This International Women’s Day, women are breaking the norm at Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council.
Of the three most senior elected positions in the local authority, all are held by women. We have a female leader, a female deputy leader and a female chair of the council.
The three mayors for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are also female as are three out of four chairs of our local parish and town councils.
Some 55% of the council’s chairs of committees are female as are 70% of our senior management team.
These statistics need celebrating. It gives a different presence when you sit in a meeting and you have a fair representation of women in the room.
Having women at the table brings different ideas and solutions to challenges. It is also in everyone’s best interests – women are more likely to rely on the services councils run – from childcare to education to social housing – so their voice must be heard to ensure services help the users.
But full parity in gender representation is in short supply in local and national government. Barely a third of local councillors and MPs were women in August 2022, according to research by the Fawcett Society and Democracy Club.
We have 43% female councillors at BCP Council. It is not perfect and I want us to do better.
My own journey into local politics was about sticking up for the things I cared about. Someone asked me to get more involved and I took the bait. I have been involved with local politics now for 15 years.
What I really wanted to change at the beginning was high streets. I was a business owner, running the local traders’ group and engaging with the council. If I look back it probably was not the thing I would have expected to prompt me into local government, but it has given me a fantastic platform for all the other things I care deeply about.
The step into more of a national space has been more difficult. I have stood for Parliament three times and I have faced misogyny on the regional stage. There have been some unpleasant experiences during that time, where men and women have diminished my role or used my looks, status as a mother, or anything about my personal life against me.
I know many women who stood for Parliament once and would never do it again.
It is hard to know whether being outwardly resilient and facing the knocks is helping other women or whether it is minimising how hard it is or putting others off.
There is still a long way to go before people who identify as women of every age group, social group and race feel they can be involved with politics. That is why I work with the cross-party 50:50 Parliament campaign to help women progress in politics.
Within the council we have a mentor programme to support women in their careers and a Women’s Staff Network group, that offers a collective voice to female colleagues to make the council a more inclusive place to work.
We are also working hard to progress equity for all women in our communities.
What I would say is local politics is a perfect opportunity for women to really lead their communities and see whether it is for them.
My advice to anyone thinking about local politics is to be your authentic self. People need to know you. If they don’t believe they are getting the full you, they are not going to trust you and then they will not be inspired by you.
One of the people who inspired me the most in the last 12 months is a homeless mum I helped. She opened my eyes to the challenges some people – particularly women – face in our community.
Following her journey and trying to make a difference to her life and the lives of her children, she has driven me to keep going on those days when people have been vile, because I know I am not doing it for me; it doesn’t benefit me one way or the other – I am doing it for her and families like her because they do not feel they have a voice.
Because I am a mum and a woman, because I don’t have a degree or a fancy background, I am at least able to sit with her, understand what has gone wrong in her life and be her advocate.
This is the most powerful thing we can do in politics.
Once you have done that once, you’ll want to again and again…and that is why I do politics.
Cllr Vikki Slade is leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council
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