The Victorian Government has announced funding to support getting more women into leadership roles in local government.

New scholarships funded by the Brumby Government will help more women in local government participate in senior leadership development.

Minister for Women’s Affairs Maxine Morand and Minister for Local Government Richard Wynne yesterday announced $20,000 for the new scholarships.

Speaking at the Women’s Professional Development forum hosted by Local Government Professionals (LGPro), Ms Morand said the new funding would promote leadership training for women currently in and aspiring to senior executive roles in local councils.

“I am proud our Government has been able to provide this funding to support LGPro’s new Executive Leadership Program,” she said.

“This is an exciting new initiative which aims to achieve greater gender balance in leadership positions in local government.”

Ms Morand said while women made up 51 per cent of the population, only 15 per cent of CEOs of local councils were women.

“For the first time we have a female Prime Minister and I hope she provides inspiration for more women to take their rightful place in leadership roles in their respective work places,” Ms Morand said.

“Research completed by LGPro shows senior female managers are considerably less likely to apply for a CEO role than male managers, even though these women were more likely to have post graduate qualifications than their male counterparts,” she said.

“This funding for scholarships will assist women who are working in smaller councils with limited resources to participate in an executive leadership program and build their leadership capacity, which will hopefully then encourage more of these women to apply for senior positions.”

Mr Wynne welcomed the new partnership with LGPro and said it further demonstrated the Brumby Labor Government’s commitment to promoting positive change and removing barriers to women’s participation in local government.

“I urge councils to continue to use this Year of Women in Local Government to look at what actions can be taken at a local level to support and encourage women’s participation,” he said.

“There is good work being done by councils but I hope to see more progress across more councils in the near future.”

For more information about the scholarships contact the Office of Women’s Policy on (03) 9208 3618.