Photo: John Autey | Pioneer Press via AP
When St. Paul, Minnesota, City Council President Mitra Jalali looked out at her fellow council members at their initial meeting, she saw all the members’ seats were occupied by women – a first for Minnesota’s capital city. St. Paul is the first large US city known to have an all-female city council. All seven women are under 40 years old, and six out of 7 are women of color. From civil engineering to nonprofit directing, they have a wide range of professional experiences, which Jalali said helps capture the city’s diversity. “What’s remarkable about this lineup is not just that it’s all women, but it’s the age and diversity of these women,” said Heidi Heitcamp, director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago. “It’s going to be a wonderful opportunity to see what diversity produces in terms of public policy, what things will change, because you have different people sitting at the table who traditionally haven’t had those roles,” Heitcamp said.
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