Covid: Hybrid working 'may boost' women in politics

The surge in virtual meetings due to the pandemic could boost the number of women in local government, an academic has said.

Leah Hibbs of Cardiff University said she was "cautiously optimistic" about the progress but warned against a return to presenteeism.

Only one in four councillors in Wales are women.

Cardiff councillor 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 fix my children a snack and sit with them on the sofa while they watch Numberblocks," she added.

The 35-year-old got pregnant about six months after being elected in 2017 and described feeling a "huge responsibility" to still be contactable and present in her ward.

The shift toward virtual meetings has allowed her to spend time with her three-and-a-half year old twins, rather than rush 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, which was the first time I had left them. At the time I was very upset," she said.

She took six months off as a councillor and returned to work as a public affairs officer after a year.

"If I'd have had children first, I would not be a councillor because I simply don't understand how I could have made it work."

Figures from the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) show 28% of councillors are women, with only six of the 22 councils led by women.

Leah Hibbs said women politicians faced a "triple duty", balancing personal commitments with caring and domestic responsibilities, as well as having a professional career.

"The remuneration is around £14,000 and that's particularly hard for women because of these kind of continuing traditional gendered roles," she added.

The social sciences lecturer has been researching the effect of remote working and how it might improve the experiences of women councillors, as well as their participation.

"I'm also a little bit, maybe, disappointed slightly that it's taken a global pandemic and then it's taken everyone experiencing these barriers for something to change and I think that is a little bit worrying," she said.

She added that childcare expenses, which have now been made anonymous, were often left unclaimed due to concerns about the possible perceived negative connotations of claiming them.

"You might think that is a positive change, however, there are so few people in individual councils with childcare responsibilities that it's still very easy to kind of drill down and then see who is claiming those kind of expenses," she said.

Overall, she found people were positive about the new hybrid way of working but said councils needed to be "careful" people were not pressured to return to the chamber.

Sara Jones is deputy leader of Monmouthshire council, as well as being a mother-of-two and a volunteer ski coach.

She has only ever known being a mum and a councillor but said it was a hugely supportive environment.

"I remember taking my six-week-old-son into the council chamber, sitting in an economy scrutiny committee being able to be fully engaged in the committee as an active member whilst my little boy slept through throughout whole meeting" she recalled.

Over the 10 years since her election she has also maintained a career, something she said is even easier now there is greater flexibility in both the council and the workplace.

"I'm not going to lie it's been difficult to manage both having that professional and public life, but it can be done and it can be done even more so now," she said.

The WLGA said platforms such as Teams and Zoom had made meetings more "flexible and accessible" while reducing travel and making them more compatible with caring responsibilities and work commitments.

"We have worked closely with Welsh government to ensure the flexibilities of remote and hybrid meetings experienced during the pandemic have now been made permanent in law, unlike in England where councils have been required to return to face-to-face meetings," a spokesman said.

"Wider Welsh government reforms, which the WLGA has pushed for, mean councillors in Wales are entitled to family absence provisions on a par with public workers and payments for costs for caring responsibilities, while job sharing allows greater flexibility for people to take on senior roles."

The WLGA said it hoped this would encourage "more diverse elected representatives" to stand in May's local elections.