness, individualism, aggression and confrontation.
Of course, men and women are not characterized exclusively by only masculine or feminine qualities. We all possess a spectrum of each. However, women are traditionally seen to have more of the softer above-mentioned qualities than men. Reasons why this is the case are highly debated by nature-versus-nurture scholars. In the Jordan Peterson and Peggy McIntosh debate, I am firmly on the side of McIntosh in that I believe all men and women can be socialized into having both masculine and feminine qualities.
So, what does the “old boys club” mean to ordinary women like me? And why am I so ecstatic to see a sweeping change in this city’s representation? And do I represent the majority of those who voted for these young women?
I don’t have the answers, but I for one want to see more collaboration, empathy, compassion, transparency and listening from our city representatives. I for one would like to feel more represented by the elected officials of our city. And I for one believe that maybe “the good days” of more of the same may finally be over and people are ready to embrace some of these softer “feminine” qualities by both the men and women who represent us.
I think the message is clear – it is time to change the way we do things. It appears that the good old days of the entitlement of the old boys club are fading into the night and a new day has dawned.
Gwendoline Dirk
Medicine Hat
If you can say it was a “good old boys club”, then we can say the new council may very well become a “drama club”, one of the major characteristics that you left out of the feminine qualities side. Time will tell ….