Women's rights campaign group, The Fawcett Society, has called for the return of the Standards Board – but with the ability to sack councillors – however the idea has been panned by women in the sector.
As swathes of local government go to the polls tomorrow, the society is calling on all party leaders to form an independent body to tackle the issue in a bid to address the lack of women councillors.
According to its report, two-thirds of councillors are men, while nine out of ten council leaders are male – a figure which has fallen since 2004.
The report, Sexism and Local Government, lists obstacles women face, as well as examples of bad behaviour from councillors within the sector.
It says: ‘Though [the Standards Board] was allegedly wracked with problems, it was at least a means of redress outside of party politics.' But it added: ‘The Standards Board lacked the ability to fire politicians – one of the key sticking points in how to deal with sexism in elected bodies.'
According to the report the barriers included:
party selection committees are often male, white, middle-aged and middle-class low voter turnout means parties often stick to ‘safe' candidates council meetings are often at times which are difficult for those with a job and/or caring responsibilities councillors' expenses do not cover childcare costs and few councils provide a crèche
Despite a raft of examples of bad behaviour outlined in the report, the experience of
women councillors is mixed.
Westminster LBC leader Philippa Roe said she had not experienced any sexism in her council.
However, Brentwood BC leader, Cllr Louise McKinley, said the level of sexism she encountered in her role as a councillor was ‘quite shocking' – from the way women councillors are represented in the press to the ‘drastic under-representation' of women in the council chamber.
She claimed the Standards Board was ‘bureaucratic and used for party political gains'. ‘I think the Government was right to scrap the Standards Board, but we do need a forum for airing and tackling inappropriate behaviour,' she said.
Cllr McKinley also dismissed the call to be able to fire councillors. ‘Who is going to be judge and jury?' she asked. ‘If someone has been elected it is going against democracy to just dismiss them.'
Leader of the LGA Independent Group, Marianne Overton, told The MJ there were lots of ways sexism manifested itself in her experience – from the overt, to quite subtle examples. But she said the current standards system was not tackling the issues.
‘We would like them to work, but the standards' rules tend to be based on financial issues. Straightforward bad behaviour is not addressed, and it is just seen as the general too-ing and fro-ing of politics.'
The Fawcett Society has also launched a campaign, #Vote4Equality, calling for people to write to their council leaders to ask what they are doing to tackle sexism in local government.
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