The Strengthening Communities Through Women’s Participation (SCWP) Project is offering some excellent resources for women who are potential candidates in Victoria’s November 2004 Local Government elections. This includes women who are new to Local Government and incumbent Councillors who decide to stand again. Victoria has 79 Councils comprising about 620 Councillors, of whom 178 (29 per cent) are women.
Councils with the highest percentage of women are Alpine, Brimbank, Darebin, Frankston, Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Stonnington, Towong and Yarra. There are 29 female Mayors, which is 37 per cent of all Victorian Mayors.
Elections will be held in the following 25 municipalities next year: Ararat, Ballarat, Boroondara, Colac-Otway, Corangamite, Darebin, Melbourne, Melton, Hobsons Bay, Moyne, Nillumbik, Port Phillip, Pyrenees, Queenscliffe, Southern Grampians, Stonnington, Surf Coast, Warrnambool, Glenelg, Golden Plains, Greater Bendigo, Greater Geelong, Moorabool, Moreland, and Yarra.
SCWP Project Worker, Linda Bennett, said women who were interested in standing could access resource kits, workshops and candidates’ packs. She said training would be provided for facilitators who wanted to run workshops in their local area.
“All the Councils going to election next year will be partnered with a community organisation to run one of our specially designed Women Get Elected workshops, but any Council can have workshops or other events specially targeted to women. We recommend that women decide early about their candidacy, then undertake a plan to find a campaign partner and build a campaign team. This is one of the keys to success and it makes campaigning much more enjoyable, and effective.”
SCWP is a three year project (2001-2004) funded by the Victorian Government’s Community Support Fund. It is run by the Women’s Participation in Local Government Coalition and auspiced by the Victorian Local Government Association (VLGA) and the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV). SCWP publications include A Gender Agenda, which was updated last year, and Now You’re a Councillor, a kit for newly elected women.
There is a Women’s Participation in Local Government Coalition web page at www.vlga.org.au/issues/women/gov.html, as well as a telephone and email support network.
For further information contact Linda Bennett or Alice Aird at the Women’s Participation Project, email alicelinda@vlga.org.au, or telephone (03) 9347 2233.
The Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA) also encourages women to participate in Local Government. For further information contact the secretariat at the MAV on (03) 9667 5562.
