The Federal Government announced yesterday $1.8 million to be granted this financial year (2019-20), under the Women’s Leadership and Development Program (WLDP), to four projects targeted towards achieving women’s economic security, and supporting women during the pandemic.
Local Government Professionals (LG Pro) Australia will receive a share of the funding to support women working in local government through virtual networking, online peer support, resource sharing and research into the roles of women through COVID-19 and beyond.
CEO LG Pro Australia, Clare Sullivan, said, “We already know that COVID-19 has severely impacted councils and their staff, as well as the services they offer everyday Australians. Most acutely though, we’re finding that women in the workforce are disproportionately impacted by crises like the pandemic.”
The local government workforce of approximately 200,000 has been affected by COVID-19 as councils have suffered financially.
Rate relief, facility closures, and reduced revenue streams have impacted council finances with the potential to fuel thousands of job losses.
Of these, women disproportionately represent the part-time and casual positions most likely to face these job losses or reduced hours.
“As the peak body for local government officers, we are committed to helping women in our workforce by mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on female local government employees.
“This partnership and grant will help us develop resources and opportunities to dampen these impacts and protect the economic security of these workers.”
