Report published March2007.

Women’s National Commission

Ashdown House

123 Victoria Street

London SW1E 5DE

Tel: 0207 944 0585

Email:

Website:

CONTENTS

Forewordpage 3

PART ONE

Backgroundpage 4

Agendapage 5

Summary of the Daypages 6-8

Opening: Baroness Prosser, WNC Chair

Session One: Workshops

Session Two: Plenary

Keynote Speech: Meg Munn, Minister for Women

Session Three: Q&A

PART TWO

Workshops: Key points arisingpages9-10

Violence Against Women

Engaging with the CEHR

Preparing for CEDAW and CSW

Women in Public Life

Gender Equality Duty

PART THREE

Question and Answers: Transcriptpages11-15

Violence Against Women

Engaging with the CEHR

Preparing for CEDAW and CSW

Women in Public Life

Gender Equality Duty

ANNEXES

Annex A: Workshop notes – debates and outcomespages 16 - 29

Annex B: List of key issues submitted to conferencepages 30 - 33

AnnexC: Transcript of Meg Munn’s Keynote Speechpages 34 - 37

AnnexD:Delegate listpages 38 - 40

FOREWORD

Dear Partner,

I am delighted to present the summary report of the Women’s National Commission’s (WNC) All Partners’ ConferenceDecember 2006. The conference was an open meeting for our Partners with the aim of providing an opportunity for them to share ideas and discuss issues and priorities for women.

As Chair of the WNC I find these meetings invaluable as they help to shape the work of the Commission. We aim to organise a similar event in 2008.

The conference looked at some of the big issues women in the UK are facing today. This report summarises the key messages from the Conference which clearly illustrate the concerns of women and what needs to be improved.

I would like to say thank you to all workshop facilitators and speakers, and to Liz Chennells in particular for donating their time - their input was invaluable. I would also like to thank everyone who attended and contributed to the great debate. It is your energy and commitment that keeps women’s equality at the top of the policy agenda!

Baroness Margaret Prosser of Battersea, OBE

Chair of Women’s National Commission

PART ONE

BACKGROUND

The Women’s National Commission (WNC) is the UK umbrella body that represents the views of women and women’s organisations by providing a voice for women and bringing issues of concern to the attention of the Government and into public debate. WNC’s strategic direction and advice is directed by a publicly appointed Chair and Board of Commissioners who represent various sectors within the women’s lobby. In addition, the WNC has over400 Partners. These are primarily women’s organisations, both national and at grassroots level. However, they also include individuals with particular expertise, such as researchers in women's studies and women who are equality officers at the local government level.

TheAll Partners’ Conference was held at Barclays Bank Head Office in CanaryWharf, London in December 2006.Itis one of a series of open meetings with WNC’s partners, normally held every two years. These meetings inform the setting of WNC’s own work programme, and give Government information about the views of women and their key priorities. The last open meeting was held in December 2004.

The conference was chaired by Baroness Prosser, Chair of WNC, and the feedback from the workshops was facilitated by Liz Chennells, previously a Director of the Women’s and Equality Unit. Meg Munn, Deputy Minister for Women, gave the keynote speech. The conference was attended by nearly 120 people, who represented a diverse range of women’s organisations.(See List of Delegates is at Annex D).

ALL PARTNERS’ CONFERENCE 14th DECEMBER 2006

Sponsored by Barclays Wealth

Agenda

9:20-10:00Registration and refreshments

Opening

10:00-10:20Chair’s welcome and Opening Remarks

Session one

10:20 –12:30 Workshops

  • Violence against women
  • Women in public life
  • Preparing for CEDAW/CSW
  • Gender Equality Duty
  • Engaging with the CEHR

12:30 –13:45 Lunch

Session two

13:45 -15:00Key issues for women, feedback from workshopsand open discussion– Liz Chennells

15:00-15:15Keynote address – Meg Munn MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for DCLG and responsible for Women and Equalities

Session three

15:20 - 16:00 Q&A panel chaired by Baroness Prosser – Panellists include Meg Munn MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for DCLG and responsible for Women and Equalities, Peter Housden, Permanent Secretary, DCLG, Vivienne Hayes, Director of Women’s Resource Centre and Sue Tibballs,Chief Executive, the Women’s Sports Foundation

16:00Chair’s closing remarks

16:15 Light refreshments and networking

SUMMARY OF THE DAY

Opening Session

Frank McGarahan, Chief Operating Officer at Wealth Barclays,welcomed the WNC and spoke about Barclays’ work on improving the diversity of its organisation, including their successful launch of a diversity programme.

Baroness Margaret Prosser, Chair of WNC, opened the conference with thanks to Barclays for their hospitality and commitment to equalities. She explained that the aim of the conferencewas to bring WNC partners together to discuss some of the key issues of public policy for women and to hear from some of the people who shape and deliver those policies. Baroness Prosser noted that the key points arising from the workshops would be sent to Government for consideration and that the outcome of the conference would help direct the work of the Commission.

Workshops

Delegates took part in a workshop of their choice. Prior to the conference delegates were given the opportunity to nominate subjects for discussion and chose from a selection of subjects. The five most popular workshops ran on the day. They were: Violence Against Women; Engaging with the Commission on Equality and Human Rights; Preparing for Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Commission on the Status of Women; Women in Public Life; and the Gender Equality Duty.These issues and subsequent comments from the audience are set out at Annex B.

Each workshop had a facilitator to lead and manage the discussions. The groups were asked to report back two key points to the plenary session. These were the recommendations, statements or direct questionsthathad the greatest degree of support from workshop participants.

The two key points arising from each workshop and a summary of workshop debate can be found in Parts Two and Annex Arespectively.

Feedback

This session aimed to prepare delegates for the debate with the Q&A panel; to bring to the plenary all of the issues submitted prior to Conference; and to decide on five top questions arising from the ten identified in workshops (two per workshop).

Facilitated by Liz Chennells, delegates worked through the ten priority areas identified in the workshops and arrived at five questions for the Q&A Panel following Meg Munn’s speech. All ten priority areas that arose from the workshops and the plenary discussions are set out atAnnex A.

Those issues that were not dealt with at the conference - including all other issues arising from the workshops and those submitted in advance of conference - will be considered and reported to the Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Minister for Women. The key issues will also be used to inform WNC’s decisions about its agenda over the coming year.

Keynote speech

Meg Munn MP and Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Women and Equalities. (Standing in for the Rt Hon Ruth Kelly Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government,who was unable to attend.)

The Minister spoke about a range of issues including:the Women and Work Commission, the role for the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights; the Equality Act; Government efforts to ensure more women enter public life; tensions between communities; and work undertaken by the Government at an international level. In particular, she stressed the importance of tackling issues of violence against women and how good practice from the UKshould be shared.

Finally, the Minister spoke of theWNC’s future role, outlining challenges and opportunities and announced a review of WNC with the aim of strengthening and enhancing it.

A complete transcript of Meg Munn’s keynote speech is atAnnex C.

Questions

Following the workshops, the five questions that had been identified as key issues were put to the panel. The panel was chaired byBaroness Prosser and included panellists Meg Munn MP, Peter Housden Permanent Secretary, DCLG, Vivienne Hayes,Director of Women’s Resource Centre and Sue Tibballs,Chief Executive, Women’s Sports Foundation. Questions were put to the panel on these key areas:

  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
  • Women in Public Life
  • Violence Against
  • Gender Equality
  • Commission on Equality and Human Rights

A transcript of the question and answer session can be found in Part Three.

PART TWO

WORKSHOPS: KEY POINTS ARISING

The following is a summary of the ten key points arising from the workshops. The debates and outcomes of the workshops are set out in Annex A.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN - Facilitators: Hilary McCollum and Lis Martin

  • While welcoming this Government’s historic commitment to tackling VAW, participants believed that the Government should develop an integrated strategy on eliminating VAW based on the UN definition and strategic objectives. This should be led by a single, committed cabinet level minister and developed in discussion with the EVAW coalition.
  • The strategy should be accompanied by long term investment and core funding for women’s services within the statutory and voluntary sectors. It should involve a high profile public campaign and education interventionsin order to achieve fundamental cultural change.

ENGAGING WITH THE COMMISSION FOR EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS - Facilitator:Ranjana Bell

  • The establishment of CEHR, theGender Equality Duty and the 2007 European Year of Opportunity for All offer great potential for equalities generally and for women specifically.Please tell us whoin Government will champion equality and how will equality be championed by Government?
  • The unique selling point of WNC is its ability to reach out to all corners of the UK’s women’s sector.How is Government going to ensure that this vital service will be sufficiently supported and resourced?

PREPARING FOR CEDAW AND CSW - Facilitators: Janet Veitch and Trisha Greenhalgh

  • We need a fully integrated and funded approach to all forms of violence against all women, and to acknowledge that there is a continuum of violence.
  • The gender pay gap, the number of women in the poorest paid occupations and the lack of full educational opportunities for women remaina key source of gender discrimination, preventing women’s economic empowerment.

WOMEN IN PUBLIC LIFE - Facilitators: Ann Hope and Baroness Anita Gale

  • We recommend that positive action measures be put into place in both public and political life in order to level the playing field for womenandto help achieve equal representation for women in politics and on decision making bodies. Any positive action measures must take into account the particular circumstances of women’s lives in all their diversities.
  • In order to engage women, particularly young women, with public life, we recommend that specifically designed citizenship programmes be introduced into schools. Those organisations working at community level should encourage and train women to take part in public life, and should be adequately funded to do this work.

GENDER EQUALITY DUTY - Facilitator: Heather Barclay

  • There is concern about those bodies that are exempted from the Gender Equality Duty (i.e. churches, media, finance, large corporations). Can they be brought within the legislation within a reasonable time frame? How can we influence these bodies to particpate in the Duty on a volunatry basis.?
  • Leadership must be inclusive: attitudes and perceptions will not change without strong leadership.Some public bodies do not understand ‘gender’ or ‘equality’. They need management training to help them understand the issues and champion them.

PART THREE

QUESTION AND ANSWERS – THE TRANSCRIPT

Chair: Baroness Prosser

Panellists:

  • Meg Munn MP
  • Peter Housden Permanent Secretary, DCLG
  • Vivienne Hayes,Director of Women’s Resource Centre
  • Sue Tibballs,Chief Executive, Women’s Sports Foundation

A transcript of the Q&A has been set out below.

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

The workshop participants identified the pay difference between women and men, allowing for their age, skills, seniority and other similar factors. They recognised that this gender pay gap and the number of women in the poorest paid occupations is a key source of gender discrimination and that it prevents women’s economic empowerment.

Qs 1: What positive action, for example, through resources, education, monitoring and legislation, will the Government be taking to remove the barriers to women’s equal pay, which is a major source of gender discrimination?

Meg Munn:The Government is doing a great deal on the gender pay gap. The Women and Work Commission has identified a number of issues that have impacted on the gender pay gap and the Commission’s Action Plan will be dealing with these, particularly in terms of implementing longer term changes. Another Government initiative is the ‘Quality Part-Time Work’, which is about making sure that women who want to reduce their working hours can still operate at the same level.

Vivienne Hayes: The gender pay gap is a symptom of the structural inequality that women experience. Women with children and those entering part-time work are a major issue. It is necessary for flexible working practices to be adopted by all employers.

Peter Housden:I think the Women and Work Commission Action Plan is an important statement for the new Department. Girls are very often in leadership positions in school, but this changes as they move through life. There are changes that need to happen on the local level and this can’t solely be created by acts of parliament or by Government. It’s striking how the question of gender equality is very low on the agenda of many local partnerships. This is where the Government has the chance to make it higher, by getting local employers and local figureheads more involved. I believe that the Women and Work Commission’s Action Plan has been a huge impetus in that direction.

Sue Tibballs:I want to highlight that this question about discrimination against women is where the international links and relationships of the women’s sector come into their own, for example through CEDAW. I think that the women’s movement is a solidarity movement and it works together with organisations overseas.

Women in Public Life

Baroness Anita Gale said that due to all-women shortlists, women’s representation in the Welsh Assembly now stood at 50%. Ten years ago it was only 10%. She also pointed out that in just over 11 years, we will be celebrating 100 years of women’s suffrage.

Qs 2:What positive action measures can be put in place in both political and public life to achieve equal representation for women in politics and on decision making bodies?

Sue Tibballs:It is crucial to have women in political leadership as well as at senior levels of organisations to make it compelling and motivating for women. When you get a critical mass of women involved in an organisation you can see some of its priorities and ways of working begin to change. My own experiences show how difficult it can be to go into politics if you have, or want to start, a family. I agree with the idea of having formal targets of women appointed on public and private sector boards.

Vivienne Hayes:I agree with the idea of quotas as a way of forcing the issue as current progress is not fast enough. I also believed that there is an issue about how women feel able to move into leadership, and it would be useful to have women-only spaces to build women’s esteem.

Peter Housden:The issue is not just a question of equal rights, but also a question about effectiveness and being able to do your business very well. The numbers of women on main boards in companies are very low, but on the operating boards the numbers of women are rising. It is more difficult for women who have family responsibilities to reach the top, due to the way in which business leaders are looking at this issue. The public sector also needs to change, and the Department for Communities and Local Government has set a target for women in senior grades and in public bodies. The Local Government White Paper also commits to a Commission that will look at issues around barriers to people becoming councillors, which is an important accelerator into national politics.

Meg Munn:The progress of getting women into politics has been too slow. New emerging parliaments, like that in Rwanda, have better representation for women than existing ones who find it harder to make that change. In the UK, we have created a situation where it has been made legal for political parties to discriminate, but it is clear that unless you do take active steps to increase representation for women, it doesn’t happen. Also countries with another electoral system, such as proportional representation, find it easier to get higher representation of women. However, I don’t support this system. I think that working patternsin parliament need to change instead in order to make the situation more do-able. It is not a problem to find talented women who want to sit in the parliament. It is the way to get them there that the actual problem. We do not value what women do. We need to give women more support and confidence to move forward into key roles in public life.