Lismore pushes for better equality in council jobs

NINE out of 10 councillors voted in favour of a motion to improve gender and nationality balance in Lismore council position.

Lismore City Council makes a step towards gender and nationality equality after a motion was successfully moved in last night's council meeting. Picture: Lee Constable

GENDER and nationality equality will be targeted in Lismore City Council's hiring strategy from 2017.

Nine councillors at last night's ordinary council meeting voted in favour of a motion by Cr Vanessa Ekins to:

• Measure, track and report the male/female ratio and nationality of applicants
• Draw upon community networks to advertise and encourage capable people to apply for vacancies
• Establish dedicated strategies and opportunities to mentor and sponsor capable people into leadership roles

The original motion put forward in the Notice of Council Meeting was focused completely on gender equality, proposing to track the ratio of female applicants, draw upon female networks to encourage women to apply for vacancies, and establish opportunities to mentor and sponsor women into leadership roles.

Cr Ekins commented in the pre-meeting paper that "gender equality is important to our council's success, not only because it is a feature of well-managed and leading organisations, but it provides a career path for professional women and inspires the next generation of women leaders”.

"I am also keen to see our senior management team reflect our community's gender balance,” she commented.

The staff comment in the paper stated that actions would be taken and targets made during the development of the Workforce Management Plan 2017-21 to ensure a balance was achieved.

As at 30 June 2016, Lismore City Council employed 163 women to 316 men, with no women at Senior Executive level.

The Local Government New South Wales website states that 36% of election candidates and 27% of councillors were women in the NSW Councillor and Candidate Report 2012.

It also states that women make up 46% of the workforce and 16% are in executive positions.