Kia ora koutou, I find it hard to get interested in local body stuff and that’s because I don’t feel connected or involved. There’s a kind of miasma over what actually happens at their meetings and what points of view are operating given that they’re mainly Pakeha, male and older.
Nominations have closed so think about this – if there are young people, female, Maori, Asian, standing for election vote for them Yes I know the general consensus on the street is that they’re too young, no experience and the killer – they don’t belong to the old boy’s network but think about voting for them.
The history of local council elections shows that even if a Maori wahine stands they very rarely, almost never, get voted in. Their courage in even standing, given the stats, deserves a medal. The message they get from you, the voter, is, ‘Butt out, your point of view is not wanted – its not important – you don’t understand how these things work and anyway you don’t belong to Rotary or Lions.
Stats tell us that 72% of councillors are male and over 70.
Time for a change. It might come as a shock to those who take it for granted that simply because they’re Pakeha, male and older they’ll steam in but listen you voters, we need a variety of experience and points of view on these councils.
What a thrill it would be to see all–female councils, not only female but young and with a good mix of cultures.
‘Oh no,’ bleat the nay–sayers, ‘they’re too young, they don’t have any experience, they don’t understand the processes, and anyway why should there be just one gender represented?
‘Hello?
Local councils have been dominated by old white men for over one and a half centuries and the records are not always good.
Time for a change. Time to move on. Time to vote for the young and female. Oh, you say, that’s a narrow view isn’t it? We need a mix don’t we?
Yes, we do but so far we haven’t got it. What we’ve got is a practically mono-cultural represenation and that’s not us. Its simply not us. Never has been but its becoming clearer and clearer that old white men simply do not have the skills or the knowledge to vote on important local issues because they only represent a very narrow wedge of our population.
If you find local politics boring then you have the power to zap it up, make it lively, make it informed, make it like our own community, a mix of cultures. And when women have had 180 years on Councils then your great great great granddaughters can change the mix a bit. Allow a few white males in as a trial? See how they go?
Renée
