San Antonio’s city government is weighing a proposal by Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales to offer free childcare during committee and board meetings to entice more women to participate.
“One of the things we’ve noticed when doing work on women’s pay parity and women’s equity is that something really preventing women from advancing in careers, and just participating in meetings, is childcare,” Gonzales told the Express-News, which first reported on the proposal.
Only a third of members serving on the city’s 81 boards and advisory committees are women, according to data from the city’s Status of Women in San Antonio report.
Gonzales this summer asked city staff to review childcare options for board and committee members and participants.
The West Side councilwoman has twice introduced measures to require that the city have gender parity on city boards and commissions. Neither of those efforts was successful, however.
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This article appears in Dec 4-17, 2019.
