GANNAWARRA Shire Council’s only female councillor Jane Ogden would like to see more women alongside her in the council.
Ms Ogden said with the hashtag for this year’s International Women’s Day being #BreakTheBias, it was important for women to have a strong voice in their communities.
“I hope that when women see me in the community and in council meetings, that they can see that even though we do have difficult council meetings, there’s a way of being able to be strong and still have a voice without getting effected by negative voices,” she said.
“I just went into standing as a local government councillor because I wanted to be able to have a voice for our community.
“I suppose my focus has been on doing work in the community, and I hadn’t given it the label of leadership… I understand it more and more as I’ve been in this councillor role, and I’m learning more about being a better leader.”
When it comes to a specific issue that Cr Odgen thinks needs to be addressed, it would be the gender pay gap.
“I just feel that it is really important for wages to be looked in to, so that women are really given more respect for the type of roles that they have in communities, so that they are awarded that respect by good wages for what they do,” Cr Ogden said.
Kerang Women’s Football Club president Jedda Birch said International Women’s Day was a way to highlight all the things women can do, like playing typically male-dominated sports.
“It’s great for women to get out there and they can absolutely try anything,” Ms Birch said.
“Just because it’s a male sport like cricket and footy and soccer, women can do it too and let their abilities be their own guide.
“It’s great that women can have the chance to get out there and experience all this stuff, not just from a man’s perspective.”
