TWO prominent Victorian politicians have butted heads about the best way to increase women’s representation in politics, despite agreeing that change needs to occur at a grassroots level.
Victorian Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development Jaala Pulford and Nationals Senator for Victoria Bridget McKenzie spoke to The Guardian about the contentious topic while in town for the Murray Rivers Group of Councils conference last week.
Ms McKenzie, who has been in office since 2010, said women needed more encouragement to enter public life, but threw cold water on the idea of gender quotas.
“It’s about starting young and letting young women and girls know they can do and achieve and contribute in ways that are completely equal with men,” she said.
“[But] I think you have to really want to do this job to do it and you have to really want to represent your community to do it,” she said.
“At the end of the day I’m not a fan of quotas at all.”
Ms Pulford’s party, Victorian Labor, has operated under gender targets for around 20 years, and in March Premier Daniel Andrews announced a new quota system for state government boards and Victorian courts which dictates 50 percent of appointments to those bodies must be to women.
“What we consistently see in executive leadership positions, in local council elections, in elections for public office, in any kind of public leadership roles, you see more guys putting their hands up than girls putting their hands up and that’s why you get a lower outcome at the end of the day,” Ms Pulford said.
“If women put their hand up they’ll do well, they’ll get elected to council, they’ll be appointed to boards, they’ll perform at a higher level.”
