St. Paul, Minnesota achieved a major milestone not only for the city and the state but for the country as a whole. The seven-member city council is now made up entirely of women, the first time a major U.S. city has had an all-woman city council. The seven women are a young, diverse group across a variety of markers as well.
The seven-member St. Paul City Council was sworn in on Tuesday, Jan. 9, incorporating four new members who joined city council President Mitra Jalali as well as council members Rebecca Noecker and Nelsie Yang. The seven women are all Democrats and all under 40 years old. Additionally, six of the seven are women of color. For example, Nelsie Yang, who has served on the council since 2020, is the first Hmong American woman to hold a city council seat in St. Paul.
Jalali noted that in St. Paul “the median age of our community is 32.5. We are a majority person-of-color city. We have many major racial and ethnic groups, many of which are now represented on this council,” per The Associated Press. She therefore sees the makeup of the new council as a reflection of the larger community and a sign of the values of St. Paul’s residents. “We’re a multifaith, multicultural group of women,” Jalali said of the council. “Our professional experiences are what people trusted as much as our personal ones.”
aThe achievement of the nation’s first all-woman city council of a major city was accomplished when four councilors decided to leave office in 2023, leaving three incumbent women — Jalali, Noecker and Yang — in office. As the four newcomers solidified their campaigns, they joined forces with one another and with the incumbents, and they campaigned together with the goal of achieving an all-woman council.
While the creation of an all-woman council has been widely celebrated, some people are less excited about the development. Newsweek reported that conservatives on social media have already started criticizing the councilmembers as being chosen for diversity’s sake, continuing a popular right-wing talking point that attempts to frame diversity as somehow at odds with competency or qualification.
The city council has a full agenda to tackle this year, focusing on rent control and housing as well as issues such as child care and a ban on smoking marijuana in public parks. The council will also dialogue with they city’s reparations committee. New councilmember Anika Bowie has stated that the reparations effort is one of her top agenda items, according to Pioneer Press. Bowie and the other councilmembers will bring a variety of backgrounds and perspectives with them as they tackle these issues.
