Blog
Launch of innovative new employer accreditation, Equally Safe at Work
We are delighted to be launching Equally Safe at Work, an innovative and world-leading employer accreditation programme that will enable local government employers to advance gender equality and prevent violence against women. This coincides with a debate in Scottish Parliament happening later today at 5:00PM, after Gail Ross MSP lodged a motion welcoming the programme’s launch.
Equally Safe at Work is being piloted in Aberdeen City Council, Highland Council, Midlothian Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Perth and Kinross Council, Shetland Council, South Lanarkshire Council. It will support councils to take steps to address the causes of their gender pay gap, and support employees who have experienced violence against women both in and outside of the workplace. Councils will receive support to undertake training, collect and analyse data, develop initiatives and review and update policies, practices and resources. They will be working towards meeting criteria in six key areas that we know are important for advancing women’s labour market equality:
· Leadership
· Data
· Flexible working
· Occupational segregation
· Workplace culture
· Violence against women
This programme comes at a time when addressing violence against women has become an increasingly high profile issue for employers. Violence against women is perpetrated at epidemic levels, affecting all areas of women’s lives, and the workplace is no exception. Experiences of domestic abuse, stalking, sexual harassment, so called ‘honour-based’ violence, and sexual assault and rape significantly effect women’s experience at work. Women have reported experiences of gender-based violence having a negative impact on their mental health, making them less confident at work, and causing them to avoid certain work situations in order to avoid the perpetrator. All of these effects and responses are likely to diminish their performance at work, and their propensity to apply for and be appointed to promoted posts.
Employers have a key role to play. Evidence shows that women who’ve experienced gender-based violence often don’t feel confident to report their experiences, and where they do, they feel unsupported by their employer. By addressing the barriers that women face in reporting their experiences of gender-based violence and accessing support, employers will be able to create zero-tolerance workplace cultures and to provide better support to employees. By as well addressing the inequalities women face in the labour market and in the wider society, we can create real change for women working in Scotland’s local government.
We are looking forward to working with councils over the next year to see where we can affect long term and meaningful change for all women working in councils.
To find out more about the programme, visit the Equally Safe at Work website.
Everything you wanted to know about the gender pay gap
Writing or talking about the gender pay gap can be a tricky business. Whether it’s a piece in a national newspaper, or an informal (heated?) chat at your local coffee shop, discussions of the gender pay gap can cover a huge amount of ground, referencing cold, hard data, social norms and conventions, deeply-held opinions and everything in between. Is it really the gender pay gap you’re talking about, or is it unequal pay? How are these different, and do they interact? Why do different reports in the media use different figures for the pay gap? Is the pay gap even a thing anymore? (Spoiler alert: YES)
At Close the Gap we think it’s important that anyone interested in or working on any aspect of the gender pay gap is as informed as possible. That’s why we’ve just published a rundown of Scotland’s gender pay gap data, including a broad range of analyses and stats. Alongside this, we’ve published a FAQ which provides answers to all those zingers that come up whenever the gender pay gap is in the news or in your conversations.
Our Gender Pay Gap Statistics paper is for you if you like/need to get into the detail of the data, and gives an in-depth look at Scotland’s gender pay gap in 2018, including full-time and part-time pay gaps, pay gaps by occupational group, a comparison of the public and private sector, an intersectional analysis of the gender pay gap by ethnicity, age and disability, and more. While, our FAQ, Everything you wanted to know about the gender pay gap but were afraid to ask, takes a whistlestop tour of our most-asked questions (at events, on Twitter, round the dinner table) on the pay gap, and will provide you with everything you need to issue a sound rebuttal whenever that old chestnut – “the pay gap isn’t real” – comes up in conversation.
We hope you find our latest reports interesting, informative and useful. Keep an eye on the blog for details of our next research paper which looks at how the extension of the right to request flexible working has impacted access to flexible working (no spoilers forthcoming).
EVENT: Still Not Visible: BME Women’s Experiences of Employment in Scotland research launch
Close the Gap is launching a new report, Still Not Visible: Black and Minority Ethnic Women’s Experiences of Employment in Scotland. The research explores BME women’s employment experiences including recruitment, workplace culture, training and childcare.
The research, which was undertaken by Close the Gap, demonstrates that BME women continue to face high levels of racism, racial prejudice, discrimination and bias in the labour market which ultimately impacts their ability to secure, retain and progress within sustainable, good employment.
Kaliani Lyle, former Independent Race Equality Adviser to the Scottish Government, will be chairing the event and there will be a keynote address from Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills.
Confirmed speakers include - Anna Ritchie Allan, Executive Director, Close the Gap, Dr Ima Jackson, Senior Lecturer School of Health and Life Science at Glasgow Caledonian University, Satwat Rehman, Director at One Parent Families Scotland and Carol Young, Senior Policy Officer at CRER.
The event will be held at:
09:30 – 13:15 on Tuesday
19th February 2019
Recital Room
City Halls & Old Fruitmarket
Candleriggs
Glasgow, G1 1NQ
You can
register for the free event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/still-not-visible-bme-womens-experience-of-employment-in-scotland-tickets-54600267871
Lunch with be provided.
Support for childcare is available.
Where are disabled women in the Scottish Government’s Disability Employment Plan?
To further their ambition of at least halving the disability employment gap in Scotland, the Scottish Government have published an employment action plan for disabled people. The Plan proposes actions for supporting disabled people into employment, supporting employers to recruit and retain disabled people and improving the employment experience.
Disabled women are undoubtedly affected by the disability employment gap and, at Close the Gap, our work has shown that disabled women face dual labour market disadvantage on account of their gender and disability. Disabled women also face different barriers to employment than the barriers faced by disabled men.
November monthly reading roundup
This month has seen Women’s labour market equality in the spotlight; November 10th was the UK’s Equal Pay Day, highlighting the gender pay gap and marking the day that women effectively stop earning compared to their male counterparts. Women’s state pension age rose to match that of men, prompting concerns over the welfare of older women.The 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence have begun; this year’s theme is Ending Gender-Based Violence in the World of Work which has built on the success of campaigns such as #MeToo in highlighting the scale of sexual harassment and assault at work. After such a busy month, you deserve a cup of tea while we catch you up on all things women and work.
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