Fact
File 
The
Equal Opportunities Commission - Press Release
EOC
warns public sector against complacency in transforming
public services - 26 March 2007
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) is today putting
leaders of all public sector bodies on notice to prepare
for the biggest change in sex equality legislation in 30
years and to ensure that services work equally well for
both women and men
The
Gender Equality Duty (GED), which comes into force on 6
April 2007, will place the onus on public authorities to
promote sex equality and end sex discrimination - effective
plans to achieve this must be in place by the end of April.
These must focus on the critical changes that will ensure
that women and men benefit equally from public sector policy-making,
services and employment. The EOC is expecting government
departments to take the lead and has written to all Secretaries
of State to remind them of their responsibilities under
the law.
Despite
30 years of individual legal rights to sex equality, there
is still widespread discrimination and persistent gender
inequality. Policies and practices that seem neutral can
have a significantly different effect on women and men,
often contributing to greater gender inequality, including
the pay gap and poverty in old age, as well as poor policy
outcomes. Both sexes suffer from stereotyping of their roles
and needs.
Women
are frequently disadvantaged by policies and practices that
do not recognise their greater caring responsibilities,
the different pattern of their working lives, their more
limited access to resources and their greater vulnerability
to domestic violence and sexual assault. For example, research
by the EOC found that Britain's transport services are all
too often designed by men for men.1 Transport services are
often designed with the needs of commuters in mind, who
are typically male, yet women, who have less access to private
cars than men and often want to make "cross town" journeys,
are the main users of public transport.
Men
are also disadvantaged by workplace cultures that do not
support their family or childcare responsibilities; by family
services that assume they have little or no role in parenting;
or by health services, which do not recognise their different
needs. Men are half as likely to visit their GP, which often
leads to late diagnosis and complications.
For
the first time, instead of relying on complaints from individuals
who feel they have been the victims of discrimination, public
bodies must be proactive in promoting equality and tackling
sex inequality and discrimination by:
-
Consulting
their service users and staff about how they can improve
policy and services to meet the different needs of women
and men
-
Setting
high level objectives to create gender equality, with
resources and action plans to back these up
-
Checking
whether their existing ways of working discriminate against
women or men, and addressing any discrimination they find
-
Publishing
their plans and reporting their progress in achieving
gender equality and elimination of discrimination
The
gender equality duty also requires public authorities to
eliminate discrimination and harassment of transsexual staff
and - from December - of transsexual service users.
Jenny
Watson, Chair of the EOC, said:
"
The Gender Equality Duty is the biggest change to sex equality
legislation in 30 years and has the potential to transform
our public services. But there is no room for complacency
about sex equality if this transformation is to become reality.
Leaders in our public services must use it to deliver services
and employment practices that work equally well for women
and men. This means a shift away from a one-size fits all
approach to services to one, which puts the individual at
the heart of the service, and does so through recognising
the very different needs of men and women, using public
money more wisely as a result.
It
also means a major shift in employment practice across the
public sector, tackling the barriers that prevent women
from getting to the top such as lack of flexibility and
ensuring that all areas of work are opened up to both sexes,
bringing more men into professions such as primary school
teaching, nursing and childcare."
To
help the public sector in meeting the legal requirements
of the Gender Equality Duty, the EOC has developed specific
guidance and code of practice available from www.eoc.org.uk/genderduty
Key
Dates:
-
6
April 2007 – Gender Equality Duty comes into force across
GB
-
30
April 2007– Gender equality schemes must be in place in
England
-
29
June 2007 – Gender equality schemes must be in place in
Scotland
Enforcement
of the Gender Equality Duty
Examples
of where the Gender Equality Duty could make a difference:
Education:
-
There
are clear and significant differences in boys and girls'
attainment levels, subject choices, engagement in sports,
and experience of bullying and in the jobs they get after
school.
-
The
low achievement levels of boys in literacy and language
compared to girls is a significant problem and one, which
cuts across ethnicity and social class.
-
Even
though girls are generally performing better at school,
many are still being funnelled into career choices that
lead them to low paid, low status jobs – which is a major
cause of the gender pay gap.
-
Women
often underestimate the risk of heart disease. Although
most women believe that breast cancer is the most pressing
health worry, women are four times more likely to die
from a heart problem than breast cancer.2 Tests for coronary
heart disease (CHD) are designed to be performed on men
- yet the symptoms in men and women are different.
-
Health
services will be less efficient and waste resources if
they fail to understand how gender influences men’s and
women’s health.
-
Men
and women’s health is influenced by different biological
factors, but also heavily influenced by social factors,
for example:
-
women
are 2-3 times more likely to suffer from anxiety or depression
but men are three times more likely to die from suicide
-
under
the age of 45 men visit their GP half as often as women
Services
and health campaigns need to take into account these issues
Local
Government:
-
For
local authorities GED will bring them closer to the community
and enable them to deliver more effective services for
local people - by understanding the needs of service users.
It will also enable bettering targeting of users, reducing
wasted staff time and resources. Meeting services users
needs and responding to gaps, will result in better outcomes
and greater customer satisfaction.
-
For
example, women are often not involved in community decision-making
processes. The duty could require local authorities to
think about the barriers to women’s involvement in community
meetings, such as lack of childcare facilities, or the
timings, venues and design of consultation meetings.
-
Good
transport is essential for a successful economy and society,
but evidence shows that men and women use transport in
different ways. Women tend to have greater caring responsibilities
and can be disadvantaged by limited access for pushchairs,
and fares that leave part time workers out of pocket.
-
Women
are more likely than men to feel insecure and vulnerable
to attack and are less willing to travel after dark. Transport
for London has introduced a number of initiatives, which
include an increased police presence n the network, more
information on safe travel options and increased security
at station interchanges.
-
It
is not only women that benefit from these types of measures;
increased security will also improve the safety of men.
-
The
EOC's research, Promoting Gender Equality in Transport
(2005), found that Britain's transport systems are failing
to address the needs of women.
Pensions:
-
The
current state pensions system has been designed around
the working patterns of earlier generations of men - continuous
full-time work for 40 years – without breaks for children.
The state pension has poorly served women, who often to
take time out of the workforce to care for children and
older relatives, and is becoming increasingly less relevant
to men's lives too.
-
The
government has put the needs of women at the heart of
their pension reform package - by fully recognising the
contribution women make outside of the workforce. This
approach will help to end the historic pensions inequalities
faced by women that has caused so many to live in poverty
in retirement.
6
steps for public bodies to meet the duty
- Gather
information on how their work affects women and men
- Consult
employees, service users, trade unions and other stakeholders
- Assess
the different impact of policies and practices on both
sexes
- Identify
priorities and set gender equality objectives
- Plan
and take action to achieve those objectives
- Publish
a gender equality scheme and review progress every three
years
Information
supplied by The Equal Opportunities Commission Press Release
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