By Violet Li
Casey Council candidates are concerned about the “relatively low” women candidacy rates in the coming election.
Six of the women candidates running across Casey met on Friday 20 September to discuss the issues facing them.
They pointed out that only 24 out of 89 candidates in this year’s Casey election were women, with a concerning rate of 27 per cent.
“According to ABS Census data from 2021, 50.2 per cent of Casey’s population are women, yet only 27 per cent of candidates in this election are women,” they said.
Dillwynia Ward, which contains suburbs of Berwick and Clyde North, has recorded the lowest representation of women, with no women running.
Kowan Ward candidate Kasuni Mendis said there were already many barriers for women preventing them from running for council, including finding the time and energy to campaign, whilst managing caregiving responsibilities as well as finding the time to be an elected representative, amongst other responsibilities.
“We all have our identity, and in that aspect, I get looked at differently for being a woman, being a young person, being a person of colour,” she said.
“I think there are women that have chosen not to run because of some of those barriers.
“At a time where family violence and safety are key issues for women, having representation on the council to address these societal issues is crucial.
“Women are also concerned about ensuring vital council-run services such as kindergartens and Maternal and Child Health services are adequately resourced.”
Ms Mendis said she organised the dinner because she knew how difficult campaigning was and she wanted to support other women new to running for council.
“For candidates like Lynette and myself, we’re used to the trials and tribulations of this process. But for new candidates, it can be challenging to navigate and we wanted to provide a support system for them,” she said.
“Across Casey, some women candidates have been facing the same issues. For example, some of the men candidates running across Casey, in their respective wards, have seemed to be working with each other to preference each other and have excluded good strong, women candidates from those discussions.
“Whether that is because they’re a threat to them, I’m not sure.
“But I think candidates who claim to be about integrity and want a good representative of the community should seek to actually engage with women candidates and take that into consideration of their preference.”
Ross, Casuarina Ward candidate Kim Ross said: “The prevalence of unconscious bias towards male leadership exists, and even with the best of intentions it can be easy to exclude female candidates from important conversations.”
“It’s important that women support each other to ensure our voices are loud and strong in all issues and conversations in this important election for Casey Council.”
Quarters Ward candidate Kuljeet Kaur Robinson said it should be 50 per cent women in the council.
“With the low women representation rate, the reason which I understand is that in Asian cultures like us, Indian, Sudanese or Pakistani, these cultures, they are man dominant cultures, so women usually just stay at home and look after kids and do other jobs,” she said.
“Most of the time, families don’t allow them to do things like that.
“And the other thing is in the multicultural community, most of the people have young kids, and they are so busy.
“I have three young kids as well, and my friend was saying, you know, it’s too much for you.”
