Stirling women at a loss

by Sureena Izham

March 31, 2008

A STIRLING city councillor has called for a report into the number of women who’ve resigned from the city council in the last year and why they’ve left.

According to Doubleview warder, Elizabeth Re, the lack of participation from women in the Stirling workforce is a growing concern.

“Since the notification of the matter, it was recently reported that there has been a slight improvement in employment of women in the last 12 months,” Cr Re said. “A number of advertisements on job vacancies, and also part-time jobs were being introduced as a part of this concern.”

Cr Re believed the report she requested would be completed in time for the city’s April 1 council meeting. Then the city would be in a position to determine why women were resigning from their jobs, and start implementing a campaign to encourage women back to the council’s workforce.

Cr Re pointed to previous research that concluded women had resigned from Stirling due to external  promotion, maternity, and inflexible work hours that conflicted with family responsibilities. Still, said Cr Re, the main reason women had been resigning was uncertain.