Following a University of Western Australia/Committee for Perth joint report on gender participation and representation in Local Government, the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) noted that Councils were already faring better than company boards.
Representation of women on WA Councils is 32.5 percent, exceeding that of boards.
WALGA Chief Executive Officer Ms Ricky Burges said all but one metropolitan Council has female representation levels higher than the average for boards of ASX200 companies of 20.4 percent.
“It’s encouraging to see that the Local Government sector is able to achieve a higher level of female representation than company boards, as it shows that we are heading in the right direction.
“Indeed, all but one metro Council has female representation levels higher than the average for company boards.
“In addition, this is mirrored at the leadership level, with women holding the most senior elected role of mayor or president in 9 of the 29 metropolitan Councils.”
Ms Burges said WALGA supported increasing diversity in Elected Members, with consideration needing to be given to removing potential barriers to women participating on Councils and seeing if these are practical to redress.
“In my experience, many of the barriers to female participation can be seen across all industries and sectors and prove difficult to resolve quickly.”
Ms Burges said focus needed to be on increasing opportunities for all community members to consider a role on Council and providing support to them once elected.
“The report notes that female representation on Councils is slightly higher than the proportion of women who stand for election.
“This would suggest that one easy way to redress the level of female representation could be to explore how to encourage more women candidates to run for election.
“However, the report authors themselves noted a number of structural, institutional, political and personal barriers to female representation; recognising there is no quick fix to establish diversity levels.
“We continue to support Councils in their endeavours to increase awareness amongst the community of the important role played by Elected Members and in encouraging quality candidates to stand for election.”
