Gender Equality Policy

Transcription

1 Gender Equality Policy Authors Name: Anita Finn Scope: Trust Wide Classification: Policy Replaces: To be read in conjunction with the following documents: Unique Identifier: HR5(07) Review Date: April 2009 This document is no longer authorised for use after this date Issue Status: Approved Issue No: 1 Issue Date: April 2007 Authorised by: Patient and Staff Experience Committee Authorisation Date: April 2007 Document for Public Display: Yes After this document is withdrawn from use it must be kept in an archive for 10 years. Archive: Human Resources Policy Archive Date added to Archive: Officer responsible for archive: Assistant Director of Corporate Governance Gender Equality Scheme Gender Equality 1 Page 1 of 10

2 1. Executive Summary Welcome to Salford Royal foundation Trust s Gender Equality Scheme. This scheme following in the footsteps of previous Equality Schemes demonstrates the Trust s continued commitment to Diversity and Equality. The Trust is fully committed to eliminating gender inequality and promoting equality between women and men, including those people who have undergone gender reassignment. We strive to ensure discrimination is eradicated from all functions of the Trust, either as an employer or as a healthcare provider and reiterate the message that we will listen to and respect the views of all staff and patients whatever their race, disability, sexual orientation, sex, age, religion or belief. This scheme sets out to tackle inequality between men and women and we look forward to achieving these goals with the help of staff and Service users alike. Gender Equality 2 Page 2 of 10

3 Margaret Morris Chair David Dalton Chief Executive 2. Introduction The duty to promote gender equality is part of the wider government equalities agenda announced in the Equality Bill. As a public authority Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust will have to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment and promote equality of opportunity in employment and service delivery, between men and women. The gender equality duty is similar to the existing duties on race and disability equality and all three have the same spirit and intention behind them, requiring public authorities to take action to tackle discrimination, to prevent harassment, and to ensure that their work promotes equality of opportunity in policy, service provision and employment. Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, in advance of legislation, is looking to promote gender equality in all its functions. This Gender Equality Scheme will be the subject of extensive consultation with our staff, service users, local women s groups, community and voluntary groups and employees generally. 3. Rationale behind the Act The Gender Equality Duty has been introduced by the Government in recognition of the fact that women and men have different needs in relation to many public service areas, and that in both the workplace and as service users they can experience unfair and unequal outcomes. It is well known that women experience considerable disadvantage in the workplace. Across the economy as a whole, the pay gap between men and women stands at 18.3% for full time workers and 43.2% for part time workers. Only 11% of women work as senior managers or officials compared with 18% of men. Source Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2004 (ONS) The average life expectancy at birth of females born in 2004 in the UK was years, compared with years for males. Source Health Statistics Quarterly Winter 2006 (ONS). However, whilst women can expect to live longer than men they are also more likely to spend more years in poor health or with a disability. Although legal rights to sex equality have existed for 30 years, discrimination and gender inequality are still widespread. Women are frequently put at a disadvantage by policies that are not Gender Equality 3 Page 3 of 10

4 family friendly, whilst men can also be disadvantaged when family friendly policies are aimed just at women, and assume that men have no parenting responsibilities. The new legislation is intended to improve this situation both for women and for men, by ensuring that gender equality is built into the core business processes of major organisations. Organisations will be expected to pro-actively promote gender equality, rather than be reactive to individual situations. The focus is on outcomes rather than just process, and objectives towards gender equality should result in real changes to the life experiences of women and men. 4. What is the Gender Equality Duty? From April 2007 amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 will require public authorities to comply with a general duty to eliminate discrimination and harassment and to pro-actively promote gender equality. This general duty comes into effect on 6 April 2007 and applies to all functions of the Trust, as service provider, policy maker and employer, and to any services and functions which are contracted out. Some key features of the legislation include the need for Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust to: draw up and publish a scheme identifying specific gender equality goals and showing how it will implement them; develop and publish an equal pay policy statement; and carry out gender impact assessments to establish the impact that new policies and services may have on women and men, and allow any negative effects to be mitigated. Specific duties Specific duties have been introduced to assist public authorities in planning, delivering and evaluating their activities to meet the general duty, and report on those activities. The specific duties require Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust to: prepare and publish a Gender Equality Scheme (GES) showing how they intend to fulfil the duties and setting out gender equality objectives, no later than 30 April 2007; prepare the GES in consultation with employees, service users, and others including Trade Unions. To take into account any relevant information gathered as to how their policies and practices affect gender equality and within overall objectives, to consider the need for objectives to address the causes of any gender pay gap. ensure the GES sets out the actions the organisation has taken or intends to take to: o gather information on the effect of its policies and practices on men and women, in employment, services and performance of its functions o use the information to review the implementation of the scheme objectives o assess the impact of its current and future policies and practices on gender equality o consult relevant employees, service users and others (including trade unions) o ensure implementation of the scheme objectives. implement the GES and any actions for gathering and using information within the three year life of the scheme; review and revise the GES at least every three years; and report annually on progress. 5. What does Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust need to do? Gender Equality 4 Page 4 of 10

5 The intention of the Gender Equality Duty is to ensure that women and men get health services that better meet their needs. The Trust will therefore have to think about the policies they develop and the services they deliver with the different needs of women and men in mind. The Trust will also need to look at who uses our services, and ask questions like: What are the different issues and priorities for women and men who use the services we provide? Do they have different requirements and needs to be met by our service? Will women or men be put off using a service because of lack of childcare or an unsafe or unwelcoming environment? Are there some services which are more effectively delivered as women-only or men-only? Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust will also have to look at their employment policies to see how they affect women and men. Some of the issues to think about are: Outline the Trust s approach to gender equality and workforce development to demonstrate the actions in individual services.. Do we have a gender imbalance? If so, how could we try and rectify the situation? How do we recruit staff and are we likely to get a good gender balance of candidates? Continue to publicise harassment policies Conduct reviews to ensure our pay systems are fair. Is there a pay gap between men and women doing the same job or jobs of similar value? Offer more support to our employees in balancing work and family life. Continue to promote flexible working help staff and how will it benefit men and women? Do we have a good return rate from maternity leave? If not, why and how can we improve? In addition, as part of the duty, the Trusts will have to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment in employment and vocational training for people who intend to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone gender reassignment (the expression 'transsexual people' or 'trans' is generally used in relation to this group, see appendix 1 on page 9). The Trust will also need to look at how their employment policies affect transsexual men and women. Some issues to think about are: Does the Equal Opportunities Policy and harassment policy cover trans- people? Do practices and procedures support the dignity and privacy of trans-people? Do we have a policy on supporting employees who are undergoing gender reassignment? For example, do you have a system to support existing staff who intend to undergo "transition" whilst at work? Have we thought about the issues this could raise? Do we encourage job applications from the trans-community? 6. Implementing the Gender Equality Scheme The strategic equality and diversity group will be responsible for the implementation of the Gender Equality Duty. The Trust will implement this scheme in two main ways: by ensuring equality scheme considerations are mainstreamed as part of all relevant Trust projects and by undertaking any appropriate projects which may be identified as a result of the Impact Assessment Process Gender Equality 5 Page 5 of 10

6 We apply this approach to our roles as a policy maker, a service provider and an employer. 7. Gathering Data The Trust will gather robust data on the gender profile of service users and employees. existing systems already give that information, but it will need to be disaggregated to include information on service user needs, satisfaction and outcomes by gender. 8. Consultation As with all Trust Diversity & Equality Schemes staff and Service users alike will be consulted. This is not a one off process but will continue to happen in many different ways i.e. via Impact Assessment outcomes staff surveys patient surveys via the PPI agenda IWL initiative 9. Impact Assessments All new processes and functions will be impact assessed to ensure they do not discriminate against men, women or transgender people. Screening The first stage of the IA is the screening process. A screening process for policies during the development stage is already in place. Processes and functions are also assessed via and initial screening process locally to identify any potentially discriminatory problems. Full Impact Assessments Any policy or function that is relevant to gender or is identified as potentially discriminatory will be fully impact assessed and appropriate actions will be taken. Bullying & Harassment strategies will result in action plans which will be dealt with locally and / or reported to the Patient and Staff Experience Committee for further actions. (This process also addresses all other minority groups including race, religion, sex, age etc.) 10. Responsibilities as a Service Provider The Trust will ensure there is no unlawful discrimination and that all appropriate services are available to both men and women. The Trust will :- monitor impact on gender via IA take positive action to address inequalities explore ways to convince men and women to take up Services provided by the Trust that are under represented Gender Equality 6 Page 6 of 10

7 11. Responsibilities as an Employer (i) Model Employer As an employer the Trust will ensure by way of robust Human Resources policies that no employee or potential employee is discriminated against, during recruitment, through conditions of employment, promotion, benefits or any other work related problem. Our aim is to continue to ensure that equality runs through all our functions as an employer. The Trust continues to strive to become a model employer and is proud of its achievement to date. Its attitude to working life is modern and flexible recognising the need for a work / life balance and the need to support both men and women within the Trust to enable this balance. Many initiatives and policies are already in place to contribute to this work / life balance, including :- A nursery A Child and Adult Care Co-ordinator Childcare voucher scheme Emergency childcare support Special leave and flexible working policies Carer policy Harassment policy Occupational Health and counselling Service Well being initiatives e.g. Complementary Therapies (ii) Addressing the Gender Pay Gap Under the general duty there is a need to eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Equal Pay Act. The definition of Equal Work is :- work that is the same or broadly similar, work that has been rated as equivalent, or work that is of equal value The NHS has already taken measures to address the pay gap in the form of Agenda for Change which aims to bring fairer pay to more than one million non-medical NHS staff. It establishes a system for fair pay for each sex and a clearer career progression system. 12. Role of the Patient and Staff Experience Committee The Committee will monitor the Trust s Diversity and Equality Strategy and the schemes linked to it. Outcomes of the Impact Assessments will be reported to the Committee. Progress of the Equality Action plan which will develop as a result of the schemes will also be reported to the Committee. Gender Equality 7 Page 7 of 10

8 The Committee will ensure that the Trust complies with its statutory duty and will address any major barriers which restrict its implementation either from a service or employment perspective. 13. Monitoring The Patient and Staff Experience Committee will monitor the scheme and different elements will be additional by the various work streams of the Committee. Further monitoring systems will be used as workforce information is provided by the development of the ESR (Electronic Staff Record) which will be introduced in April Existing monitoring systems will be used in conjunction with this such as the recording of disciplinary, grievance, harassment and bullying etc. which is currently recorded in accordance with recommendations of The Vital Connection and reviewed at the Senior Human Resources Management meeting on a monthly basis. 14. Training Impact Assessment training will be rolled out throughout the Trust. Gender awareness is included in the Equality and Diversity training. Staff will acquire the required level of awareness and knowledge via the KSF (Knowledge and Skills Framework). 15. Procurement The Trust will endeavour to ensure strategic objectives for procurement are non-discriminatory in accordance with national guidelines. Contractors etc. will be expected to respect the policies of the Trust and have a like-minded approach to the Diversity and Equality Agenda. 16. Communications As with all aspects of diversity, the Trust will communicate gender issues to staff and Service users in as many ways as possible such as :- Via the internet and intranet Via team brief Articles and information in the Gen Inclusion in other publications Foundation Trust media Foundation Trust media newsletter Meetings and forums as appropriate 17. Implementation Gender Equality 8 Page 8 of 10

9 Methods outlined in section 13 will be used to communicate the scheme and all Diversity and Equality Agenda issues to staff and Service users. Training will be periodically reviewed to ensure fit for purpose. Methods of communicating, informing and learning will be researched e.g. focus groups, surveys etc. Appendix 1: What is Transgender? Transgender people are individuals whose gender expression and/or gender identity differs from conventional expectations based on the physical sex they were born into. The word transgender is an umbrella term which is often used to describe a wide range of identities and experiences, including: FTMs, MTFs, cross-dressers, drag queens, drag kings, etc In simple terms, it means that a person identifies with the sex other than that on their birth certificate. The words used above to describe people can be confusing. To help understand the differences between these terms, the following definitions may be useful: Transgendered people are those that disguise their features using, for example, clothing that is usually associated with their chosen sex; Transsexual people are those who wish to change their body to completely resemble the sex they feel they belong to. Some transgender people undergo medical treatment, which can include hormone therapy; some may elect to have reconstructive surgery; some never undergo medical treatment and simply live their life in their new sex. It is very much an individual choice. In addition to the terms used above, there are two other associated terms changing social gender and real life test. Changing social gender is the process of a person presenting themselves permanently in their new sex, but have not undergone any medical or surgical changes. Gender Equality 9 Page 9 of 10

10 This changing of social gender is a crucial part of the transition process and is generally the time when the person starts to live full-time as a member of their chosen sex, with a new name and documents to reflect the gender change. The individual has to undergo this process as part of a real life test, where they live in their chosen sex before any surgical intervention. The Gender Recognition Act The most significant legal change for transsexual people has been the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) 2004, which came into force in April 2005 and affords full legal recognition of a transsexual person s acquired gender. Gender Equality 10 Page 10 of 10