Women in Australia are under-represented in local government at senior levels. According to the Women in Local Government Strategy 2009-2012, around one quarter of councillors, one fifth of mayors, one tenth of senior managers and one twelfth of CEOs in local government are women.
The 5050Vision – Councils for Gender Equity Program was designed specifically to assist councils to identify and address gender equity issues both within their organisations and among their elected representatives.
It was designed to be accessed by all councils, regardless of their size, location and progress on gender equity, and its primary goal is to increase participation of women in local government at both senior management and elected representative levels.
The entire program is based on concepts of resource sharing and networking, and resources and tools are made available to councils who wish to improve their performance in this area on the 5050Vision website.
Councils can apply for accreditation at three levels, starting with the Bronze Award for demonstrated commitment to improving and increasing equity within the local government workforce, then Silver, and working up to the Gold Award, for councils which demonstrate significant levels of policies, procedures and strategies towards increased equity.
Award winners will be recognised this month at the 5050Vision National Conference: Improving Equity in our Local Government – Our Future as Leaders, to be held in Brisbane from 18-20 September.
According to Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA) President Kathy Bensted, the conference will recognise excellence and more importantly, identify and observe current practices to enable councils to share policies, tools and resources.
Award winners will be recognised and information available to assist councils to be nationally recognised for their leadership in this role. The ALGWA believes a balance of male and female decision-makers will provide greater expression of opinion and debate.
Addressing the 2013 ALGWA Queensland State Conference in June, Local Government Association of Queensland President Margaret de Wit said she was delighted to lead LGAQ as they actively worked towards a 50-50 split of male and female representation in Australian local government.
“Thanks to 5050Vision, this has become – as it should be – an achievable reality rather than an aspirational vision.”
Five lead the way
Already making great strides towards gender equity are five neighbouring councils in Melbourne’s west, all of which are currently led by female mayors.
Moonee Valley’s Narelle Sharp, Hobson Bay’s Angela Altair and Wyndham’s Heather Marcus were joined in 2012 by first-time mayors Catherine Cumming and Kathy Majdlik, in Maribyrnong and Melton respectively.
Councillor Sharpe said the five female mayors reflected the successful push for more women to be involved in councils.
“Local government has been targeting gender equality across the board in local government positions. In most of our councils [in the western suburbs] there have been more women elected than previously, so there are more women to choose from.”
She said seeing the five women successfully lead councils would encourage more young women to participate in local government.
“In Moonee Valley we have a majority of women councillors now, so it’s not as daunting for a female if they’re thinking about joining council because there’s already female representation.
“Younger girls especially see us [in leadership roles] and think we can definitely do it too.”
Breaking down stereotypes has been one of the biggest challenges for Councillor Sharpe and her counterparts in Melbourne.
“There are stereotypes of a mayor being a middle aged man, and we’ve all been trying to break down that stereotype.
“Not long after I was elected I was speaking at a football function and the MC mentioned that I didn’t look like a mayor. That was obviously in a male dominated crowd.
“Among the western region mayors, there are three of us around 40, which is pretty young for a mayor. People don’t expect us to be mayors because we’re young and we’re female.”
Working together to address challenges has helped the mayors build a strong relationship between the five councils, and Councillor Sharpe said they were the tightest group of councils the western region had seen for many years.
“We’ve had a really great year this year. We’ve all supported each other council-wise, we all have our individual issues to contend with and we’ve supported each other when we’ve needed it.”
