The increase in virtual meetings due to the pandemic could increase the number of women in local government, a researcher said.
Cardiff University’s Leah Hibbs said she was “cautiously optimistic” about progress but warned against a return to presenteeism.
Only one in four councilors in Wales is a woman.
Cardiff Councilor Jennifer Burke-Davies said remote meetings meant she could attend and watch her children.
“I can log on to my PC and participate and listen, but I can also make my kids a snack and sit on the sofa with them while they look at number pads,” she added.
The 35-year-old became pregnant about six months after her election in 2017 and described that she felt a “great responsibility” to continue to be available and present on her ward.
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The switch to virtual meetings has enabled her to spend time with her three-and-a-half-year-old twins instead of rushing to the other side of Cardiff after a long day at work.
“When they were born I was back in the council chamber within six weeks, that was the first time I had left them. I was very upset at the time,” she said.
She took half a year off as city councilor and returned after a year as public affairs officer.
“If I had kids first, I wouldn’t have become a councilman because I just don’t see how I could have made that work.”
Figures from the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) show that 28% of local councils are women, with only six of the 22 local councils being chaired by women.
Leah Hibbs said women politicians face a “triple duty” to balance personal commitments with caring and domestic responsibilities and to have a professional career.
“The pay is around £14,000 and that’s particularly tough for women because of these kinds of traditional gender roles,” she added.
The social sciences lecturer explores the impact of teleworking and how it could improve women’s council experience and participation.
“I’m also maybe a little bit disappointed that it took a global pandemic and then everyone who was experiencing those barriers to make a change, and I think that’s a bit worrying,” she said.
She added that child care expenses, which have now been anonymized, often went unclaimed because of concerns about the potential negative connotations of claiming them.
“You might think that’s a positive change, but there are so few people on each council with childcare responsibilities that it’s still very easy to drill down and then see who’s claiming those kinds of expenses,” she said.
Overall, she noted that people were positive about the new hybrid way of working, but said councils had to be “careful” people would not be pressured to return to the chamber.
Sara Jones is Vice-President of Monmouthshire Council, a mother of two and a volunteer ski coach.
She has only ever known that she is a mother and a councillor, but said it was an extremely supportive environment.
“I remember taking my six-week-old son to the council chamber, sitting on an audit committee and being able to fully participate as an active member on the committee while my little boy slept through the entire meeting,” she recalled.
In the 10 years since her election, she has also maintained her career, which she says is even easier now that there is greater flexibility both on the council and in the workplace.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s been difficult living both this professional life and this public life, but it’s doable and it can do even more now,” she said.
The WLGA said platforms like Teams and Zoom have made meetings “more flexible and accessible,” reducing travel and making them more compatible with care responsibilities and work commitments.
“We have been working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that the flexibilities of remote and hybrid meetings experienced during the pandemic are now enshrined in law, unlike in England where councils have had to return to in-person meetings,” a spokesman said.
“Broader reforms by the Welsh Government, which the WLGA has been pushing for, mean that councilors in Wales are entitled to arrangements for family absences that are the same as those for public employees and payments for caring costs, while the division of labor gives people greater flexibility when taking on managerial positions.”
The WLGA said it hoped this would encourage “more diverse elected officials” to stand in local elections in May.
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