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CHAPTER 4 - GENDER EQUALITY OBJECTIVES

Introduction

4.1 The Executive, following consultation with relevant stakeholders and through an examination of the available relevant evidence, will take forward the following overall gender equality objectives for meeting the general duty. It should be noted that although the objectives have been set out under a broad set of headings, many of these objectives are interlinked. For example, the issues of equal pay, occupational segregation, childcare and flexible working are all interconnected. Furthermore, individual departments have also set out their own departmental objectives in their action plans (see chapter 10).

4.2 Measuring progress against the objectives that we set ourselves will not always be easy. In chapter 9 we set out our current activity and our future plans for improving the evidence base for equality, but this is not straight-forward. We are working on the development of indicators for measuring progress and will continue to improve our data collection, data analysis and data presentation to enable the reporting. We also understand that some of our objectives set out here will span this action plan and our subsequent action plans, i.e. we do not believe that we can eliminate, for example, violence against women and the gender pay gap in the lifetime of this scheme.

Our Objectives

The Gender Pay Gap

(See also Development Department Action Plan, Office of Permanent Secretary Action Plan and chapter 6)

4.3 What you have told us: To properly implement the gender equality duty the Executive must take action where it can to address the gender pay gap in Scotland. This action should take into account how to address the pay gap in the finance sector. Equal pay should remain a high priority. Within the Scottish Executive there is recognition of the work done to undertake equal pay reviews and of the commitment to ensuring that pay and rewards system are fair. However, there is a call to do more in terms of better understanding of the flexible working needs men and women in the Executive.

4.4 What we know: In Scotland, according to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2006, the gap is 14% based on average hourly earnings for full-time staff (and 35% for part-time female staff compared to full-time male staff).

4.5 We know too that there are gender equality issues in our own pay and rewards structures which have been set out through the process of conducting equal pay audits and which need to be addressed. We know that we need to collect better data on the caring responsibilities and working patterns of our staff if we are to effectively tackle equal pay issues in the longer term.

4.6 What we intend to do: Although the power to legislate about equal pay is reserved to Westminster, the Executive intends to continue to work in partnership with a range of organisations, to support the Close the Gap campaign and to encourage other employers to put their pay structures to the test. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the pay gap between women and men in Scotland and encourages activity to "close the gap", such as employers carrying out equal pay audits or reviews. One of the focal points for the campaign is currently the finance sector.

4.7 The Executive is leading by example in relation to equal pay reviews. As part of the Modernising Government agenda, all Civil Service organisations have conducted gender equal pay reviews. The Executive continues to monitor and review its pay system to ensure that it is free from discrimination.

4.8 We will undertake an equal pay review in 2007 and we will publish our equal pay statement by 28 September 2007. We will ensure that we address, to the best of our ability, the concerns expressed to us about the scope and effectiveness of these reviews.

4.9 How we will know if we're making progress: The key measure for success in tackling the gender pay gap will be the continued narrowing of the gender pay gap. We would regard it as a success if there is an increase in the numbers of employers following the Executive's lead and putting their pay and rewards systems to equal pay reviews.

Violence against women

(See also Development Department Action Plan, Justice Department Action Plan and the Health Department Action Plan)

4.10 What you have told us: Tackling violence against women is a key gender equality objective. The large investment in supporting frontline services to support women and children affected and by domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault and other forms of violence against women, and to raise awareness of the issues has been hugely welcomed. It is recognised that there was more that needed to be done on prevention and to work with young people in developing their understanding and awareness as well as to support those children and young people who experience domestic abuse. There is a wish to see the development of the broader violence against women agenda.

4.11 What we know: We know that women are overwhelmingly the victims of domestic abuse perpetrated by male partners and ex-partners (in 2005-6 there were 45796 reported incidents in which 87% involved a female experiencing abuse from a male perpetrator. Similarly female victims of homicide are more likely to have been killed by a partner or ex-partner than male victims. (For homicides recorded in the last ten years, 52% of the female victims aged between 16 and 69 were killed by their partner. For male victims aged 16 to 69, only 6% were killed by their partner, and a further 4% by a relative.) We know too that many women experience more that one form of violence during their lives and that there are links between these forms whether domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault or other forms of commercial sexual exploitation. We know that in order to tackle violence against women we need to develop a strategic approach to such violence in all its forms.

4.12 What we intend to do: We will continue to ensure support for women who experience gender-based violence and develop a strategic approach to tackling it, building on the National Strategy on Domestic Abuse which we will review. We will continue to raise awareness of violence against women through campaigns and consider how to challenge and change attitudes to prevent its occurrence. We will ensure the needs of children and young people experiencing domestic abuse are addressed. We will develop preventative work with men and ensure perpetrators are dealt with effectively.

4.13 How we will know if we're making progress: We want to see a reduction in the numbers of women experiencing men's violence and a change in attitudes towards violence against women. We want to increase women's confidence in reporting violence and the quality of the support that those coming forward receive. Statistical measures can only show part of the picture, particular in the context of known under-reporting, and we will work with women's organisations and service providers to measure progress, both qualitatively and quantitatively. We will evaluate awareness raising work as one way to measure shifts in attitudes.

Occupational Segregation

(See also Development Department Action Plan, Education Department Action Plan and Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Action Plan)

4.14 What you have told us: Almost all those we consulted highlighted occupational segregation (where men or women are concentrated in particular occupations or jobs) as a key area for the Executive to take action on. Tackling occupational segregation is seen as an integral part in not only closing the gender pay gap for women but also challenging gender stereotypes and social attitudes about the role of women and men. Removing occupational segregation is seen as important in the fight against poverty and low pay. Within the Scottish Executive there was some concern at the concentration of genders in particular grades.

4.15 What we know: We know that women represent a large majority of workers in personal services, administrative and secretarial, and sales and customer services occupations. We know that, by contrast, men represent the large majority of workers in the occupational categories of managers and senior officials, process, plant and machine operatives, and skilled trades. We know that women predominate in key public sector workforces, for example, teaching, the NHS and local government (66.8% in 2005), but they nonetheless continue to be under-represented in more senior positions.

4.16 We know that women are more likely to work part-time than men and that because they take disproportionate responsibility for caring, that their options, particularly in terms of travel times, can be limited.

4.17 In the Scottish Executive, we know that there is a predominance of women in bands A and B but this shifts towards a predominance of men in band C and senior civil service grades.

4.18 What we intend to do: We have already set up a cross-departmental working group to explore the causes of occupational segregation and to identify where changes could be made to tackle these issues. We recognise that gendered roles and stereotyping shape the choices that girls and boys and women and men make, across the age groups, from nursery schools to lifelong learning. The group has already adopted a thematic and action-focussed approach to look at issues which impact on the career choices of women and men across the life-course and which contribute to the perpetuation of gender segregated workforce. We will:

• identify the key issues that impact on and contribute to gender stereotyping in education, work and training;
• raise awareness and understanding about the importance of considering gender issues and the wider mainstreaming equality agenda;
• further encourage joint working between the delivery agencies and policy makers;
• consider where effective interventions might be made across the "life-course" in order to address gender stereotypes in order to encourage men and women to enter into occupations where they are presently significantly under-represented;
• suggest concrete changes that can be made to existing or proposed interventions - where it is considered that tackling various aspects of occupational segregation in the short, medium and long term can be achieved - as appropriate.

4.19 We will continue to take a holistic and joined-up approach to this by working across Executive departments and other relevant organisations. We will continue to take forward the recommendations of the Women and Work Commission as they pertain to Scotland and we will update our interim report to the Women and Work Commission and report on the cross-departmental working group in early 2008.

4.20 How we will know if we're making progress: Success, of course, will be the elimination of occupational segregation. However, we do not believe that we can successfully tackle occupational segregation within the lifetime of this scheme. Many of the reasons for occupational segregation are entrenched in the gendered structures of our society and will take many years to challenge effectively. In the shorterm however we will know we're making progress if we have been able to establish an effective network and if we have been able to embed an understanding of gender mainstreaming across those areas key to occupational segregation and career choices; if we have been able to map out the range of factors (cultural, social, educational, etc) which impact on men and women and work, develop a strategy to co-ordinate and facilitate progress; if we have been able to plan for the ongoing collection of evidence that the group has been able to support learning, networking and practice-sharing amongst policy and (in due course) delivery bodies and if we have in place a plan of action to deliver change.

4.21 Over time we would expect to see more women and men working in non-traditional occupations and more girls and boys and women and men making choices about education and training that did not limit their aspirations and potential.

Childcare, Caring and Flexible Working

(See also the Development Department Action Plan, the Education Department Action Plan and chapter 6)

4.22 What you have told us: Good, affordable childcare is key to enabling women to return to work after they have had a baby and this is especially important for poorer families and lone parents (the majority of whom are women). Too many fathers are excluded from their children's lives because of an emphasis on communication with mothers in schools and nurseries. The lack of men in caring, teaching and personal care services and the general low value attached to these services needed to be tackled. Positive attitudes towards both men and women being able to work flexibly to accommodate caring and childcare responsibilities are important to challenging stereotypes, changing the culture of an organisation and providing positively for parents.

4.23 What we know: we know that the provision of affordable accessible childcare is a key factor in helping people, particularly women from single parent families who make up 92% of single parent households with dependant children, to escape poverty through employment and we know that the lack of childcare is known to be the single biggest barrier to improving employability, especially that of lone parents.

4.24 We know that approximately 98% of the early years and childcare workforce are female, we know that this workforce is relatively low-skilled and low-paid; we also know that we need to do more to encourage men to enter into this profession.

4.25 We know that men sometimes find it difficult to access flexible working arrangements because of gendered assumptions about caring roles in families.

4.26 What we intend to do: we already provide significant support to ensure the availability of childcare across Scotland and we will continue to do so.

4.27 We know that we have more work to do on addressing the role of fathers in children's education and social care. We have supported some work in this regard but will consider what further action we can take.

4.28 We know that developing our childcare workforce requires long term action. We will implement the action set out in Investing in Children's Futures, in order to develop an increasingly professional workforce. We want the women and men who work in the childcare sector to be well-qualified, highly skilled and valued.

4. 29 We will continue to take these issues forward as part of the deliberations of the Cross Departmental Group on Occupational Segregation.

4.30 We will continue to support the Working for Families Fund and other initiatives which provide much needed support to families.

4.31 We will raise awareness of the benefits of the Scottish Executive's family friendly policies amongst staff and look to improving the monitoring of their uptake amongst men and women.

4.32 How we will know if we're making progress: We will know that we are making progress if we successfully take forward the recommendations of the Investing in Children's Futures report. We will know if we're making progress if the numbers of women and men who are able to successfully access the labour market increases as a result of the support we provide. The delivery of work to address childcare and flexible working issues is interlinked to the work we are doing to address occupational segregation. We will know we are making progress if more men and women within the Scottish Executive take advantage of flexible working arrangements and we are able to monitor those arrangements by gender.

Training of Staff

(See chapter 6, the Office of Permanent Secretary Action Plan and the "meeting the general duty" sections of departmental action plans)

4.33 What you have told us: Staff development and training needs to be encouraged amongst on all grades. A focus on higher grade staff militates against skills development of lower band staff and could contribute to gender inequity given the over-representation of women in lower grades

4.34 There needs to be more training on equal opportunities for staff across the Executive so that people have a better understanding of equality issues and the legal obligations. There is also a need to understand the issues of gender reassignment and transgender issues.

4.35 There is a particular need to provide equality training to ensure that all three public sector equality duties are successfully implemented and there should be a consistent approach across the organisation.

4.36 Training is vital across the public sector if the gender duty is to result in real and meaningful outcomes. The public sector needs to develop the capacity to engage effectively with gender equality issues and fully understand how to properly take those issues forward.

4.37 What we know: We know that training is only part of the support that staff require to be able to effectively deliver on their responsibilities. We know that training will help many people to begin to understand the complex issues but that they will need ongoing support to enable them to properly integrate this into their everyday practice.

4.38 What we intend to do: We have already, in preparation for the gender equality duty and the disability equality duty, undertaken a programme of public sector and equality impact assessment briefing sessions to every department in the Scottish Executive. We want to ensure that staff are fully aware of their responsibilities and we understand that staff need to be supported if they are to effectively take forward the necessary work to deliver on the public sector equality duties.

4.39 We will build on these sessions by undertaking a further programme of equality and diversity training as part of our corporate learning services, which will include transgender issues. We will also offer Executive staff further specialised training on transgender equality issues.

4.40 How we will know if we're making progress: We will know if we're making progress when all Executive staff have been fully trained and are aware and understand the issues of gender equality for their policy area.

Mainstreaming gender equality

(See all departmental action plans and chapters 5, 6 and 9)

4.41 What you have told us: Understanding of gender equality and other equality issues is key to delivering effective and well-thought out policies and practices, services and programmes.

4.42 What we know: The gender duty is underpinned by the principle that men and women often have different needs and experiences and so we understand that to effectively deliver on the gender duty, we will need to become much better at mainstreaming equality.

4.43 What we intend to do: Each departmental action plan contained in this scheme is, in essence, focussed on the task of mainstreaming gender equality across policy and practice. Our equality impact assessment tool has been already rolled out across the Executive and agencies and briefing sessions on how to use the tool have been provided to each Department (see chapter 5).

4.44 How we will know if we're making progress: Completed equality impact assessments will be published on the Scottish Executive website. We will know that we're making progress when all new and reviewed Executive policies, etc, have been subjected to rigorous and meaningful equality impact assessments that are transparent and the resulting policies have paid due regard to the results of those impact assessments. Ultimately we expect to see improvements in the experiences and lives of men and women in Scotland.

Transgender equality - making progress

(See also chapter 6, the Development Department Action Plan and the Office of Permanent Secretary Action Plan. Progressing transgender equality however, is embedded through every action plan through the mainstreaming of gender equality.)

4.45 What you have told us: Equality issues for transgender people have not been high priority and that there is a need to ensure that equality matters for transgender people across a range of issues should be progressed.

4.46 What we know: The evidence for transgender people tends to be based on medical experiences but we know that there are many other issues that need to be addressed to progress transgender equality. We know that transgender people often face discrimination and harassment in the workplace, as service users and in our communities.

4.47 Later this year, the Scottish Executive will publish the results of the Social Attitudes Survey's Discrimination Module which will provide us with some indication of attitudes towards transgender people.

4.48 What we intend to do: We have already started to make progress. We have provided funding to the Transgender Alliance for a development worker to ensure that transgender equality is integrated into national and local programmes to promote equality; in February 2007 we supported the Equal Opportunities Commission in Scotland to hold a national conference for employers. The conference was designed to help them understand the real-life experiences of transgender people in the workplace and their responsibilities on transgender issues under the gender equality duty.

4.49 We will work with the public sector to highlight the needs of transgender men and women in the provision of services. We will continue to support the Inclusion Project as part of our work to improve NHS Scotland.

4.50 Internally, we will also ensure that Executive staff are fully aware of their responsibilities under the existing legislation. In this regard we will ensure that the appropriate guidance is in place and that awareness training courses are offered to staff. As well as ensuring that Executive staff understand their responsibilities to each other with regards to transgender equality, we also need to ensure that this principle extends beyond the workplace and to stakeholders and services users.

4.51 How we will know if we're making progress: We want transgender people to feel supported and valued as employees, stakeholders and service users in the Executive; we want any staff member who is undergoing transition to be retained as valued members of staff. We want to ensure that any barriers to the recruitment and retention of transgender staff have been identified and removed and that staff are fully aware of our Gender Identity guidance.

4.52 We will continue to work with our LGBT network to obtain some feedback as to whether we are succeeding or failing in this regard, we do appreciate, however, that this will not be only source of information and the key issue will be to ensure that the appropriate structures and procedures are in place to ensure transgender staff feel supported and valued.

Data Gathering

(See chapter 9, and the Office of Permanent Secretary Action Plan)

4.53 What you have told us: The collection, analysis and presentation of good quality data is crucial to the delivery of the gender equality duty. The gendered aspects of policies and practices are often hidden if data does not set out the differing experiences of women and men.

4.54 What we know: we are already committed to the principles of evidence based policy making and have set this out in chapter 9.

4.55 What we intend to do: we have set out our approach to data gathering at chapter 9.

Improve networks with men

(See chapter 3)

4.56 What you have told us: There needs to be an improvement in our engagement with men to ensure that men's issues are taken fully into account, particularly with reference to health, education, and the needs of fathers.

4.57 What we know: we know that men as a group, in particular those with higher incomes, occupy relatively powerful positions in contrast to women, however we also know that there a number of policy areas where men and boys are at a disadvantage, these have been set out across our departmental action plans.

4.58 What we intend to do: we will improve our consultation networks with men and explore options for establishing an effective network.

4.59 How we will know if we're making progress: we will know we are making progress if we are able to improve our engagement with men and there is an increase in the understanding of gender equality within the relevant policy areas and improved outcomes for men as a result.

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