Women chief executives in Scotland’s councils

By Professor James Mitchell

Local by-elections in Orkney rarely draw much attention but the West Mainland by-election in August has done so because of the all-women field of candidates. That this is deemed newsworthy speaks volumes. The position of women in local government is mixed and a significant difference outlined below invites careful attention.

While women continue to be under-represented in candidate selection, election and leadership positions across Scotland’s thirty-two local authorities, a different picture emerges in the appointment of senior officers. For over six months, both Glasgow and Edinburgh City Councils – Scotland’s two largest authorities in population terms – had women chief executives before Dame Sue Bruce retired from her position in Edinburgh in July. There are now 14 women heading up Scotland’s 32 local authorities compared with only five women council leaders (out of 33 when we account for the two men jointly heading Aberdeenshire Council).

While population size is only one way of measuring local authorities (landmass is another but scale of public policy challenges is the most important) it shows that women chief executives are in charge in authorities responsible for just under 42 per cent of Scotland’s population. Edinburgh makes up just over 9 per cent of the Scottish population so that until July, women chief executives were running authorities covering 51 per cent of the population.

The comparison with elected council leaders is instructive. The five women council leaders are heads in authorities covering only 14.7 per cent of the Scottish population.

There are likely to be a number of explanations for this disparity. The appointment processes are different though some obvious points of similarity. The pool of talented women in senior positions across Scotland’s local authorities and public services is considerable as compared to the more limited number of women councillors. While an understandable emphasis has been placed on the number of women elected politicians, it would be mistaken to ignore others who yield significant power. Indeed, some might argue that the advance of women to senior positions as officers in local government is more likely to affect policy-making than becoming local council leaders.

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James Mitchell is Professor of Public Policy and Co-Director of the Academy of Government at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Devolution in the UK (Manchester University Press 2009) and The Scottish Question (Oxford University Press 2014). He tweets @ProfJMitchell.

Table: Scotland’s Council’s, their Chief Executives and Leaders.

Council	Population	Chief Executive	Leader
Glasgow	592,800	Annemarie O’Donnell	Gordon Mathieson
Edinburgh	486,100	Andrew Kerr	Andrew Burns
Fife	365,000	Steve Grimmond	David Ross
North Lanarkshire	326,000	Gavin Whitefield	Jim McCabe
South Lanarkshire	311,900	Lindsay Freeland	Eddie McAvoy
Aberdeenshire	245,800	Jim Savege	Richard Thomson/Martin Kitts-Hayes
Highland	221,600	Steve Barron	Margaret Davidson
Aberdeen	217,100	Angela Scott	Jenny Laing
West Lothian	172,100	Graham Hope	John McGinty
Renfrewshire	170,300	Sandra Black	Mark MacMillan
Falkirk	153,300	Mary Pitcaithly	Craig Martin
Dumfries & Galloway	148,200	Gavin Stevenson	Ronnie Nicholson
Perth and Kinross	147,800	Bernadette Malone	Ian Miller
Dundee	144,300	David Martin	Ken Guild
North Ayrshire	135,200	Elma Murray	Willie Gibson
East Ayrshire	120,200	Fiona Lees	Douglas Reid
Scottish Borders	112,900	Tracey Logan	David Parker
South Ayrshire	111,400	Eileen Howat	Bill McIntosh
Angus	110,600	Richard Stiff	Ian Gaul
East Dunbartonshire	104,600	Gerry Cornes	Rhonnda Geekie
East Lothian	97,500	Angela Leitch	Willie Innes
West Dunbartonshire	90,600	Joyce White	Martin Rooney
Stirling	89,900	Stewart Carruth	Johanna Boyd
East Renfrewshire	89,500	Lorraine McMillan	Jim Fletcher
Argyll & Bute	89,200	Sally Loudon	Dick Walsh
Moray	87,700	Roddy Burns	Stewart Cree
Midlothian	81,100	Kenneth Lawrie	Catherine Johnstone
Inverclyde	79,800	John Mundell	Stephen McCabe
Clackmannanshire	50,600	Elaine McPherson	Les Sharp
Comhairle nan Eileanan Siar	26,200	Malcolm Burr	Angus Campbell
Shetland	22,400	Mark Boden	Gary Robinson
Orkney	20,100	Alistair Buchan	Steven Heddle

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