The terms “firefighter” and “police officer” have replaced “fireman” and “policeman.” But as far as Evanston’s City Council goes, the title “alderman” is here to stay.
For now.
The city’s six female aldermen, three male aldermen and female mayor voted down a proposal Monday to change “alderman” in city code to the more gender-neutral term “council member.”
“There are a lot of ways in which we tinker with tradition in history to make improvements,” said Ald. Jane Grover, 7th, who brought the issue before the city’s Rules Committee. “I’ve only done this job for two years. I’m not really feeling very vested in ‘alderman.'”
Grover proposed the change to coincide with wholesale revisions to the city’s code. Those changes, she said, include adding gender neutrality, such as changing the word “his” to “his/her,” and “he” to “he/she.”
Grover pointed out that other cities with similar forms of government use different terms to refer to members of the city council. While Chicago, Des Plaines and Aurora use “alderman,” Naperville and Elgin go with “council member.” Meanwhile, the city of Joliet refers to its City Council members as “councilman” or “councilwoman.”
Fellow female aldermen did not share Grover’s desire for gender neutrality in their titles.
“I’m completely opposed to this change,” said Ald. Ann Rainey, 8th. “People are going to call us alderman anyway.”
