Gender Equality Duty – Warning Sounded

Those of you working in the public sector will have been busy preparing your gender equality schemes. Scottish public bodies just have one more week - until 29 June 2007 - to publish their scheme, while counterparts in England had to do so a couple of months ago.

EOC Scotland has now made known the enforcement strategy it is adopting. Key points to note include:

There is an expectation that five priorities for gender equality will be addressed within schemes, these being:
1. Income and pay
2. Family and Home
3. Public policy and service delivery
4. Violence and safety
5. Power
Schemes will be looked at closely to ensure the issues affecting transgender individuals are addressed.
Monitoring of scheme publication will begin on 29 June 2007. Organisations can send schemes to EOC Scotland. However, whether you do or not, EOC Scotland will also undertake a pro-active searching process, looking on the websites of all public bodies affected. They will expect to see the scheme published on the website and will also be assessing how easy it was to find it. If a scheme can’t be found on a website, they will make contact with the particular public body, whether this be an Equalities Officer or the Chief Executive.
They will be looking for gender-focussed evidence-based objectives designed to achieve real change. They will also expect to see these objectives dove-tailing with the Equal Pay statement which is to be produced by 28 September 2007 by certain public bodies. Timescales should be set for any objectives.
It should also be noted that EOC Scotland is firmly of the view that the gender equality duty does not mean public bodies need to put an end to single sex services. They would expect to see more single sex services, not less.

Scottish public bodies can also learn lessons from the experience in England so far. Points to note include:

Length is no substitute for content.
Excessive reproduction of the race equality scheme with tweaks for gender should be avoided. The specific duties are different and these differences need to be properly addressed.
Ensure clear objectives are set. It may be best to pick a small number of achievable but demanding objectives in order to focus efforts. The objectives set out in the gender equality scheme should also appear in the business plan and relate to the core business of the organisation.
Remember that publication of the scheme is not an end, rather it is a means to an end.
Good practice would be to name particular individuals within the organisation who are responsible for delivery of the objectives.
References to a deadline being “ongoing” are unhelpful. Organisations should be setting milestones to be achieved within the first year after the scheme is published in order that progress can be measured at that date.

Should you require assistance with any of your Equalities Schemes, please contact Amanda Jones or Chris Phillips, both partners specialising in equality issues within our Employment Team.