The Victorian Government has set a target of 50 per cent female mayors and councillors by 2025.
The next local government election in 2024 is crucial in determining whether this target can be achieved sooner rather than later.
Local government has existed in Victoria since its separation from NSW in 1851, but 50 per cent female representation has been a distant goal.
More than a century later, equality has still not materialised.
In the 2020 local government elections, 43.8 per cent of councillors across the state were women, an improvement from 38 per cent previously.
This unequal representation is almost global in its pattern and should be unacceptable to all advocates of equality, equity, diversity and inclusion.
It is encouraging to see the government has set an explicit target.
This intends to create enough incentives and motivation to achieve 50-50 gender parity.
Conversations to change the dial from gender inequality to gender equality are progressing.
Legislations, policies, programs and conversations are evolving that aim to fix the problem, but the pace is slow.
A change of hearts and minds, attitudes, and behaviours, to truly accept and support gender equality through actual action, not apathy — even by those who, on the surface, support it — may take many more years.
How do we intend to close this gap and ensure that the 2024 local government elections deliver gender parity and achieve the targets set?
And while we are tackling this, how do we ensure that equity, diversity and inclusion are also front and centre?
More men than women usually run for local councils; hence, there are more male councillors than female.
Also, we know it takes much longer and more effort, courage, persuasion and support for women to put their hand up and be part of the election process than men.
The poverty of opportunities for women’s political leadership, the motherhood penalty, and fear of entering a perceived rough domain are inhibiting factors for women even to join the race for election, let alone be successful.
Add to this mix the barriers for women from different intersectionalities (race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and so on) and this is another complex space to navigate.
As a stakeholder who has experienced the topsy-turvy terrains of running in elections, I am concerned about the barriers to inclusion and equality.
There is only one more International Women’s Day before the next local government elections in October 2024.
Here is an urgent call to action for all the champions of gender equality, to support more women from diverse situations and take whatever affirmative actions are needed for more women to run.
Saying and believing that “the best person will win the elections” is a furphy.
Who is the best? How does one become the best? What is the definition of ‘the best’?
Should a woman with a different accent, skin colour, point of view and set of circumstances in the circle of all those who tick the conventional checklist of the best remain on the margins, or be empowered enough to mainstream herself through enablement?
These challenges need to be discussed, even among those who say they support gender equality.
Advocacy work has been undertaken by a group of community-minded women volunteers in launching the ‘1000 Women Standing’ campaign (I am privileged to be a part of this group).
The group estimates that 1000 women across 79 local government areas need to run for elections to achieve 50-50 gender parity.
It advocates for various actions and initiatives to support the Victorian Government in achieving its stated targets.
We need a collective effort from organisations, governments, communities and individuals to ensure the presence of a significant proportion of women candidates from diverse backgrounds to achieve the stated goal of 50-50 gender parity.
An all-out effort is needed to see the desired outcomes.
Specific actions to contribute to this effort can include: women’s leadership training programs; tapping on the shoulders of women to consider standing for elections; mentoring opportunities extended to women by experienced current and former women councillors; councils’ promotion of the elections; enabling women to consider their nominations; and peak bodies such as the Victorian Local Government Association, Municipal Association of Victoria, the Victorian Multicultural Commission and the Victorian Pride Lobby setting targets for women to stand for elections.
This International Women’s Day, in the spirit of this call to action, I want to reach out to women in my local community and offer my support and guidance if they aspire or wish to explore the possibility of putting their hand up for the elections in 2024.
Seema Abdullah is Australia's first Pakistani-born Muslim migrant female councillor and former mayor of Greater Shepparton. She was the Charter Champion of the Greater Shepparton Women’s Charter from 2016 to 2019 and is currently a member of Victoria’s Gender Equality Advisory Committee. The views expressed here are personal and do not represent the views of the Greater Shepparton City Council.