The Equally Safe at Work Community of Practice: A collaborative learning experience on gender equality at work

On Monday 2^nd March, the Equally Safe at Work Community of Practice welcomed its members back for an in-person event, focusing on the theme of ‘Improving women’s experiences in the workplace’. It was an energised session with lots of new members attending the Community of Practice for the first time, among the familiar faces who have been active members of the peer learning group since its inception.

With increasing pushback towards equality, diversity and inclusion and women’s rights, globally and locally, this type of work and connection to others is more important than ever. The Community of Practice supports this by growing a wide network of peers across sectors, to share learning and to build collective understanding around gender equality employment practice.  

We are grateful to COSLA who supported this event.

Exploring the theme of ‘Improving women’s experiences in the workplace’

To begin the day, Dr Karla Pérez Portilla explored the topic of institutional racism, what this means, how to unpack it using the Structural, Cultural, Institutional and Personal (SCIP) analysis and discussed the power of, and opportunities often missed by, employment legislation like the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). With ethnicity pay gap reporting soon to be mandatory, and the development of anti-racist action plans within organisations, this provided an opportunity for employers to identify where to improve their practice.

The Community of Practice has always provided the space for cross-sectoral shared learning, which has been a key feature of the group and highly valued. Colleagues from City of Edinburgh Council’s presented information on their approach to pay gap reporting, including their data that looks at the intersection between gender, disability and ethnicity and the importance of transparency about the issues you’re facing, to drive effective change.

We also shared details about Close the Gap’s Fair Work for Young Mothers Project, which is in partnership with Save the Children. The interactive sessions informed members about the barriers young mother’s face in the workplace and also captured attendees views of how young mother’s are perceived in the workplace. The discussion included reflection on what more could be done within members own organisations to promote a workplace inclusive of young mothers.

The value in networking

The Community of Practice only works when members feel able and comfortable sharing their learning and experiences. In every session, members show up ready to listen, learn and reflect. This helps create a collaborative environment where practical ideas, honest reflections and examples of progress and challenges can be openly discussed.

Member’s willingness to contribute, and commitment to supporting one another, by sharing their Equally Safe at Work journey, highlighting good practice examples and sharing of resources are what makes the Community of Practice both meaningful and impactful. Members consistently highlight the benefit of connecting with others across sectors, exchanging ideas and learning from each other’s experiences. They not only continue to attend sessions, but participation is steadily growing as new organisations join. This sustained engagement reflects how valuable participants find the peer learning support network.

As we are aware of how busy the working day can be, with capacity and staffing challenges, attending events might not always be possible. That’s why we created our own Equally Safe at Work Community of Practice KHub page to be a collaborative space where employers could provide further support, exchange information and access resources. Although this is a restricted group page, it’s open to those who are working on Equally Safe at Work and for those interested in joining the programme and/or advancing gender equality within their organisation.

What to expect from the Community of Practice in 2026

Joining the Equally Safe at Work Community of Practice is a great, free and easy way to connect with employers across the public and third sector who are working towards the same goal of advancing gender equality at work.

The sessions in 2026 will continue to focus on key areas that are central to the Equally Safe at Work accreditation programme and will also explore specialised topics including occupational health and safety and gender, and explore different forms of violence against women, such as ‘honour’-based abuse.

The programme of meetings will continue to build on what works and will be shaped by what members would like to see, including more members experiences of going through the process of accreditation, what it’s like reaching certain milestones within the programme and to hear what works well.

Begin your journey now

Visit Equally Safe at Work, for more information.