Hamden’s Female Leadership Team Marks International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day, local leaders in Hamden had reason to celebrate a transformation in town leadership — and to pose for a photo.

That’s because for the first time in Hamden history, all of the municipal government’s’s top offices are filled with women. 

The women include Mayor Lauren Garrett, Town Clerk Karimah Mickens, Legislative Council President Dominique Baez, and Board of Education President Melissa Kaplan. Mickens and Baez are also the first Black women to fill their respective roles in town.

“Women in power don’t come naturally. You need a support system and you need to fight for it,” Garrett said.

Tuesday marked not just a day to honor women but a Democratic Party ​“change slate’s” first 100 days in office. So the four women gathered at Government Center to document history made and in the making — not just by taking the time to stand for a team leadership photo, but to participate in the filming of a documentary by another past female town leader.

Hamden’s top female four agreed that having more women in positions of authority means that ​“we are accessible to one another, we share our thoughts with one another, we are open to each others’ perspective, and that we have a tremendous amount of respect for one another,” in Melissa Kaplan’s words.

Mickens said that she can always count on her three fellow officials to keep her in the loop about local issues, calling her just to say, ​“Hey, did you know about this?”

“They’re making sure I have a seat at the table,” Mickens asserted.

“As a woman with a toddler currently,” Baez pitched in, while her daughter, Zoe, played by her feet, ​“I find a lot of support in the women around me — they’re okay with me bringing a baby to a meeting or being on a zoom and Zoe pops her head in.”

“I feel comfortable with that because I understand that people are caregivers, people have families … Humans aren’t in a vacuum,” Baez said.

“So many women before us have helped all of us get to where we are,” Garrett said. ​“That’s what International Women’s Day is about.”

Garrett said that she hopes gradually getting more women into political positions will help women ​“be judged by the policies they write, the words that they say and less by the fact that we have these presumed gender roles that make it difficult for us.” 

The group planned to spend the rest of International Women’s Day signing papers at the Council office (Baez), swearing in a new member to the Board of Education (Mickens), working on the town budget (Garrett), and teaching a women and gender studies senior capstone at Quinnipiac University (Kaplan).

Watch an interview with some of Hamden’s women leaders below, conducted as part of ​“Word On The Street,” a segment of WNHH FM’s LoveBabz LoveTalk.

The documentarian present Tuesday was Roxana Walker-Canton, who was the only Black person to serve on the Board of Education back in 2019 before Garrett’s crew of Democrats beat out an incumbent-led slate and, in the process, established more diverse representation across elected offices.

Walker-Canton, a university professor and filmmaker, moved to Florida rather than running for a second term alongside Garrett. She spent her time on the board fighting to bring more teachers of color to Hamden schools and to introduce social justice inspired curriculums.

Walker-Canton has been visiting Hamden lately to build her documentary, which has the working title ​“One Town At A Time.” It will tell the story of how Garrett’s slate tipped town politics while reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr. ​‘s notion that ​“injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” she said.

“Prior to this 2021 election was a town where the leadership was not representative,” Walker-Canton reflected. ​“It’s been three years of struggles — people losing races and getting back up and running again … the folks that are in office now worked for it. They weren’t just friends of friends.”

The past two to three years have seen a total ​“transformation,” Walker-Canton said. ​“We have a woman mayor, a woman town clerk — the head of the board of education, legislative council are all women, and diverse women, too. They’re not just members of the good ol’ boys club.”