Women's Policy Advisory Group

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Women's Policy Advisory Group

The VLGA is striving toward increasing women's participation in local government.

Current Work

The focus in 2011/2012 is on Advisory Group members supporting the goals of the Think women for local government 2012 project. The Projects goals is to build the numbers and diversity of women candidates in the October 2012 elections. Tasks for the Advisory Group include:

activity on VLGA's Facebook group More women for local government
helping with design and test of thinkwomenlg.org.au website
championing their local government's 3x3 action plan to implement n the principles of the Women's Charter - gender equity, diversity and active citizenship
initiating local and regional partnerships and events to encourage more women candidates

Chair

Cr Coral Ross

Role of Advisory Group

The Advisory Group provides advice to the Board on actions that will support women’s participation in and with local governments as elected councillors, employees and citizens, and will support individual local governments and members in their work on women’s issues, consistent with the VLGA Strategic Plan. The focus is on time-specific issues and actions which are achievable and support the VLGA's strategic plan and the principles of the Victorian Local Government Women's Charter: gender equity, diversity, and active citizenship.

The Advisory Group will recommend to the Board on issues of relevance including:

policy and practices that support diversity of women’s participation in local government for Board consideration
ways to achieve maximum ownership by VLGA members of the policies and practices

For general information on working groups please see our Working and Advisory Groups page.

Members

Cr Antonella Celi (Mornington Peninsula Shire Council)
Mandy Bathgate (Darebin City Council)
Cr Sarah Carter (Maribyrnong City Council)
Cr Coral Ross (Boroondara City Council)
Cr Lisa Price (Latrobe City Council)
Cr Ann Fraser (Maroondah City Council),
Cr Judy Hindle (Boroondara City Council),
Kate Lempriere (VLGA Board),
Cr Luba Grigorovitch (Hobsons Bay City Council),
Cr Mimmie Jackson (South Gippsland Shire Council),
Rae Kingsbury (Convenor, Darebin Women's Advisory Committee)

The meeting is open to VLGA members. Others may be invited as appropriate.If you are a member and would like to be added to either the email list or attend meetings, please enquire to Linda Bennett, Women's Policy Officer (contact details below).

Background to the Policy Advisory Group

At its meeting of 2 November 2006, the VLGA Board approved the creation of a Working Group to support the Board in developing a policy relating to women in local government. The context includes the Victorian Local Government Women's Charter, the Victorian Centenary of Federation Women's Petition (2001) and other material such as Moving On (2003), research about why women councillors retire from office. The VLGA has taken a lead role with partners in the Women's Participation in Local Government Coalition (WPILGC) Secretariat since 2001. In 2005,the VLGA created possibly the first local government peak organisation dedicated Women's Policy Officer position. It has a carer-friendly work environment, and is a major signatory to the Victorian Local Government Women's Charter. In 2009, VLGA working groups were changed to advisory groups to reflect their role in relation to the Board.

For more information on the work undertaken by the VLGA on Women's Policy visit here.

Meeting Schedule

Open meetings are held as needed. At this time, the Advisory Group is working by distance. For more details about how you can join us, contact Linda below.

Page last updated 5 October 2011