Reversing the trend: Getting more women into P.E.I. politics

A three-year project hopes to get more women involved in P.E.I. politics: in the legislature, on councils, and in the back room.

In the last provincial election, the number of women in the legislature dropped from six to five of 27. Following the 2007 election there were seven.

• Fewer women elected to P.E.I. legislature

The Engaging Island Women for Political Action Project is being organized by a few different groups, including the P.E.I. Coalition for Women in Government and Women's Network P.E.I.

Kirstin Lund of Winding Path Inc., which is providing leadership training for participants, said part of the goal is to help women overcome common barriers that prevent them from getting their name on the ballot, and sometimes those come from within.

"What are the blocks that they're putting in their own way," she said.

"Once they have some success in removing some of those blocks, which of course the first piece of that is to identify them in the first place because a lot of the time those are unconscious blocks, is then to help them to put in place some action plans."

The project will include a symposium, meetings and group activities.

The program, which launched on Thursday, will be offered over two years, with five cohorts of up to ten women each year.

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