This paper looks at Canada – and specifically, municipalities in Ontario – as a case study for examining the gender gap in non-partisan local politics. We develop two lines of inquiry into women’s political representation at the local level. First, we provide descriptive data on female candidacies and electability in mayoral and council elections across a representative sample of Ontario cities. Second, we look at the role of gender in vote choice, by examining the extent to which candidate gender serves as a negative/positive voter cue in non-partisan municipal contests.
