The Victorian government is providing additional funding to encourage more women, especially indigenous women and those from culturally diverse backgrounds, to run for local council positions. Currently such groups are underrepresented in local government. The funding will go to programs that aim to boost female candidates and provide scholarships. Local indigenous leader Katrina Mohamed supports more indigenous women becoming politically active locally but feels mainstream politics can be distracting from community priorities. Some current female councillors hope the funding increases diversity on councils and helps overcome challenges such as perceived sexism.

1. SNNEWS SHEPPARTON NEWS, TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015 5
Project aims to bridge gap
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT BOOST INTENDS TO HELP INDIGENOUS WOMEN GET PASSIONATE ABOUT POLITICS
By Elaine Cooney
Leading lady: Katrina Mohamed is a local indigenous leader.
Indigenous women and
women who speak a lan-
guage other than English at
home are not proportionally
represented at Greater
Shepparton City Council.
But the Victorian Govern-
ment is trying to remedy
this statewide by adding
funding of $50 000 to the
Victorian Local Governance
Association’s GoWomenLG
2016 project, which aims to
increase the number of
female candidates across the
state.
It will also offer a $5000
contribution to a scholar-
ship for a female director to
participate in LGPro’s Exec-
utive Leadership Program,
and a $20 000 grant for the
Australian Local Govern-
ment Women’s Association
ahead of the October 2016
local government elections.
Municipal Association of
Victoria’s 2013 statistics
show only 1.5 per cent of
councillors identified as
Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander across the state —
up 0.6 from 2009 — and 13
per cent were born overseas.
Minister for Local Gov-
ernment Natalie Hutchins
said the funding would
focus on encouraging
women from Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Island and
culturally and linguistically
diverse backgrounds to run
at the next election.
In Greater Shepparton,
females make up 49 per cent
of the population, indigen-
ous women 2.1 per cent and
women who speak a lan-
guage other than English at
home account for 6.5 per
cent.
Of Greater Shepparton
City Council, Moira, Strath-
bogie and Campaspe Shire
councillors, none of the
female representatives
identified as indigenous or
spoke a foreign language at
home.
Local indigenous leader
Katrina Mohamed said she
would like to see more
indigenous women in coun-
cil and believed the upcom-
ing generation would be
more politically active and
run for local government.
‘‘I would support them,
get behind them and be
part of their campaign,’’ she
said. She believed indigen-
ous people, especially
women, came under fire on
a daily basis.
‘‘There is a general pres-
sure on people who take on
a leadership role and there is
a lot of racism,’’ she said.
‘‘We live in a racist society,
which has been exposed
recently.
‘‘There needs to be a con-
versation on equality —
don’t look at the colour of
my skin, take me for who I
am.’’
City of Greater Sheppar-
ton councillor Jenny Houli-
han is eager to see a gender
balance and more indigen-
ous women on council but
felt that maybe they were
championing indigenous
causes separately.
Ms Mohamed believed
this was one of the main
deterrents for indigenous
leaders, like herself, from
running for local govern-
ment.
‘‘Aboriginal women play
an active role in family and
community politics on a
daily basis but not at a local
politics level,’’ she said.
She said local indigenous
leaders played vital roles
working alongside local,
state and federal politics.
‘‘We have a strong focus
on what we want to achieve
and don’t want to get
distracted by the day to day
issues,’’ she said.
Ms Mohamed said the
indigenous community’s
core ethics and values did
not align with mainstream
politics, which would be a
constant struggle.
Ms Hutchins said in the
last council election, for the
first time, each of the state’s
79 councils appointed at
least one female councillor.
She said that while the
number of women in leader-
ship roles in local govern-
ment was growing, women
were still under-
represented.
In Victoria, women make
up 39 per cent of mayoral
positions, 35 per cent of
councillor roles and 18 per
cent are chief executives.
Diversity in council: women speak out
Jenny Houlihan Debra Swan Emma Bradbury Marie Martin
Jenny Houlihan, Greater
Shepparton City council-
lor
Cr Houlihan said the
women employees were in
the majority in the council
offices but were not stepping
into higher level roles such
as councillor positions.
‘‘Generally it can be assu-
med that women are most
likely to get in — they have
the ability and experience,’’
she said.
She said the media often
depicted local council as an
‘‘aggressive and combative’’
and many women did not
feel it was an environment
they wanted to be a part of.
She said divisive issues
often hit the headlines, but
some issues were unani-
mously agreed.
Cr Houlihan said sexism
was an issue in councils in
general.
When asked if there was
sexism in Greater Sheppar-
ton City Council, she said
some councillors had more
balanced views of diversity
than others but they stood
together in promoting diver-
sity with healthy policies.
She used the same sex
marriage vote — where
councillors in favour of
council supporting the
move — as an example
councillors standing
together in favour
of diversity.
She said the council was
not representative of the
community.
‘‘It hasn’t been for a long
time but that’s the way the
community voted,’’ she
said.
She hoped a possible
move by the Victorian Elec-
toral Commission to
increase the number of
councillors from seven to
nine, would give council the
opportunity to be more
diverse.
Debra Swan, Mayor
Strathbogie Shire
‘‘We need to see more
traditional owners repre-
sented.
‘‘That’s how, generation-
ally it changes — young
people see what they can
achieve,’’ she said.
She said indigenous peo-
ple did not tend to raise
their hands for councillor
positions.
Ms Swan said many
young women did not see
themselves in the councillor
role and she would like to
see positive changes to such
attitudes being instilled at
schools.
She said while not gender
specific, the low remuner-
ation councillors received
was a deterrent, when
juggling a job in rural areas.
‘‘(The pay) does not equ-
ate to the work,’’ she said.
Ms Swan said many
women could not afford to
take on the position.
‘‘Especially women who
are single parents,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s a real shame we don’t
have that demographic,’’ she
said.
She said there was also
the ‘‘boys club’’ perceived
stigma which she said was
not an problem in her coun-
cil.
‘‘The council I work with
is one of the better ones —
we have a female mayor and
deputy mayor.
‘‘Obviously we have our
differences but I believe we
are treated fairly and (the
men) are accepting and
respectful,’’ she said.
Emma Bradbury,
Campaspe Shire councillor
Ms Bradbury has worked
with indigenous communi-
ties and is keen to see more
indigenous representatives
on council to bring about a
better balance.
She would like to see the
introduction of targets and
the breaking down of bar-
riers to encourage represen-
tatives from different
backgrounds to run for
council.
Ms Bradbury said she
raised the issue at council
briefing sessions and it was
well received by her fellow
councillors.
‘‘Campaspe Shire have a
long way to go to see bal-
ance,’’ she said.
She said the challenge
women were faced with
when breaking into local
government was a lack of
shared understanding of
community needs.
‘‘Some entrenched values
are not cosmopolitan,’’ she
said.
‘‘The private sector is
streets ahead in terms of the
standard of expectations.’’
Ms Bradbury said her gen-
eration had an easier time
because of the path that fe-
males before her paved and
felt the next generation of
female representatives would
be even stronger.
Marie Martin, Mayor
Moira Shire
‘‘For the number of
women in our population,
we are under-represented.’’
She said in council the
male voice dominates, due to
the gender imbalance, and
she would like to see chan-
ges.
Ms Martin was not in
favour of a quota-based sys-
tem and felt passion was the
driving force behind suc-
cessful female councillors.
‘‘They’ve got to want to do
it,’’ she said.
She said time was another
important factor.
‘‘It depends on the support
of your family,’’ she said.
‘‘My husband takes an
interest but some women
might find it hard to get out
(to council business).
‘‘Others have good ideas
but are afraid of public
speaking.’’
GENDER BREAKDOWN
Local council representa-
tives across Victoria:
● 63 per cent are male.
● The largest age bracket
is 56 to 65.
● 74 per cent are married.
● 51 per cent of females
have caring responsibilities
compared to 35 per cent of
males.
● 18 per cent earned from
$52 000 to $77 999 annu-
ally
● 74 per cent were
managers, administrators
and professionals.
— Municipal Association of
Victoria 2013