Despite the focus on gender equality in pay and representation,limited data is available at a council level,Local Government Professionals Australia national president Victoria MacKirdy said.
The body,which represents council staff,launched an “ambitious” campaign last month to have women in at least 40 per cent of council leadership positions by 2025 nationwide.
Ms MacKirdy,who is also chief executive of the Victor Harbour City Council in South Australia,said this,along with the election of more female councillors,was hoped to have flow-on effects to the workforce.
More data was also needed to help identify and address gaps in the sector,she said. In February,the Workplace Gender Equality Agency found men were paid 13.4 per cent more than women nationwide.
Elise Stephenson,from Griffith University’s Policy Innovation Hub,said as government workforces tend to skew towards women,she was surprised by the Brisbane council split and disappointed given the recent focus on women’s’ experience in politics and government,and the view of councils as a more “friendly” place to start.
Dr Stephenson said the breakdown also showed the importance of striving for balanced representation not only in higher roles,but across traditionally male-dominated sectors such as infrastructure.
“Whether at a higher level or a local level there is more work that needs to be done,especially if we are lagging that far beyond,” she said.
Brisbane City Council’s Labor opposition leader Jared Cassidy said the data showed the LNP administration either had no strategy to close the gender pay gap or its strategy was not being rolled out or prioritised.
Finance,Administration and Small Business committee chair Adam Allan stressed all staff were given the same pay for the same job and labelled comments from the Labor opposition as “political grandstanding”.
Cr Allan highlighted the fact the council had achieved a gold employer status in last year’s Australian Workplace Equality Index and ranked in the top three organisations within the state and local government category.
He also pointed to the essential parity of men and women among the LNP’s 19 elected councillors compared to the one female councillor,Kara Cook,among Labor’s five wards. Labor had put forward an equally split field of candidates at the 2020 election.
The council’s Inclusive Brisbane plan states an intention to grow diversity in the workforce through targeted employment programs and a review of recruitment processes.
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