Modestly staffed and modestly resourced: An exploratory critique of women’s entry to rural and regional governance

Abstract

In Australia, a significant shift has occurred in regional governance arrangements with the emergence of new forums for the practising of regional leadership. In this paper we provide a critical reading of a recent report on the representation of women in governance in rural and regional Australia as well as a textual analysis of the language in use around the entities reviewed in the report. We first consider women’s representation in regional local government. While women have increased their representation in elected positions in this sphere of governance, we argue they continue to occupy a marginal position. We then consider a range of institutions identified as making up the new regional governance arrangements. Our analysis suggests that many of these new governance bodies are modestly staffed and modestly resourced and are expected to facilitate/ coordinate networking activities. We conclude with a caution against viewing women’s involvement in new forms of nonmetropolitan governance as symptomatic of a shift in rural and regional gendered power relations.