Gender disparities are consistently seen across Australian workplaces with unequal proportions of men and women in leadership roles. This perpetuates existing stereotypes about the role of women at work and in wider society; and exacerbates gender pay inequality.
figure on female representation in leadership in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne (SMR) are reported because it demonstrates the level of equality that is being practiced in the community at a regional level. Governments in all levels should be leading with the Gender Discrimination Act 2020 and demonstrating the benefits of gender equality.
Councils should be leading the community and gender equality at the senior levels should map onto the community. Therefore, the numbers of women holding councillor positions is an important indicator of gender equality within the community.
Women in Executive, General Management and Legislator Positions
Women are under-represented in executive, general management and legislator positions across the SMR. There is a large disparity in the proportions of women and men who hold positions in leadership. Port Phillip has the largest proportion of women in a leadership role (36%) while Cardinia has the lowest proportion of female representation (22%). A similar trend is present at the nation-wide level with 2022-2023 data showing women account for only 22% of CEO roles.
Men are more likely to hold the CEO role in almost every industry in Australia, except Health Care and Social Assistance. Even though the proportion of women in management positions has increased at every level, these shifts are only modest.
SMR council nominations 2020
During October 2020, local council elections were held throughout Victoria. Across the Southern Metropolitan Region, all councils (not including the City of Casey) ran elections with the hope that a greater number of female candidates might stand for council positions.
Of the 2,186 Victorians who stood for local council elections, 851 (39%) candidates were women, up from 34% in 2016.
The year 2020 marked 100 years since “Victoria’s first female councillor was elected. Mary Rogers was elected to Richmond City Council in August 1920” (Victoria State Government, 2020). This highlights the significance of continuing to strive towards gender equity, particularly in female leadership.
In line with improving female representation across local councils, the State Government launched the “It’s Our Time” campaign in 2020. The campaign’s website explains how it sought to provide advice and support for women standing for a council, which also saw the first election where all candidates completed a mandatory Local Government Candidate Training Course through Local Government Victoria. The online course included councillor roles and responsibilities and was completed by more than 3,000 people (Premier of Victoria, 2020).
The focus given on achieving a higher representation of female nominations and councillors across all Victorian councils, including the SMR, reflects the importance of encouraging more women to become councillors. As part of the Victorian Gender Equality Strategy, “the Victorian Government is working towards achieving 50 per cent female councillors and mayors by 2025”.
Victoria leads the country in terms of the proportion of female councillors, representing a total of 43.8% of councillors. This is an increase from the 2016 elections in which 38% of councillors were female. Furthermore, of the 76 councils that went to election in October 2020, 47 have achieved gender parity, meaning, they have a majority of women councillors. Despite these impressive numbers, many local councils in Victoria remain under-represented by female councillors as “13 councils only have one female councillor, which is considerably less than the percentage of women making up those communities."