We encourage greater participation of women in local government as councillors and senior managers in recognition of on-going under-representation of women in this field.

In Victoria only 34 per cent of councillors are women. Following the council elections held in November 2012, all councils have at least one female councillor, but 10 councils have only one female councilor – considerably less than the percentage of women making up their communities.

Research has shown that when women stand for council they are just as likely as men to be elected; however, they often don't stand for election.

We support increasing the number of women participating in local government by:

• endorsing the Victorian local government Women’s charter principles, which are gender equity, diversity and active citizenship
• promoting the Australian Local Government Women’s Association’s activities and the National Framework for Women in Local Government 
• participating as an active member of the Women’s Participation in Local Government Coalition (WPILGC), including supporting the biennial Victorian Local Government Women’s Charter Awards [PDF]
• ensuring that our events and training that encourage people to stand for council election are welcoming and attractive to female participants
• encouraging councils to adopt women-inclusive initiatives to increase greater participation of women at political and community levels

The WPILGC website has resources for women in local government which were developed with MAV involvement. These include A gender agenda and the 2013 women's charter update report.

Grants & funding

We received a grant from the Office of Women's Policy to run women's charter activities on behalf of the WPILGC. The final report of the project shows examples of action plans and models that work. A women's charter checklist also provides ideas for actions councils can take.