Gender imbalance on committees

Council has recently advertised and selected new new independent members onto all of its committees. The presence and participation of the independents adds a richness to the debate that is very welcome. However, given the significant gender imbalance of elected members (there is only one female elected member) it was a great opportunity to get more women involved with council and interested in eventually becoming elected members. The final makeup of the committees is as follows;

• Development and Strategy 9 :1 
• Infrastructure 7:1
• Community and Culture 6:1
• Audit Committee 5:0
• Unley Business and Development 9:4 (including trader representatives)

This is a total of 36:7 or less than 17%.

I have asked the staff to investigate ways in which the next round of advertisements for these positions, in 2 years time, can be managed to attract more well qualified and competent female applicants and then for the selection panels to be mindful of the benefits of working toward gender balance on the committees.