Engaging more women across Ryde

Penny Pedersen is one of only two female councillors on the City of Ryde and she is working hard to ensure more women can participate in civic life.

Angela Phippen and City of Ryde councillor Penny Pedersen. Pictures: Troy Snook

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Penny Pedersen is one of only two female councillors on the City of Ryde — and one of only 17 in the council’s history.

“I’d like to encourage local women to become more involved in civic life,” she said.

One of the barriers is a simple but ongoing challenge: time.

Many women are juggling work and family commitments and adding civic duty on top of that is an extra hurdle, especially when meetings are often held in the evening.

After work meetings means more community members can take part — but it also means cutting into family time.

Status of Women Advisory Committee president Penny Pedersen and Angela Phippen, who will speak at the International Women’s Day forum this weekend.

“I don’t know how you fix that,” Cr Pedersen said.

Cr Pedersen is also the chair of the council’s Status of Women Advisory Committee, which is looking into the possibility of arranging childcare for members so that more women can join.

This year the committee has two free International Women’s Day Forums; a Women in Business event on Friday morning at CSIRO in West Lindfield, and a major community forum that will be held on Saturday to allow more women to attend.

“We want more women to come out,” Cr Pedersen said.

Participants at Saturday’s forum, which will be held from 9.30am-1.30pm at Ryde Civic Hall, will hear from political campaigner and advertising executive Dee Madigan, journalist Jenna Price, The Generous and the Grateful founder Carmen Platt, performer and writer Emily Dash, Melrose Park Football Club president Julie Crane, and local studies librarian Angela Phippen as well as performances by poet Sara Saleh, musician Gambirra Illume and DJ Flygirl Tee.

This year’s International Women’s Day Theme is Balance for Better, aiming to create a gender balanced world.

At council, that has meant creating workshops specifically for women in a range of areas, from STEM to finance tips and one for small business owners that proved so popular it has now become a monthly occurrence.

Recently, the council voted to increase paid domestic violence leave for staff from five days to 10.

Next on the to-do list is creating a map identifying local areas where women feel unsafe and figuring what steps can be taken to remedy it, such as installing more lights in a dimly-lit street.

“It will guide future design and works in the City of Ryde,” Cr Pedersen said.

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