ABSTRACT
Have women in the past three or four decades found it as difficult to exercise political power at a local level as they have at a national level? There might be an assumption that women would find it easier to combine their family responsibilities and work patterns with local political activity. Furthermore, it has been argued that the areas of policy covered by local government, embracing education, social and welfare services and health, are of particular interest to women. However, as we shall see, in the great majority of our countries women play no greater role in local than in national politics. Furthermore, as at the national level, a pattern of ‘hierarchichal marginalisation’ applies – the more important the position, the fewer the number of women who are to be found in occupation. This can be seen most strikingly at local and regional level by looking at elected or even appointed mayors and at council and regional assembly leaders. The percentages of women holding such positions are disproportionately low right across western Europe. Though it is not always easy to collect extensive data from all ten countries on the gender make-up of local and regional councils and on whether women cluster on particular committees or take on particular portfolios, the available evidence strongly suggests that women exercise much greater responsibility in the fields of education, social services and the arts than in finance, transport or economic planning.
