| Today marks a key milestone in the
Government’s equality programme – one that began 30 years ago with the Sex
Discrimination Act. Since then, there have been great strides in achieving
equality between men and women. However, as we are all too aware, we still
have a long way to go. Women still come second in the workplace and in
other spheres of life. Men are also facing inequalities too, particularly
if they wish to play a full role as fathers and achieve a balance between
work and family responsibilities.
This is where the public sector duty on gender
equality – commonly known as the ‘gender duty’ - will make a difference.
This duty, which is similar to the race and disability duties, will target
the public sector as it has a big impact on the lives of men and women.
Services such as health, education, pensions are important for everyone.
The public sector also employs a large number of people.
The duty will require public authorities to be
proactive and take steps to promote equality of opportunity between women
and men. We want the public sector to be more responsive to the different
needs of men and women. Last week in Brighton the Prime Minister repeated
his commitment to reform and improve public services - this is an
essential plank of that process.
Today we’re launching a public consultation on our
proposals for the gender duty. Our proposals have not been drafted in
isolation – they are the fruits of a close government – stakeholder
relationship. We have been fortunate in the assistance and dedicated
commitment of stakeholders in drafting the proposals, in particular the
Equal Opportunities Commission.
Our proposals can be summarised as requiring
public authorities to examine their activities to identify what needs to
be done to meet the different needs of women and men in a process that
also involves employees, service users and other stakeholder
organisations.
They will then need to draw up and publish an
equality scheme – this should identify goals for gender equality and the
steps that authority will take to implement them – and they will have to
implement them. They will have to develop and publish a policy on their
equal pay arrangements – including measures to ensure fair promotion and
development opportunities and those to tackle occupational segregation.
They will be required to assess the impact on
women and men of new legislation, policies, employment and service
delivery changes. These assessments must be published.
The consultation document sets out the reasons for
the proposals and asks for people’s views.
We want to a duty which is pragmatic, focuses on
outcomes and which will lead to greater equality. It should result in a
culture change in the way we address equality issues in the public sector.
In complying with the duty, public authorities must consult with employees
and stakeholders when drawing up gender equality schemes, equal pay policy
statements and impact assessments. They will need to publish and be
accountable in what they do; and finally through their actions,
demonstrate their commitment to gender equality.
There are of course public authorities who have
already made significant progress in tackling gender equality issues – and
indeed wider equality issues. Later today, you’ll be hearing from Anni
Majoram, the Mayor’s Adviser on Women in the GLA, and Gareth Daniel from
Brent Council who will present examples of good practice in the field of
gender equality. But we need to ensure greater consistency in this area
throughout the public sector. That is why we have decided on the need for
a statutory obligation - to bring about a vigorous and systematic approach
to improving equality between men and women in services and in employment
in the public sector.
I know that you will want this duty to succeed. We
do as well. What matters are the outcomes not the processes. Our goal is
greater equality between men and women. After all, this makes good sense
for business, the economy and society.
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