Women blocked from Victorian council roles by unpaid care duties, gender equality commissioner warns

Victoria’s equality commissioner says women are being held back from pursuing council roles due to unpaid care responsibilities, despite record numbers nominating for local government in 2024.

Niki Vincent, gender equality commissioner for the public service. Picture: Tony Gough

The ongoing burden of unpaid care responsibilities is limiting the ability of women to pursue roles in local government, the state’s equality commissioner has warned.

Dr Niki Vincent says society is “stuck” in the past when it comes to achieving gender parity in local government, with women often unable to break through gender barriers.

Victoria’s Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner said that while more women than ever nominated for local government in 2024, more men were ultimately elected.

“It’s 2025 and our council should look like our communities,” she said.

Achieving gender parity was “not a bonus, it’s how we get better decisions for everyone,” the commissioner argued.

Speaking ahead of her appearance at Geelong’s Women in Local Democracy’s (WILD) Empowering Women 50/50 Network event on Wednesday, Dr Vincent said it was simply “not enough” for women to run for local government.

“We need to make sure we have a level field,” she said.

Dr Vincent said caring for children had a great impact on women, and organisations, like councils, must adapt and provide greater flexibility.

She also stressed the importance of male councillors working to promote women in council.

“All the training and mentorship of women counts for nothing if men who are on council are not also trained and taught to behave appropriately,” she said.

Data provided by the Gender Equality Commission found the Victorian public sector’s overall gender pay gap was 15.1 per cent in 2023.

Local government recorded one of the smallest gender pay gaps in the public sector at 3.5 per cent in 2023 – a drop of 1.9 per cent from 2021.

The police and emergency services sector recorded the most significant improvement at 10.5 per cent – a drop of 7.6 per cent from 2021.

However, the health sector’s gender pay gap remains very high at 31.9 per cent – a drop of 2.1 per cent from 2021.

In 2024, three women were elected to the City of Greater Geelong’s 11-member council group, down from four in the previous cohort.

The fall came despite the number of female candidates increasing from 11 in 2020 to 23, which represented 46 per cent of all candidates.

WILD founding convener Jenny Wills said the organisation was determined to ensure more women were elected to council in 2028.

She said one of the challenges facing candidates was that voters often selected familiar names or those who had been on council before.

“I think as a community we are ready for it (gender parity) – 2028 goodness me, we have to achieve it,” Ms Wills said.

Originally published as Women blocked from Victorian council roles by unpaid care duties, gender equality commissioner warns