The membership of Philadelphia’s inaugural Commission for Women was unveiled last week, and the list includes at least two LGBT community members.
Twenty-seven women will sit on the panel, 10 of whom, including LGBT community members Kathy Padilla and Anne Wakabayashi, were appointed directly by Mayor Jim Kenney; the other 17 members were chosen by Philadelphia City Councilmembers.
The commission was established through a voter-approved change to the city’s Home Rule Charter in the May 2015 election. The ballot question was made possible through legislation led by Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds-Brown.
“This is a historic opportunity to bring women to the table of city government in an official leadership capacity,” Reynolds-Brown said in a statement, noting the commission will “provide the foundation for change, including building key relationships and helping to create equitable opportunities for women at all levels of the Philadelphia workforce.”
Padilla, who is bisexual and of transgender background, is the director of the Office of Business Diversity at Philadelphia International Airport. The airport has approximately $300 million in annual expenditures in such areas as concessions and contracts, Padilla said, and her office helped the agency achieve $100 million of diversity participation last year.
Diversity will be key to the commission’s work, she said.
“It’s indispensible to have queer women represented if we’re going to speak to the issues that all women face,” Padilla said, noting that, while the commission’s focus still needs to be defined, preliminary discussions have included exploration of economic disparity, health care and bodily autonomy.
“I’m very excited to be working with this exceptional group on issues important to all queer women,” she said.
Wakabayashi, who identifies as a lesbian, is the founding executive director of Emerge Pennsylvania, a statewide affiliate of a national organization focused on recruiting and training women to run for public office. Emerge PA’s training program includes 70 hours of training over the course of six months, including on fundraising, public speaking, messaging and field training.
Wakabayashi is also co-chair of Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club.
“I want to look at the issues LGBT women in particular face,” Wakabayashi said about her goals for the commission. “Trans women in Philadelphia are still facing a lot of violence, which I think should be talked about within our work on violence against women. The issues of LGBT women can sometimes get lost in our wider conversations about feminism, so having people at the table to remind everyone else we need to take the community into account is very valuable.”
Equal opportunity for women is also a priority, she said.
“We need to make sure we’re creating opportunities for women to be involved in city government, on boards, within the private sector. Women need to be actively involved in moving Philadelphia forward. We have so much going on in the city right now, and we have to make sure women are part of that process.”
Kenney appointed Jovida Hill, of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, as executive director of the commission, which will be under the Office of Public Engagement, led by Deputy Mayor Dr. Nina Ahmad.