Women continue to smash city council's 'glass ceiling'

THE number of women smashing through the "glass ceiling" at the city council has continued to soar - but the authority is well behind targets on the number of minorities and disabled people it employs.

New data published by council chiefs has shown that the council is making progress in moving towards having an equal number of men and women in top-ranking posts, and the latest drive is expected to be boosted by the arrival of new chief executive Sue Bruce.

But its record on recruiting people with disabilities and those from minority groups has been branded "shameful" and is well behind target.

New data shows that 39 per cent of the council's "chief officers" - the highest tier of management - are women. And 38 per cent of the second tier of managers, or "senior officers", are female.

Both figures - which cover the 800 top-paid council staff - have doubled in the last seven years. But they are still well below a target of having an equal gender split by 2012.

Emma Ritch, project manager of Close the Gap, a partnership set up to raise awareness about the pay gap, said: "Although Edinburgh has missed their target of 50 per cent female representation in senior roles, the figures do indicate that they've taken steps to smash its glass ceiling."

The number of women in the most senior posts has grown considerably, from 20 per cent of all chief officers in 2004 to 38.9 per cent now. However, the increase in the number of women in these posts has now declined marginally for the last three successive years.

Council leader Jenny Dawe said: "While we have legal requirements we have to meet, I believe a council also has a moral responsibility to make sure it is inclusive.

"We can always do better, but I'm pleased to see that we are going from strength to strength in this area."

Only 2.2 per cent of the council's 19,000 staff are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, which is up 0.8 per cent since 2004 but well below the 2012 target of 4.2 per cent.

And the total proportion of disabled workers has only increased by 0.1 per cent since 2004, to 1.6 per cent, compared to a target of six per cent.

Cllr Lesley Hinds, the health spokeswoman for the Labour group on the council, said: "The figures for ethnic minorities are disappointing but even more worrying stats are that people with disabilities have only gone up 0.1 per cent.

"It is quite shameful for a council that is supposed to be inclusive to have such low numbers of staff from these groups."

Top female roles

NEW council chief executive Sue Bruce is the only woman to have ever held the top job at the city council.

The 55-year-old is paid 155,000 a year for her role.

But she is known to prefer to avoid any attention being drawn to her position as one of Scotland's top female local government officials.

In the next tier of management is Gillian Tee, the only female of the council's six directors. She heads up the children and families department and is paid 137,244 a year.

Of the heads of service, Karen Kelly is the most senior women, in the role of head of financial services.

There is then a series of women in the next tier of the hierarchy - service managers.