Are you really that interested in the local elections? They seemed to have passed many people by and as much as the media tried to get excited about who gained which seat where, the big story in the Sunday papers the next day was inevitably about whether or not Mr Brown should stand down as Prime Minister and who might take his place. The main contender that weekend was David Milliband and I couldn’t help but think how good that might be for The Third Sector. In my Milliband fantasy family daydream, I imagined David and Ed going home on Sunday for tea on the lawn and Ed (champion some might say of the Third Sector) informing Prime minister David about the wonders and achievements of our work across the country over a cup of Earl Grey and a slice of Battenberg (well maybe not the Battenberg!).

But then the day dreaming came to an end and I started to get curious about who were the councillors standing for these local elections? Where do they come from? and what sort of person is a local councillor? After some research, I discovered that women are underrepresented in local government. Currently 27.9 per cent of councillors are women, a third of those are over 60, only 2.6% had pre school age children. 10% were women who worked in the third sector.

On International Women’s Day this year, Harriet Harman was debating women in politics in the House of Lords and she said:

“As we celebrate 2008 International Women’s Day we will ensure that we have more women in local government and here in Westminster representing women in this country.”

I support Harriet Harman’s commitment to more women in politics and certainly more women in local government as it is in local government that we can begin to make a real difference to our communities. As women leaders in our organisations, We should consider how we can best support women to be members of boards and take on voluntary roles in the local community. We must coach and develop the women in our sector so that their ambitions can be realised and their talents used.

We have a role to play in supporting other women to be the leaders of the future. In the same debate in the house of lords on International Women’s Day, Ann Clwyd said of Margaret Thatcher:

“Having made it to the top of the ladder herself, she pulled the ladder up behind her very quickly.”

Not a role model that we would champion in Third Sector Women!
Tracey Faraday-Drake
IDeA census of councillors 1997 and 2001 more