Lack of senior women in local authorities

Written by Musmirah_Shahzada on Monday, November 3, 2008 12:23

There is much emphasis on the need for councillors to reflect the diversity of their community. Which is why Leadership and Gender in Local Government in England, a report from the Centre of Women & Democracy (CFWD), which found 30% of local councillors in England are women yet only 15.7% of leaders and 20.1% of deputies are women, has been seen as a cause for concern.

Routes into top council roles do differ - council leaders and deputies are elected to their posts, whereas chief executives are appointed for example – yet, figures show disproportionate numbers of women across the board.

While Unison calls for changes to pay legislation, blaming ‘pay cut after pay cut’ for the lack of women in these roles and CFWD urges revised routes, for men and women into local government, the women occupying these posts have alternative ideas and perspectives.

Chief executive of South Northamptonshire council (an authority where all of its top spots, chief executive, council leader and deputy leader are filled by women) Jean Morgan said: “It was not a conscious thing here. It was pleasant to learn that but we were surprised. I can’t imagine it being all men - this set up feels so normal.”

South Northamptonshire is the only authority to have an all-women leadership team in England -129 councils have women chief executives or council leaders, 10 have women in both positions, leaving 248 authorities where there are no women in either of these two key leadership positions.

Acting on the idea of local government roles being ‘underplayed’ and promoting the rewards of becoming a councillor has been a hot topic since the Representing the Future Councillors Commission 2007 report which made 61 recommendations for promoting roles to women and other underrepresented groups.

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Lack of senior women in local authorities

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