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CHAPTER 9 - CROSS GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT TO DELIVERING THE GENERAL DUTY
Background
9.1 The 'general duty' lies at the heart of the gender equality duty. The purpose of the 'specific duties' is to help fulfil the general duty. It is against the general duty's 2 requirements that progress needs to be considered.
9.2 The general duty came into affect on April 6, 2007 and covers all public authorities, with a few limited exceptions. It applies to all their functions, including employment, service delivery, procurement and setting the framework within which the organisation will deliver services.
9.3 The general duty for gender states that public authorities must have due regard, when carrying out their functions, to the need to:
a) eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment;
b) promote equality of opportunity between women and men.
Meeting the General Duty to Promote Gender Equality in our Policy Making - a Cross-Government Commitment
9.4 To ensure consistent delivery of the general duty across all Scottish Government directorates and agencies, the following action will be taken:
Actions | Relevance to the general duty (parts 1-2) |
|---|
Leadership/management role |
We will promote gender equality and the effective delivery of the gender duty. | 1 & 2 |
We will ensure a gendered perspective in the work of our internal and external groups, committees and advisory bodies. | 1 & 2 |
We will support gender equality in the Scottish Government by encouraging positive attitudes towards flexible working and other forms of alternative working in line with HR Diversity Strategy and Diversity Delivery Plan. | 1 & 2 |
Equality Impact Assessment |
We will build EQIA into business planning, ensuring that EQIA is carried out on all new policies. | 1 & 2 |
We will consider which existing or established policies should be prioritised for EQIA. | 1 & 2 |
We will use the results of EQIA to influence policy development and spend | 1 & 2 |
Staff Training |
We will ensure that staff have appropriate equality training. | 1 & 2 |
Images |
We will use positive images of women and men in our publications to address gender stereotyping. | 1 & 2 |
Increased Participation |
We will ensure that where appropriate we will advertise membership of groups, committees or advisory bodies to increase women's representation. | 1 & 2 |
We will ensure that the events which we organise support the involvement of people with caring responsibilities where appropriate e.g. offering childcare expenses etc. | 1 & 2 |
Gathering information |
We will ensure that we take opportunities to improve our understanding of the nature and extent of issues facing women and men by gathering relevant data and information. This will include our consultations, data collection and our monitoring and evaluation systems. We will use the information we gather to inform the development and delivery of our policies. | 1 & 2 |
Engagement with stakeholders |
We will ensure we engage women and men in our policy development to understand and take into account their different experiences and needs. | 1 & 2 |
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