Nicola Patrick: Women must stand up to be counted

LIBERATION: A scene from the US women's movement documentary She's Beautiful When She's Angry

HOW many women is enough on our council?

Whanganui is already above the national trend - we currently have five out of 13 women leading our district, or 38 per cent - well above the national average of 30 per cent.

But are we going to inch closer to actually reflecting our community, which is 50 per cent women, or are we going to drop away?

We have two women stepping down from the council with, I assume, three staying on and fighting for re-election. There is only one woman so far having publicly declared she will be contesting a position on Whanganui District Council, while at a meeting for those interested in standing, nine potential candidates attended - all men.

Is it possible that Whanganui will go backward this year? Or are there more women biding their time, waiting to announce they're going to stand? I hope so.

I was told by a friend that women are elected in the proportion in which they stand, so I checked out Statistics NZ to double-check - it's true. If women make up 30 per cent of the candidates, they end up as about 30 per cent of elected members.

Why does it matter to have gender balance? There are so many clever ways to answer that (almost hypothetical) question, but sticking with the Stats NZ website: "For the government to represent the population, it's important that people from different groups - including both men and women - participate.

"Representative governments engage diverse communities, draw on the skills of the broadest group of people, and provide checks on the use of political power."

But our progress is painfully slow. At a national level, we have moved up from 23 per cent women in local government in 1992 to 30 per cent women in the last elections in 2013 - that averages out as a move up of 1 per cent per three-year election cycle.

At that rate, it will take another 60 years to achieve equal representation at councils in New Zealand - that should be an outrage.

Has something changed? Has our pace of progress towards equality stagnated? Is it even going backwards? This week I watched on Netflix an amazing documentary about the women's liberation movement between 1966 and 1971 in the United States, She's Beautiful When She's Angry - and it's must-watch viewing.

These women would be deeply disappointed - and angry - with the sluggish progress since the radical changes they demanded. Unfortunately, some of their demands continue unresolved today - like equal pay for equal work. Finance Minister Bill English this week vetoed 26 weeks of paid parental leave (supported by all the parties in Parliament except Act and National). It feels ironic that I learnt through the doco that US president Richard Nixon also vetoed a childcare bill that had been passed by Congress in 1971.

So what are the barriers to more women standing for election? I suspect childcare is one of them.

This week at our local National Council of Women branch meeting, we talked about how we could encourage more women to stand and how we could support them. We just need to know who's out there and what are their needs.

If you care about Whanganui and see the value in having balanced leadership in our district, talk to women you know who could be contenders. Get in touch with the National Council of Women by emailing me: nicola@nicolapatrick.com

**Nicola Patrick has worked in the public, private and charitable sectors in Australia and New Zealand. Educated at Whanganui Girls' College, she has a science degree and is the mother of two boys. She is standing for Horizons Regional Council in October.