Council vote that dropped non-binary applicant exposes equity gaps in appointment process

A political push for greater gender balance on the library board seemingly backfired against one nominee.

A political push for greater gender balance on the library board seemingly backfired against one nominee.

On Wednesday during its first committee meeting, the new city council was tasked with choosing seven citizens to sit on the London Public Library Board from more than two dozen applicants.

However, the vote resulted in a large majority of men.

“Think about whether or not it reflects the gender diversity of what we want this committee to be?” asked Coun. Rahman when the votes were tabulated.

Chosen were five men, one woman, and one non-binary gendered Londoner:

So, council took the unusual step of voting again— from a smaller slate of top vote-getters.

Three additional women received enough votes to join the library board, but support for O’Hagan who is non-binary gendered fell short.