‘Enough’ females on city council

Press, 23 July 1976, Page 10

‘Enough’ females on city council

Councillor Helen Garrett said she felt there were enough women on the Christchurch City Council at present, with five female councillors. and she did not really believe that women had any special qualifications to be members, when she addressed a meeting of the Women’s Electoral Lobbv. Councillor Garrett andi Councillor Vicki Buck addres-l ised the annual general meetjing of W.E.L. on “The place of women in local govemjment.” i The meeting was a lively lone, with Cr Garrett in particular, bringing a barrage of questions and challenging viewpoints from ■ the ’audience. “The most insidious ;opposition to women on the council has been from women who make it within the system and then go round and reject feminist views,” said Cr Buck. Decisions made by the council were too important to leave to a male ment which looked for de-1 cisions that were based on a male outlook, she said. It was very difficult to get access to the real decisionmakers as the council

decisions were often made by! a few. “The council just isn’t geared to take any real’ notice of public feeling,” Cr! Buck said. An example of this is the way in which they use the public notices of the newspapers to publicise their plans. “I think murder could be committed in the public

[.notices and go J she said. But Cr Garrett said that if | .the public did not read the; public notices they did not, deserve to know what, was! ..going on. J “After all you can’t force Ijpeople to take an interest.” Jshe said. ; “While I agree 'that in a ’ sense decisions are made elsewhere they are made by ; knowledgeable people,” she ; added. “You can’t go to the people all the time about everything and you shouldn’t have to explain everything over and over again. The public, by and large, just don’t bother to inform themselves.” i Cr Buck said the structure -of the council and the lack of any real participation in! council affairs by the public was not something that could be changed by people outside the system. Those not involved with council work had only a vote every three years and no chance to make any real decisions. The present council operated to exclude others from taking part, rather than encouraging them to participate, by holding committee meetings at the inconvenient hour of 4 p.m., sai l Cr Buck.

A councillor was required to take much time away from work though being paid $260 a year for his services. Hence the only people who could afford to be councillors were well-to-do, retired or self-employed, said Cr Buck. “I’m not in favour of the present emphasis on youth — I believe in the experience of life — and to tell the honest truth there

iare not many women who can offer the type of experience that men can offer when it comes to council business,” said Cr Garrett. She said she regarded the Christchurch City Council as a very efficient body, “run by the officers of the council, with the councillors actually being nuisances most [of the time.” She said the work of the (council was done, not at I city-council meetings, hut [mostly by the officers and ! senior and experienced counicillors. But she did agree [that there could perhaps be a few more women among the sub-committees.

“I don’t mean to decry women entirely as councillors but 1 feel experience is very necessary and the number of women we have now is about right.” Cr Buck said she felt that the present City council was unrepresentative in terms of income, with a big proportion of the councillors coming from the affluent western areas of the city and with councillors Detween | them having managerial positions in at least 40 companies.

It was unfair that t.iere was little representation from the city’s poorer eastern areas, whicn were actually footing the greater part of the bill for many of the city’s amenitites. An even spread of representation on the council from all areas in the city was not necessary or desirable, said Cr Garrett. "We don’t want the lowest common denominator on the council.” i She did not feel it was [necessary to have a representative’ of each area on I the council as she was sure mat councillors were aware of the views of everyone, not just those in their own suburbs. “I always talk to taxi drivers to find out what they think and even have some very good friends who live in Sydenham and I know what they think.”