Local government is eight electoral cycles away from achieving gender balance.

A century on from women winning the vote local politics in England is still a long way away from representing both genders equally.

At the local elections held in May this year 8410 councilors were elected in England, just 34% of these were female. On 14% of councils female councilors are outnumbered three to one by male colleagues.

There has been a small increase in representation since the 2015 local elections. Out of the three main parties the percentage of female Labour councilors has risen to 40% from 37%; for the Tories the number has gone up from 26% to 30%; the Liberal Democrats remain unchanged on 33%.

Smaller parties also show variable levels of representation, 44% of Green Party councilors are women, compared to 20% for Ukip. Out of 2686 Independents elected 28% are women.

The Fawcett Society, a leading campaign group on women's issues, has published data suggesting it could take another 32 years to achieve a gender balance.

Over the past two years the Fawcett Society has worked with the Local Government Information Unit and Women2Win to produce three reports on local government reform. This latest report was produced in partnership with Democracy Club.

Democracy Club is an online based organization that works to improve access to information about the democratic process and identify ways of improving voter engagement.

All three reports found that female councilors are held back by structural and cultural barriers within the local government system as currently organized.

Fawcett Society chief executive Sam Smethers said that although national attention was currently focused on Brexit a shortage of women on local councils meant 'vital issues like cars for older people, planning decisions and council tax will continue to be decided by men'.

The Fawcett Society is calling for the three main parties to do more to engage women in local government by setting targets to improve representation. They also want to see more data gathered on candidate diversity and better availability of childcare and disability support.

Sam Smethers said that with most seats going to incumbents at the last election 'the space for change is limited, all of the parties need to set out their plan of action to change this; now'.

At a time when the protracted dispute over Brexit and rising levels of inequality are creating social and political tensions it is more important than ever that local and national government is representative.

The findings of the Fawcett Society, backed by those of other campaign groups, show that that is far from the case.

This, as Sam Smethers says means decisions that impact on the lives of everyone are taken disproportionally through the viewpoint of a single gender. The result can only ever be an increase of the structural inequalities that are proving so dangerously divisive.

There is also a case to be made that a more gender equal legislature in both local and national politics would change the way the system operates. Hopefully this would see a change in the language of politics away from conflict towards conciliation and reasonable compromise.

The benefits of change are clear; as are the risks inherent in retaining a status quo that has outlived its relevance. What is much less clear is how a local government system battered by austerity and where parties often struggle to find candidates of either gender can find the impetus to bring it about.