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Manuela Carmena’s mantra:“Say
HANNA GRONKIEWICZ-WALTZ, yes.”
MAYOR OF WARSAW, POLAND
Age: 63 Education: Law degreeWHAT MADE YOU GO INTO POLITICS? I’ve been interested
since I was a child thanks to my father – if he didn’t live
during the communist period, maybe he’d also have
become a politician. My grandmother, who
survived two world wars and one
revolution, also had an impact on
me. She told me, “Unless you’ve
been decapitated, you can always
start over again.”
CLOVER MOORE,
LORD MAYOR OF SYDNEY,
AUSTRALIA
Age: 71 Education: Arts degree and diploma in education
WHAT MADE YOU GO INTO POLITICS? It wasn’t planned.
I’d been living in London and had a baby there. The
local council provided terrific play facilities, parks,
creches. But then I came back to Sydney, in Redfern,
and found all the things I had in London just didn’t
exist. So, I took up a petition.
WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS? Women in the democratic
party: Janine Haines and Elisabeth Kirkby. And German
Chancellor Angela Merkel; the role she
has taken on climate change and
asylum seekers is inspirational.
WHAT PROBLEMS DO YOU FACE IN
YOUR CITY? Congestion and
affordable housing are the
big ones, and the growing
division between the
wealthy and the rest of us.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES
WOMEN FACE IN AUSTRALIA?
They’re not very dissimilar to
the things we were facing 20 years
ago: affordable childcare, domestic
violence, poverty, unemployment and income inequity.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS TO COMBATING
CLIMATE CHANGE? To establish a vision for a long-term
future for our city, Sydney 2030. We’ve reduced our
emissions in our own operations by 27 per cent and
across the city by 19 per cent, even though we’ve had
a period of unprecedented growth. If cities can achieve
this, it’s a way of addressing climate change. We really
need other levels of government to make a commitment
to action, then set targets and ensure policies.
WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU HAVE EVER RECEIVED?
My mother used to say, “Just get on with it.” So that’s
what I’ve done.
MANUELA CARMENA,
MAYOR OF MADRID, SPAIN
Age: 72 Education: Law degreeWHAT MADE YOU GO INTO POLITICS? A group
of friends incited me to do it, but at the
same time I noticed that very few women
in politics represented how I felt a female
politician should be.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ROLE MODELS? I just try to be myself.
I’ve learned along the way from many extraordinary
and inspiring people.
WHAT PROBLEMS DO YOU FACE IN YOUR CITY? We have
a particular problem in Madrid caused by some
unfortunate [corrupt] contracts and a certain loss of
citizenly responsibilities. The city is not clean enough
and I would really like Madrid to pick up on civic
consciousness and become considerably cleaner. ]WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS? [Journalist and political
figure] Jan Nowak-Jeziorański. I met him in 1992 at the
Royal Castle Square in Warsaw during the visit of
then-US President George Bush Senior.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES WOMEN FACE IN YOUR COUNTRY?
There are more difficulties with finding a job in our
smaller towns and villages. Women don’t have
a wide range of jobs available there, so they move to
Warsaw. It’s easier here – not only because of the
nurseries, kindergartens and public and private
schools, but also thanks to public transport. It’s
crucial that women are not afraid of losing their
jobs after having a baby and returning from
maternity leave, so we introduce a lot of programs
designed to help young mothers.
WHAT ABOUT GENDER EQUALITY IN YOUR COUNTRY? During
the Congress Of Women, I convinced President
Bronisław Komorowski to vote for 35 per cent
parity [in candidates on electoral lists]. Our
society is well-educated, especially women, so
there should be a fair quota not only in politics
but also on boards of directors and supervisory
boards of big companies. Without parity laws
and quotas, it won’t happen.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS TO COMBATING
CLIMATE CHANGE? We cooperate with the Warsaw
University of Technology and have together created
the Warsaw Air Index, which will [show] the actual
level of pollution and enable us to react to it
quickly. We try to spread the eco-conscious attitude
among Warsaw residents – we built bike lanes and
we have modern buses.
WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU HAVE EVER RECEIVED?
From Margaret Thatcher: if you are really convinced
about something, just do it.Clover Moore’s mantra:“ Working
hard at
worthwhile
work.”
Hanna Gronkiewicz-
Waltz’s mantra:
“Don’t be
afraid of
challenges.”