National

New Brunswick Turns To Twitter To Encourage More Women To Seek Elected Office

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 Mar, 2016 11:37 AM

FREDERICTON — In a province where fewer than one in five mayors are female, New Brunswick has launched a social media campaign to encourage more women to run in this spring's municipal elections.

Premier Brian Gallant says he wants more women at the decision-making tables after the May 9 elections provincewide, because studies show that would lead to a stronger economy and better governance.

Women remain under-represented within all levels of government in New Brunswick.

At the municipal level in 2012, women accounted for 32 per cent of all councillor positions and only 18 per cent of all elected mayors in New Brunswick.

To get more women to put their names forward as candidates, the premier and the provincial Women's Equality Branch will be sending out encouraging tweets over the next two weeks.

The Twitter campaign will use the hashtags #GetintheRace and #DevenezCandidate.

The province says more than 1,000 women and men are expected to step forward to run for positions in local governments, district education councils and regional health authorities.

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