Dunedin's council
should, ideally, represent the age, gender and ethnicity of
the city, says Dr Janine Hayward, a lecturer in the
department of political studies, at the University of Otago.
"The fact that Pakeha, middle-aged males are over-represented
in our council, indicates that there are still obstacles to
other sorts of people standing for election, getting elected,
and voting in elections too," she says.
Of the 15 Dunedin City councillors, only four are women.
"It is not just women who are under-represented. It is youth,
Maori and other ethnic groups also," says Dr Hayward, whose
research covers such questions.
"Only nine of the 47 candidates for the elections were women
but the good news for women is that nearly half of those who
stood, got elected.
"So the barrier for women is not in getting elected, but
rather in getting more women to stand for council.
"If half the candidates are women, they stand a good chance
of also being half of the elected representatives."
Another who has looked into women's under-representation in
local government is Dr Jean Drage, a lecturer in the school
of social and political studies at the University of
Canterbury.
"Local government is based on the concept of representative
democracy and for it to be fully representative and
democratic, councils need to include the voices of all its
population," Dr Drage says.
"If women make up 50% of that population, then it is only
fair and right that the council should be made up of 50%
women."
Ms Drage says the decline in the number of women elected
around the country this year was partly due to the loss of
council seats with the creation of the new Auckland City
Council and partly because fewer women were standing.
"For example, of the 263 mayoral candidates standing across
the country, only 47 were women. In the 2004 and 2007
elections this number was 58 women. In 2001 it was 68."
She says the decreasing interest in standing is related to:
• the changing nature of the high workload, full-time
positions
• the reduction in mayoral positions (six mayoralties were
lost in the Auckland restructuring)
• the greater competition for these more influential
positions (there were 22 candidates for the Auckland
mayoralty, 14 in Christchurch, nine in Porirua, eight in New
Plymouth and seven in Dunedin - all elections won by men)
• and the prohibitive cost of standing.
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