INTERNATIONAL Women's Day, celebrated today in Goulburn and around the world, aims to improve equality between men and women in the workplace and the community.
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This year the theme is 'Women Valuing, Promoting and Supporting their Community'.
It is a time to not only remember the achievements of the past and present, but also a time to inspire and encourage women to reach their full potential.
Goulburn Mulwaree Council has three women serving as councillors, an unusually high number for country NSW, according to figures from the Department of Local Government.
Councillors Margaret O'Neill, Maureen Eddy and Susan Harris have very different backgrounds, personalities and attitudes towards their status as women in local government.
Cr Harris said it was important for female councillors to celebrate the unique contributions they could make to the community, and local government.
"I think you've got to be as strong as the men, but you don't have to become one of the boys," she said.
"I'm a woman and I like to receive respect, the same as I like to give it."
Cr Harris was elected to Goulburn City Council in 1995 and said she was very aware she was entering a male-dominated world.
"The odds are against women; they've got to be much more efficient in terms of time management. A female councillor often holds down a job, looks after the home and serves the community," she said.
"It's not a good job for somebody whose got a family who's dependent on them."
But despite this, Cr Harris said she encouraged more women to run, as long as they were aware of the workload and were doing it because they wanted to help the community.
"We all know women think differently to me, I'm not afraid to say it. It's not all about business, and possibly the maternal side makes us think more about the big picture, about what is good for everyone," she said.
Cr O'Neill was at the Local Government Department lunch held in Sydney last week to mark the achievements of female councillors and call on more women to get involved in local government, either as councillors and mayors, or as senior management.
"In the 25 years I've been on council, it was the first time I've been invited to have lunch with the Minister," she said.
Cr O'Neill was first elected to Goulburn City Council in 1982 and has served as Deputy Mayor for six years and as Mayor for six years.
She said Goulburn has always had a tradition of strong women on council.
Before Cr O'Neill's stint as mayor, Cr Pat Fairall had already blazed the trail as a female mayor.
"There were four women on council in those days (out of 12) and over the years there has always been at least three," she said.
Cr O'Neill said she had never experienced any sort of sexism or discrimination as a female councillor.
"I don't hold with that kind of thing, I stand up for myself and fight for what I believe in," she said.
Cr O'Neill said councillors brought individual experience and interests to their role, regardless of gender.
And she said she would prefer to see the focus stay on candidates as individuals rather than getting into a gender breakdown.
"I don't think we need higher representation of women, I think people look at what you can do for them, rather than whether you're a man or a woman," she said.
Cr Eddy, who was also at the lunch in Sydney, said she was wary about people who were talking about being more forceful about getting women to stand for council.
"It's up to individual women," she said.
"If they want to do it, great, but you can't force anyone to do it. You have to love what you do."
Cr Eddy has been on council since she was first elected to Mulwaree Shire Council in 1987 and was only Mulwaree's second female councillor.
"A lot of people encouraged me to run, not because I was a woman, but because they wanted someone from Marulan and they knew I had the time," she said.
Cr Eddy said she didn't think having more female councillors would affect council's decision-making, but she said it would be good to have more women "because they do have good points of view".