More women on City Council to increase representation

Following a close race for At-Large and District 4 positions, the Boston City Council will have four women in office, a tie for the most who have served in Council history.

At-large councilor-elect Annissa Essaibi George and lawyer Andrea Campbell, councilor-elect of District 4, will join At-Large Councilors Ayanna Pressley and Michelle Wu in the council in January.

Shifting demographics will have a positive impact on the council and Boston as a whole, Essaibi George, also a teacher and business owner, said.

“One of the things I talked about on the campaign trial was that Boston is made up of just over 50 percent women, but only two of the [current] 13 members of City Council were women,” Essaibi George said. “It’s important that the City Council be more reflective of the city.”

The last time the council had four women serving was from 1994 to 1997. Peggy Davis-Mullen, Maureen Feeney, Maura Hennigan and Diane Modica served at the time.

Essaibi George won a spot over Stephen Murphy while Campbell pushed Charles Yancey, who has served since 1983, out of office. In the at-large election, Essaibi George received approximately 18 percent of the vote while Pressley and Wu earned nearly a quarter and 22 percent respectively, The Daily Free Press reported Nov. 3.

After winning the election, Campbell expressed excitement to begin her work with City Council.

“Now the real work begins to make that vision for District 4 a reality,” Campbell said in a Nov. 3 press release, “I look forward to continuing to mobilize residents around the issues most critical to our community and to push for more resources to come to this district.”

District 4 encompasses the neighborhoods of Dorchester and Mattapan.

The first woman to hold a spot on the Council was Mildred Harris in 1937. Pressley was the first woman of color elected and Wu was first Asian-American woman to serve on the Council.

Essaibi George said she felt encouraged by the strides made in the most recent election to better represent the women of Boston, but also she felt that more needs to be done to incorporate racial diversity into council.

“For me, what’s most important is that we have an elected body in Boston that is more representative of the city of Boston. We’re certainly not there yet, but we’ve made improvements with this last election,” Essaibi George said. “We also need to make some more gains in considering the racial and ethnic makeup of the city and how it’s reflected in the City Council.”

Citing personal experience in the Boston Public Schools system, Essaibi George said that knowledge can help create a more representative City Council.

“What I bring to the table is my experience as a classroom teacher. I’ve been a teacher for 13 years in Boston. I’ve also built a successful small business in the city of Boston, and I’m a parent,” Essaibi George said. “Those experiences in particular are similar experiences to those of many Boston residents.”

Essaibi George said she looks forward to working with the council to offer because of the “unique twist” and different strengths and focuses each councilwoman brings to the group.

“Where we differ and complement each other as city councilors and people that love Boston is our variety of skill sets,” Essaibi George said. “That complement is going to be an incredible asset to the City Council.”

Several residents said they are pleased with the election of two women to the Council and agreed that it is important to have adequate representation in local politics.

Nick Sterling, 55, of South Boston, said that he believes it is important for everyone to be involved in local politics.

“There should be a broad range of demographics throughout politics,” he said. “Women, minorities, everybody should be involved in politics.”

Theodora Goss, 47, of Kenmore, said she thinks a diverse spread of gender and race in Boston politics will create the strongest government.

“We want to make sure that all the different populations of the city are represented in local politics,” she said. “Women are important in all politics and in every level, including up to the president.”

Bonnie Larkin, 32, of South Boston, agreed and said diversity ensures that all sides of an issue will be voiced.

“You want to make sure you have a diverse group so that way everyone is looking at how issues affect the constituents,” she said. “That way everyone is looking at issues from different perspectives.”