Equalities campaigners are dismayed that only eight women are standing for election to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles council), despite a campaign to diversify Scotland’s only all-male local authority. Council officials and equalities activists had urged more women to stand for the council after none of the seven female candidates who stood in 2017 were elected, leaving the authority run solely by men. After nominations to stand in May’s Scottish council elections closed on Thursday, it emerged that just eight women had come forward – fewer than hoped for. They are competing with 42 male candidates for 29 seats in the election on 5 May – two fewer places than in 2007 after wards were reorganised. Historically, the Western Isles has regularly returned the lowest number of female councillors in Scotland: the most was five in 2007. While one woman was elected as provost, the equivalent to mayor, in the 1960s, only three have ever served as a committee convenor. Hannah Stevens, the chief executive of Elect Her, an equalities group that ran an election workshop for women in the Western Isles in January, said the latest figures confirmed that significant work was needed to address the imbalance.
“We are disappointed but not surprised to see little progress since 2017,” she said. “To see an increase in representation inside our council chambers we need to transform and modernise the culture of local government across Britain. “Dismantling male-dominated political spaces is long-term, multi-generational work and is the responsibility of all those holding power. We sincerely hope that we will see some women elected to Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar in May, who can ensure women’s voices are represented in local decision making.” The women coming forward include prominent figures in public life. Frances Murray is about to retire as rector, or headteacher, of the Nicolson Institute, the largest secondary school in the Western Isles. She is standing in Stornoway for the Scottish National party (SNP) in a ward with seven candidates, including two male incumbents. Catrìona Murray was, when elected in 2018, the only female board member of the Stornoway Trust, a community landlord that owns the land that is home to Stornoway, the islands’ main town. No relation of Frances, she decided to resign from the SNP in order to stand in May’s election.
Under the party’s rules, she could not stand as an independent while remaining within the SNP; she believes independent councillors have greater autonomy. Murray said she too was disappointed so few women had come forward, even though a large number took part in the Elect Her workshop. “Honestly, I feel that there’s been an awful lot of running just to stand still,” she said. “I don’t have the second sight but it’s pretty clear that we’ll have a very small number [of women], or none at all will be elected.” Murray said greater effort would be needed after the election to find strategies to encourage women to stand. One significant obstacle was the low rate of pay for councillors in Scotland, at £18,604, which meant many breadwinners, particularly parents, were unable to take the risk of quitting better-paid jobs. It also emerged that too few candidates came forward to fill the seats in two wards, in Barra, and Uig and Carloway. Had a women come forward in either ward, they would have been automatically elected. Instead, there will now be byelections to fill the vacant seats.