Premier Christy Clark is coming to Kelowna Friday, but not everyone is welcome to hear her speak at the Delta Grand hotel.
Only women will be admitted to the gathering, which is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. and run through the morning.
The invitation-only event is being billed as another in Clark's so-called "Women's Dialogue" series. She has been travelling the province to hear first-hand the issues, interests and concerns of women.
During such a gathering in Fort St. John last month, Clark said she decided to hold women-only meetings when she was visiting Asia and realized the only women at the events she attended were servers.
"I realized that the nature of this job is such that if I don't spend time trying to meet with women, I spend a lot of time meeting with men," Clark said in Fort St. John.
"I realized half the population isn't well-represented in being able to speak to the premier," Clark said, adding she has noticed conversations happen differently when only women are participating.
Invitations to the Women's Dialogue gathering have been sent out from the offices of three men, Norm Letnick, Steve Thomson and Ben Stewart, who hold the three MLA seats in the Kelowna area.
Karen Abramsen, president of the Westside-Kelowna NDP constituency association, said she doesn't have a problem with Clark holding a meeting at which only women are invited.
It's not unusual for politicians to meet with representatives of specific interest groups, as women could be seen to be, Abramsen said.
"But I don't think the women invited to a meeting like this will necessarily represent all women in Kelowna," Abramsen said. "It's probably a select group, hand-picked to represent pretty much Liberal insiders and supporters.
"I know our candidate for Westside-Kelowna, Carole Gordon, would probably like to attend, but I'm sure she wouldn't have been sent an invitation," Abramsen said.
"The people who are there, they'll probably have a lovely event and a nice lunch, courtesy basically of taxpayers."
A recent Angus-Reid poll found Clark is deeply unpopular among B.C.'s women voters. Her Liberal party had the support of only 21 per cent of women in the province, compared to 52 per cent who backed the NDP.