WLGS asked a few questions in 2009 about the representation of women at the top of Local Government organisations. The responses were not good news, but even worse were the non-responses. We waited patiently (and lobbied) both the LGA and IDeA when the failed to reply to our summer survey about gender balance on their boards. Perhaps, given their somewhat low representation of women, they didn’t want to put pen to paper on this subject. The responses from some of the other local government organisations were more encouraging, and have been summarised for management committee members. They do show that some organisations like the leadership centre were actively encouraging women to take up board positions. Positive use of co-options was in use by some organisations, with both SOLACE and Standards for England achieving very good representation of women by other means. The information we collected does show there is a long way to go before women achieve equal representation in local government bodies – a sheer waste of potential talent in our view.
I&DeA organised a discussion at LGA conference which drew a good crowd of women, both those attending the conference and from outside.
We can post the pack to you in a matching envelope. We will also add your ideas as you send them to us.
Successful event launches new drive for more women councillors
Celebrating 100 years since Margaret Ashton was elected as Manchester's first woman councillor in 1908, WLGS's autumn conference on 18 October 2008 heard from inspiring speakers and launched a new drive to encourage women councillors to 'find a friend'
The audience of women from around the country heard from a wide range of speakers as part of the programme, which can be downloaded here, including:
- Bronagh Hinds, from DemocraShe, Queen's University, Belfast, who spoke inspiringly about her experience organising women's participation in the Northern Ireland Peace Process and the steps taken since then to increase women's representation through the women in local councils initiative
- Angela Mason CBE, IDeA's National Adviser on Equalities, who highlighted the challenges and opportunities to bring together the number of disjointed initiatives currently underway to promote women's equality and good governance as mutually reinforcing
- Nan Sloane, Director of the Centre for Women and Democracy, who gave us the facts and figures about women's selection as candidates and their election as councillors and to leadership positions
- Jessica Crowe, from the Centre for Public Scrutiny, who highlighted the opportunities for women to use scrutiny as a new way of working to help deliver women's equality and other objectives.
A detailed conference report will be posted soon but highlights include:
- Women are more likely to become leaders of their country than of their district council as 7 per cent of national leaders are women, compared to just 4 per cent of district leaders
- We questioned whether, if the major banks had had more women on their boards and in leadership positions, the current credit crisis would have taken place, but concluded that it was difficult to see how it could have been worse
- It is a persistent myth that having women candidates means parties are less likely to win, whereas in fact women get elected in more or less the same proportion to their numbers as candidates - 31 per cent. If women are on the ballot paper, people will vote for them
- Having women involved in the NI peace process had resulted in real changes to how the negotiations had taken place and the principles and values that emerged from the negotiations, and the only women at the negotiating table had been there because the Women's Coalition had got women elected through the top-up electoral process.
As a result of the discussions at the event, and based on what they had heard on the day, participants agreed that WLGS should:
- Launch the 'find a friend' initiative which provides a pack of suggestions for women to use in seeking to encourage women they know to think about standing for election - because we know that the main reason why women put themselves forward is because someone asks them to (more information on this website soon on 'find a friend')
- Seek partners to create a good practice award for women's representation in local government, building on the success of a similar award scheme in Northern Ireland
- Create links with other local government organisations such as the IDeA using new web technologies and with women's magazines to promote the importance of women getting involved in local government to a wider audience
- Work with the Centre for Women and Democracy to develop an oral history project to capture the experiences of women councillors
- Ask our Presidents to host an event with the key organisations currently involved in promoting gender equality to try and encourage joint working between initiatives
- Develop a project to provide mentors and other support for women leaders in local government, recognising that it can be a lonely place where women in particular are often undermined
Local Leadership event discusses barriers to women's representation
Anne Baldwin (WLGS Secretary) and Cllr Marianne Overton (Ind, Lincolnshire County Council, WLGS Management Committee) recently spoke at a Local Leadership Conference organised by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) in Milton Keynes. The session concluded that there were a mixture of practical and cultural barriers but that women had a great deal to offer as councillors.
- As Marianne put it:
- "As a group leader on both District and County level, I have a front seat in developing policy, overseeing the expenditure of more than 2 billion pounds per year, but I still have to do the household shopping and clean the toilet!”
- Quoting the Earl of Halsbury's speech in 1907 during the introduction of the legislation which enabled women to contest all council seats for the first time, Anne highlighted the prejudice about women which held them back:
- "Women were too hysterical - guided by feeling and not cold reason" - to make a valuable contribution as councillors.
Anne's presentation and Marianne's talk are both available to download.
Black and Minority Ethnic Women sought to attend Minister's Taskforce events
Cross-party Taskforce seeks nominations for first event on 17 October to encourage more BAME women to participate in public life, particularly as councillors
Minister for Women and Equality, Harriet Harman MP QC, launched a cross-party Taskforce on black and minority ethnic women councillors in May 2008 and this Taskforce is now seeking names of women delegates to be invited to the first ethnic minority women councillors' Taskforce road show to be held in Birmingham on 17 October.
The main aim of the Taskforce is to encourage women, particularly those that are under represented, to participate in public life and to increase the number of such women as local councillors. There are nearly 20,000 local councillors in England and Wales, however only around 29% of all councillors are women and of these less than 1% are women from minority ethnic backgrounds, despite being over 5% of the overall population.
The Government Equalities Office is supporting the Taskforce to hold regional events from now until Summer 2009 and is looking for women that they could invite to these free events. They recognise that many women do not put themselves forward because they are not aware of the work of Councillors and that they would be eligible to stand. Why not nominate women from your organisation who would like to know more about becoming a local councillor, and how they might become involved?
Please download their flyer for details of how to nominate women and please also circulate it to interested organisations and individuals or post it on your website.
Visit their website to find out more.
New research highlights failure to address women's representation in first new unitary elections
195 women lose elected public office and only 27% of new councillors in four new unitaries are women
A new research report, 'The Effect of New Unitary Authorities on the Representation of Women', has been published by the Centre for Women and Democracy (CFWD).
The report explores:
- the current level of women's representation in the 45 councils being replaced by 9 new unitary councils in May 2009
- the impact of the May 2008 elections to shadow authorities in Durham, Northumberland, Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester on women's representation
- a series of recommendations to address the already worsening position of women's representation as a result of reorganisation
The research found that only 33% of candidates in the four new unitary councils to hold elections were women, as opposed to 35% of candidates in the 2008 local elections in the North of England overall, that 27% of councillors elected were women, compared with 31% overall, and that in all nine of the new shadow authorities, just two have women leaders and one (Cheshire East) has no women at all in its Implementation Executive.
A copy of the report can be downloaded here and for more information please visit the Centre for Women and Democracy's website: www.cfwd.org.uk.
New research highlights lack of women's representation in local strategic partnerships(LSPs)
Findings mirror women's poor representation on councils
A new research report, 'Where are the women in LSPs?', has been published following a study by Urban Forum, Oxfam and Women's Resource Centre (WRC).
The report explores:
- women's representation on Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) ,
- what women's issues are being raised on LSPs,
- how LSPs engage with women's organisations
The research found that only 28% of Chairs of central LSPs boards are women and only 19% of different groups within LSPs have women as Chairs. You can read more about the findings in the report here.
In the press: Kent on Sunday highlights lack of women in Kent local government
Only 16% of County Councillors are women
A hard-hitting article in regional paper Kent on Sunday's 27 April 2008 edition highlighted the desperate state of women's representation in one of England's biggest counties. Only 16% of the County Council's members are women (14 out of 70 councillors) and none of them are in the Council's ruling cabinet.
- Kent Lib Dems Leader Trudy Dean comments in the article that:
- "All the evidence shows any group works better and more creatively if there is a balance of men and women in it."
- Hope for the future is emphasised, as the article ends by noting that 65% of the county Youth Parliament's members are young women. And another Kent councillor, Labour's Angela Harrison, comments that the "gentlemen's club climate" is changing and urges women to get involved.
- Conservative County Council Leader Paul Carter pointed out in a statement that:
- "The council has a female chief whip for the first time in the council's history, and also has two female lead members in three of the top jobs in the council."
The article also contains a number of interesting facts and figures about women's representation in the South East, commenting that Essex, West Sussex and East Sussex all have a number of women cabinet members.
If you see any similar local articles about women's representation in your area, please let us know: wlgs2007@googlemail.com
Political parties miss chance to make fresh start in fair representation for women in new unitaries
The front page of the Local Government Chronicle of 16 April 2008 provides a timely reminder of why WLGS was re-formed, as men are revealed to dominate in the candidates selected for the May elections to the four new unitary councils. As the full analysis of political party candidates by gender reveals, all three of the main parties have overwhelmingly selected men to contest the new seats.
Northumberland Council could potentially see either the highest number of women returned or the lowest, depending on how the different political parties fare in the elections, as Labour have selected their highest proportion of women (47%) for this council, while the Liberal Democrats have selected women in only 20% of the Northumberland seats.
Overall across all parties in the four new councils, the male/female gender balance seems to hover around the current 70% / 30% proportion for male and female councillors, suggesting that this is one ceiling that women are finding it hard to break through.
WLGS had written to all parties and to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government asking what they were doing to ensure fair representation in the new councils. Sadly it seems that the parties have all missed this opportunity for a fresh start and we need to ask why.
Senior academic highlights impact of electoral systems on representation of women
Role of WLGS past and present highlighted in new paper
In a new paper to the Political Studies Association, Chris Game from the Institute of Local Government Studies, argues that the "rules governing bodies' franchise and candidacy qualifications and electoral systems" has had a major effect on the representation of women since the 19th century, and continues to do so today.
His paper, given to the PSA Conference in April 2008, is really three mini-papers, covering a history of women's representation on 19th century boards, a discussion of how electoral and quota systems might be reformed to increase representation of under-represented groups today, and a summary of the recent Councillors' Commission report on these issues. The role of the original WLGS in achieving the 1907 legislation is discussed, as are our aims for the re-formed WLGS.
Chris Game argues that at the current rate of progress in women's representation in local government, gender parity would not be reached until some time between 2136 and 2223! He highlights that there is evidence from international experience to suggest that "party-centred systems with multi-member constituencies are likely to be the most favourable combination for the election of minority group representatives" but also urges caution as there are many variables, in particular the "prevailing social and political culture", identified as "critical" by the Councillors Commission.
His paper concludes with a discussion of the impact of quotas around the world but highlights the hostility towards statutory quotas felt by many in Britain. In conclusion he expresses disappointment at the failure of the political parties to make more progress with voluntary quotas.
WLGS tackles political parties and government on commitment to increasing proportion of women councillors
Chairman of WLGS, Cllr Lesley Clarke of Wycombe District Council, has written to the Chair or General Secretary of all three main political parties and to Hazel Blears as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, tackling them on what they are each doing to address the findings of the Councillors Commission and increase the proportion of women councillors.
Writing to the Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrat Party, Lesley asks them a series of questions, around the representation of women as councillors in the new unitaries, and around issues raised by the Councillors Commission more generally, for example, what steps they are taking to increase the proportion of women in leadership positions in each political party.
Lesley has also written to Secretary of State Hazel Blears MP specifically on the issue of the representation of women in the new unitaries, acknowledging that the creation of new councils is an opportunity to improve representation, but also highlighting concerns that in the overall reduction in the number of councillors the representation of women does not go down even further. Highlighting the Commission's recommendation in favour of multi-member wards, WLGS has asked what consideration has been given to this in the creation of the new unitaries.
Lesley said, "These are all issues that were discussed at our recent AGM and while we welcome the findings of the Councillors Commission and look forward to contributing to their implementation, it is important to highlight the responsibilities of political parties and raise the issues of concern to our members, as discussed at our AGM."
Pay tribute to the efforts of our 1907 predecessors!
Cllr Val Slater, Bradford, describes below her appearance as 19th century activist Edith Priestman at a recent council event
The re-enactment of the 1907 Council meeting where I was appearing as a suffragette (well that's what they thought) was designed to celebrate 100 years of having a Lord Mayor, but I managed to ensure that people realised that we should also be celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the Act of Parliament which allowed women to stand for election to Councils such as Bradford.
I was supposed to just interject with a few votes for women comments but I managed to do a 5/6 min speech (see text of speech here) which explained to the packed public that despite women standing for, being elected and doing great work on the school boards and as Poor Law guardians (paying tribute to people like Eva McClaren, Margaret McMillan, Florence Moser, Mrs Stott and Alice Priestman), they had until then been denied opportunity to be on the Council.
It went down a storm and ended up with quite a number of the women audience standing up and cheering and demanding votes and seats along with me - great fun.
After doing research in Patricia Hollis's book, I decided that the most realistic person I could be was either Edith Priestman or Mrs Stott who were both influential on the Poor Law board and set up the Bradford Unemployed Emergency Committee. Mrs Stott was a sharp minded progressive wife of a local ironmonger but no mention of her political affinities (according to the book), whereas Edith Priestman was an early member of the ILP, so you can guess who I chose to be.
I was fully in costume - a very fashionable 1907 red and blue suit with matching hat and contrasting bows and feathers and gloves, white high-necked blouse and boots - all hired from our local theatre, plus my grandmother's fox (which I have never had chance to wear). I even added false hair to my own so I could put it in a bun.
Robin Owens (the mayor) made comment that if I was anything to go by, then the work of the Council would take much longer, which got the women jeering at him and I was able to reply, "at least women will get things done: all you men do is talk and take credit for what we do!"
Earlier each of the Aldermen and Chairs of committees had given a speech as to the things they had achieved, which allowed me in my speech to point out that they were actually taking credit for things that the women had done - the man being the Chair of Education boasted about the school baths when we know it was Margaret McMillan who got them built.
Why not organise a similar re-enactment around the 100th anniversary of the first women getting elected in your council? You could organise it in conjunction with a schools project.
International Women's day coming up!
We are keen to see you all make a contribution to International Women's day locally.
Just one idea at the AGM was for women councillors to write to the local paper to mark International Women's Day on 8 March.
Download this model letter that we have drafted to help you.
Our successful AGM
A positive day in Cambridge
The first decision we made on meeting for the 2nd AGM of the Women's Local Government Society in Cambridge was that "we haven't achieved equality yet – we must carry on". That positive note set the tone for a very productive meeting. More detailed notes will be released shortly along with a 2008 membership pack, but here is flavour of the discussion:
Management committee were re-selected en bloc, but we are also looking to co-opt any volunteers willing to help with web site administration, and expanding our press coverage by drafting and submitting articles and press releases.
Our campaign for the year will focus on finding the next generation of women councillors.
We want to hold another event at the Local Government Association (LGA) conference after the success last year, perhaps launching our campaign.
We will hold another national event in the Autumn, with Manchester as a possible venue to celebrate the election of Margaret Ashton (pictured below) 100 years ago this November. Please put Saturday 18th October in your diary now so you can join in this event.
We aim to at least double our membership this year. Membership subscription rates have been held at the same level as last year, although we intend gradually introducing a sliding scale for organisations, with the current £30 being at the lower end of the scale.
Why not make a start by renewing your contribution now, and asking your political group, council, or constituency women's organisation to join. The simple web-based version of our membership form can be downloaded here. A membership pack including other background material will be emailed to members before the end of March.
At the end of a busy year we have a little money left in the bank, mainly because of the donations from our members, some welcome events sponsorship and the generosity of our presidents in loaning towards some costs. Full accounts will be added to the web-site once audited.
A contribution from Ireland
We were delighted to welcome Diana Stewart to our AGM who is a project officer working with Women in local councils in Northern Ireland. Information about their work can be found here.
Diana will give us more details for a later update, but in the meantime check out the gender action plan on the news page, where councils are committed to improving elected gender representation alongside issues around staff and service delivery.
A Parliamentary report from our President
Again, more details on the web-site soon, but we were delighted Patricia Hollis was able to join us, and remind us of some of the important issues currently going through Parliament which are of interest to councillors. Of prime concern must be the practical arrangements being made for re-organising some councils and introducing Unitary Local Government.
We were concerned women were likely to lose out both because of the practical difficulties of operating in a large council in a remote area, and because the reduced numbers of councillors overall means some fierce competition at selection. We will be writing to the Minister and political parties about this, so your thoughts are welcome. We suspect those drafting the regulations and implementing them might need to read the report from the councillors commission again.
Our panel
Two experts briefed us on their work and started some discussion. Mary Shears works at the local elections centre at Plymouth, and has been investigating women candidates and attitudes to them. You can find her full results
here.
The key findings suggest:
- women are more likely to need to be asked to stand as candidates
- they need support from family and friends in doing so.
These are both problems that we can help solve, so below you will find the first of many suggestions to help you find a (female) friend – preferably one from a different background or age group to your own - who you might encourage to become a councillor.
Alongside Mary, Jessica Crowe led a debate on the five principles which underpin the work of the Councillors' Commission. We want to respond to Ministers on this, as we think all five principles need acting on. Jessica's report to the AGM on the key findings, principles and recommendations of the Commission is here
Centenarian former councillor dies
Rose Hacker dies at 101
Rose Hacker, who attended our summer event at City Hall, has died aged 101 years.
Politically active throughout her life, Rose fought fascism in the 1930s, was president of Bertrand Russell's Progressive League, a member of the Fabians, and served on the Greater London Council in the 1970s. According to a Guardian obituary, she was "a fashion buyer, politician, older people's advocate, sex therapist and the nation's oldest columnist" at various points during her long life.
At the WLGS event at City Hall she was still speaking up for equality and lamented the lack of progress towards a fair society for women and men that she saw persisting to this day. She recalled the battles that she and her colleagues had fought for equal representation and the right of women to be active in public life and inspired our gathering to continue her fight.
Rose is pictured in one of the photos from the WLGS event, along with the youngest woman present, aged 16.
Councillors Commission - where next
Cllr Rita Krishna attended the launch of the councillors commission report on our behalf, and was inspired by the strength of the package of recommendations and the insistence of commission chair Jane Roberts that vibrant and thriving local democracy was crucial to our future.
We will be discussing the impact and implementation of this report at our discussion day, but in the meantime we have been asked to comment on the recommendations. There are 61 of them in total and they can be found on page 58 of the
report with background information in earlier parts of the report.
The recommendations are a coherent package, and we are considering responding to the current consultation saying so, stressing the need ( as we did in our submission) for action by all, and perhaps highlighting the vital nature of recommendation 1 as a result. There are also some recommendations which are aimed to ensure better meetings and better support and training for councillors which we are sure you will want to encourage in your own councils.
However there are some areas that might be more controversial (or essential) for those of you who are sitting councillors, and the following are topics we are encouraging debate on:
- lowering the age of voting and possible candidacy to 16 (15+16)
- all out 'stand alone' elections every four years, co-ordinated in an area (18)
- multi-member wards everywhere as a positive way of encouraging under-representation (19+33)
- a statutory limit of five terms as a councillor (22)
- changes to political restrictions (23+24)
- a national minimum basic allowance (57)
Congratulations Cumbria
We are still finding details of councils who planned activities to celebrate the Centenary of the 1907 elections, and I have just found this nice simple example from Cumbria:
www.cumbria.gov.uk/communications/womencouncillors
Just in case you thought we might slow down now the Centenary is over, our AGM will be discussing ways of marking the November 1st local elections on a regular basis over the next few years. We are also still planning publications, so keep sending us your local stories.
100 years since first woman councillor in Oldham
On 22 November 2007 it was one hundred years since the election of the first woman councillor in Oldham, a wealthy widow named Mrs Lees.
According to the Manchester Guardian of November 23rd 1907, there was a rush of women voters as soon as the polls opened as each tried to be the first one to cast her vote for Mrs Lees, who was comfortably elected to represent the Liberals in Hollinwood ward on Oldham Town Council. She was elected in one of three by-elections caused by a resignation and the elevation of two aldermen.
Women Councillors' Centenary on Woman's Hour
WLGS President and Chair talk to Jenni Murray
On 13 November 2007, Baroness Patricia Hollis, one of our honorary presidents, and Cllr Lesley Clarke, the current leader of Wycombe District Council - one of the first areas in England to elect a woman councillor 100 years ago - and our Chair, were on Woman's Hour discussing the centenary.
Listen to the podcast discussion via the
Radio 4 Woman's Hour website
Regional events reach some new corners of the land
The week leading up to that 1st November anniversary was a busy one, as 'share as story week' discussions took place in Taunton, Birmingham, Oldham and Darlington.
Although numbers at each event were relatively small, they were all worthwhile in very different ways. In Oldham we were treated to a peep at the wonderful portrait of Mrs Lees, elected in 1907, who contributed so much to Oldham. Councillors there are keen to share her history with the local community.
There were also some common themes in discussions, which echo those we also heard earlier in the year at LGA conference and our event in London. We included some of them in our submission to the Councillors Commission, but they are summarised again here:
- There are still areas of council activity where women are treated with suspicion and not expected to succeed. They include finance, the portfolios that deal with waste and cleansing, and council leadership. Women are still expected to focus on the caring roles even where they have considerable professional expertise in other areas.
- Caring responsibilities of all types, not just childcare, present women with a need to juggle more and more. As council work becomes even more flexible, with an emphasis on ward work rather than meetings, the ability to cover becomes more complicated. Even where a council compensates for childcare, there are many variations on what is offered and what is covered. Travel time and the need for cabinet members to meet with officers as individuals are particular problem areas.
- We recognise the need to encourage a greater cross- section of women to stand as candidates, not just encourage more women. There is a feeling of some frustration that we have stood still in some ways, busy using all those rights our predecessors won for us but with many new cultural challenges to face.
- Councillors need more practical support, and women councillors juggling caring responsibilities and work alongside council activity need this more than most.
History goes full circle
Several councils are still planning events and exhibitions, but the culmination of our 'centrally organised' plans came on 1st November, the anniversary of those 1907 elections, when management committee member Cllr Marianne Overton hosted a reception in Lincolnshire at which we toasted the success of 'Ladies elect'.
Lincolnshire was a highly relevant venue. When County Councils were first created in 1889,
