A new report published by the Fawcett Society has shown that the number of women councillors is ‘at a standstill’. Women account for just 34% of councillors across England, and according to figures gathered by SEE we in the south-east are doing slightly worse, at 33.5%.
The South East
Only one south east region council has more than 50% female councillors, with some being under-represented by over 30%. Four of the bottom ten worst-performing councils named in the report are in the south east.
The reasons for this remain unknown but as we reported recently, a review of parental leave may be one factor which could help in future. According to the Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, ‘The Local Government Association has introduced a toolkit for councils which includes the guidance and policies they need to make the change necessary. It is time for them to use it.’
How can we help?
SEE can provide training, guidance, support and consultancy to elected members and democratic services teams, and wider diversity and inclusion training. Please get in touch to find out more about why the number of women councillors is ‘at a standstill’ and how we can help.
Mark Palmer
You might also like:
Who are The Fawcett Society? The Fawcett Society is the UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights at work, at home and in public life.
Who are SEE? We are a small team of Human Resources & Organisational Development consultants. We work across the public sector in the south east of England. Our organisation is not-for-profit so we are continually re-investing in the services and products we offer. We work with small and medium sized organisations and across the public sector in the south east of England.
Don’t forget, you can follow us on Social too on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.