Australia: Year of Women in Local Government
How amazing is THIS! Feministing.com highlighted this initiative by the Australian government–they have declared 2010 the Year of Women in Local Government! To promote the initiative they created an interactive fancy website.
Here are some of the highlights:
The Government’s commitment includes:
- $250,000 for a three-year 50:50 Vision: Councils for Gender Equity program which will audit councils and shires to determine the status and role of women in leadership roles as well as their participation in the workplace.
- $100,000 in scholarship funding to enable senior women in local government to participate in the new Executive Leadership Program being developed by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government;
- $100,000 to improve the collection of data and reporting on the status of women in the local government sector; and
- $40,000 to the Local Government Managers Australia for their 2010 Management Challenge, which will involve around 130 councils identifying strategies to promote gender equity in their councils.Hand in hand with the new initiative is a $20,000 six-month study of the causes of low rates of women’s entry into the workforce.
Femininsting does point out a few problems…like most of the ambassadors for the initiative are caucasian, with only one aboriginal woman represented. Not cool.
Yet, a step in the right direction. More women need to be elected to office and this initiative will most definitely bring some attention to the issue.
Filed under: International Politics, Women in Politics | Leave a Comment
Tags: Australia, elect more women, women in elected office, Women in Politics
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