Anna Allen: Strong, Silent Leadership Changes a Town

NOTE: The following is a feature story written by Teri Sproul for the Women in Local Government project.

It takes a big person to step into the world of small-town politics, and a strong person to change a town council from the inside out. The creator and motivating force behind the Women in Local Government Project, Windsor Mayor Anna Allen, is using her strength to increase the number women in Nova Scotia's municipal governments.

Before becoming Windsor's mayor, Allen showed her enthusiasm by jumping into her community as a volunteer. The Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, the Hants Regional Development Authority, St. John's Catholic Church, Recreation Nova Scotia, and Block Parents all benefitted from her time and energy. Now, when she's not in her office in Windsor town hall, you can find her driving from meeting to meeting or at home helping her husband David run their plumbing and heating business.

After she married, Allen made the 10-kilometre move to Windsor from her hometown in Hantsport. Trained at a private cosmetology school in Halifax, she began styling hair at Wright's Hairdressing and, over the next nine years, had three children -- Trevor, Troy, and Jillian. As they grew up, Anna became popular in her community for her volunteer work with school events and activities.

"When you volunteer, you don't recognize it in yourself at the time, but you are in a leadership position," she says. Allen began focusing her leadership skills on school activities, being appointed to the Hants-West District School Board for six years. But when the province began amalgamating local school boards, she decided to leave. "I like being involved in local stuff better," Allen says, her dedication to her town obvious as she speaks.

Although she didn't realize it, running for council was the perfect way to apply her skills and experience. But it didn't even cross her mind until she was asked by then-provincial cabinet minister Ron Russell to run for Windsor Town Council.

"I talked to a lot of people about it. Some asked, 'Why would you ever want to?' and others told me to go for it. When I mentioned it to my husband, David, he said 'Of course you will run!' I think that's when I decided to throw my hat in the ring."

Like many women, she knew that the support of her family would be crucial for her to be a municipal councillor.

Standing on doorsteps, Allen received a lot of encouragement from women in their 60s who said they would vote for her because she was a woman. "They said there needed to be more women like me, which I thought was very interesting given the generation that they grew up in," she says. "These women's comments certainly gave me the encouragement to move forward."

In 1991, Anna was elected to Windsor Town Council, the only woman among seven councillors.

Soon after being elected, she found areas of municipal government where she could contribute her knowledge and skills. To start, Allen eagerly put her name forward to join boards and committees. Despite her enthusiasm, she was disappointed when her colleagues didn't vote her onto a single committee.

Other female councillors told her similar stories of being left out. Women said they felt uncomfortable sharing their opinions with mostly male councils and administration, or they felt their opinions were not valued. One woman even discovered her male colleagues were having meetings behind her back.

"When I sat back an analyzed it, I realized it was because we were women," Anna said. "I knew I had to grin and bear it. I would have to convince them I was there for the same reasons they were, and that I had something to offer."

And she did. In 2000, nine years after being elected to council, Allen was elected mayor of Windsor. She was re-elected in 2004.

One of her priorities has been encouraging more women to take part in local government. She believed a mentoring program for new women councilors would help, but realized more was needed. "I found an organization in Australia that was dedicated to putting more women in local government," she says. This organization was her inspiration for starting a similar group in Nova Scotia.

She came up with the idea to create the Women in Local Government Project -- a group to increase women's participation in municipal politics. It would be based on the principles of the organization in Australia, but special to the needs and circumstances of Nova Scotia women.

At the 2004 Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities fall conference, Anna presented her idea to municipal union members. After a long discussion, the members adopted the resolution and expanded the project to encourage women's participation in municipal government as employees, and citizens, too. In 2005, the Women in Local Government Project completed research on the barriers women face entering municipal decision-making. A year later, they started programs to support new women participants, including Allen's original idea, the mentoring program.

"People of Nova Scotia will see themselves more represented in government than they ever have before, and marvelous things will happen," Allen says confidently. "When more women are in government, their opinions will be heard, and government will make better decisions that reflect the needs of the entire community."

Allen describes her leadership as low-key, doing a lot of work behind the scenes that people in her community might not know about. Laughing, she says, "I don't run around shouting, 'I'm the leader! I'm the leader!'"

The true sign of a leader is when they don’t have to.

Allen's greatest source of pride is her community, and council. Her determination and dedication to the Women in Local Government Project has helped her own council change considerably from when she started. She began as the lone woman councillor out of seven, nNow, three of five -- more than half -- of Windsor's council are women.

It's a group she can't say enough about, a group that works to make Windsor a great place to live, work and visit.