Dear Sir,With respect, may I ask if it is The Great Aycliffe Town Council that is performing badly when only 11 female Councillors are elected and 19 Councillors are male? It is the people of Great Aycliffe who vote for the people they feel will best represent them. Surely setting targets to have more women on the Council will only serve to have candidates who are coerced and haven’t got the commitment needed. If they had, they would be standing anyway and working hard to get elected. As some of the candidates this year did not even put out leaflets to let people know who they were, their particular areas of interest and their suitability for election does this show a hint of coercion? The writers of the letter state, “many local government policy areas (for example, child care provision) have a much greater impact on women than on men.”
Isn’t this a bit sexist? However, the Town Council does have limited pre-school provision but other areas such as primary/secondary schooling, care of the elderly, social services and many other such areas that can affect day to day family life come under the jurisdiction Gender Imbalance on the Council of the County Council so perhaps being a Town Councillor doesn’t appeal. As to getting a good gender balance on committees surely having the best person to chair them etc. is in the best interests of the community as a whole. Also having Councillors of either sex who are able and willing to turn up at all the required meetings (which hasn’t always happened in the past) is also of great importance. Many women are in employment and coming home from a days work, cooking meals for the family, maybe still dealing with young children and having to be at the Council chamber for a 7.15pm meeting (sometimes earlier) is hectic unless one has a very helpful, supportive partner.
Family commitment for women once their children have grown up or they are retired from work may decrease unless of course they are looking after grandchildren or helping their own parents lead an independent life. Granted the Labour Party as a body may feel they require a gender balance but not all Councillors are Labour members nor should they be if healthy debate and opposing views are taken into account to allow best outcomes. In Great Aycliffe we are very lucky to have a good and effective Town Council and have had for many, many years so surely the Chairmen and Vice Chairmen are doing a good job for us. In the past we have had some very effective, outstanding Chairmen who were women so I am sure female Councillors would be elected to these posts if they were deemed suitable and actually wanted these demanding positions. If a Councillor proves his or her commitment and value and wants a Chairmanship they will get these positions by right not because of their gender and this will mean we continue to have an effective Town Council.
A.J.Bergg (Mrs)
