Council receives $100,000 to advance gender equality

Published on 16 October 2018

Council has welcomed a $100,000 grant from the Victorian Government to promote gender equality in the workplace.

 Minister for Women for the Prevention of Family Violence, Natalie Hutchins, announced the funding for the Local Government Workforce Challenge at Council’s Kyneton offices yesterday.

Chief Executive Officer Margot Stork said the funding, along with $10,000 from Council and $15,000 of in-kind support, would support Council’s commitment to advancing gender equality.

“The Local Government Workforce Challenge project stems from our realisation that if we are to be leaders in this space we need to lead by example by making sure our workplace culture and ethos is inclusive and welcomes diversity, and that our policies and practices demonstrate gender equality,” Ms Stork said.

“Many of us spend up to a third of our waking hours at work. It makes sense then that workplace based approaches to preventing violence against women have significant potential for impact. Who doesn’t want to work in an environment that supports equitable, inclusive and respectful attitudes and behaviours?”

Ms Stork said the majority of Council staff were also residents of the shire.

“It is expected therefore that their participation in this project will lead to increased community understanding of the link between family violence and harmful attitudes and social conditions such as gender inequality,” she said.

Ms Stork said the project would benefit from knowledge obtained through Council’s ongoing work in the area of prevention of violence against women, in particular the Rural Challenge Gender Equality Leadership program. The Rural Challenge Gender Equality Leadership Program builds the capacity of female and male leaders in CFA brigades and football-netball clubs to implement organisational and cultural change to embed principles of gender equality. It does this through a series of discussion based workshops and mentored action planning.

Gender inequality is the root cause of family violence, and strategies that promote positive, equal and respectful relationships can help to prevent violence against women.

The Local Government Workforce Challenge initiative is supported by the Free from Violence Local Government Grants, which aim to support councils to embed primary prevention in their everyday work. The funding will be used on several initiatives for staff, including workshops.