Published: 22nd October 2008
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Published by: Government Equalities Office, Department for Communities and Local Government
Authors: Researched and written by Jill Bedford, Sue Gorbing and Sue Robson
Date: 4th September 2008.
The Women Take Part (WTP) research was funded by the Government Equalities Office and Department for Communities and Local Government (2007 – 2008) to examine the participation of women, in particular under-represented women, in governance and decision making, in both community and public life.
Women Take Part collected information about two sides of the story:
‘what works’ in terms of approaches, initiatives and learning models that encourage different groups of women to become more involved, and
‘what needs to happen’ so that structures, policies and organisations work in ways that encourage the recruitment and support of more women. The research included a literature review, focus groups with women, and interviews with civic, civil and voluntary sector organisations.
The forthcoming Sex and Power publication
1 produced by the Equality and Human Rights
Commission suggests that it will take up to 200 years to ensure the equal representation of
women in the British parliament, 27 years to achieve equality in civil service top management, and 55 years to achieve an equal number of senior women in the judiciary. Whilst these are shocking statistics, it is clear that there just aren’t enough women in most areas of public life and for certain groups of women, including Black, Asian and minority ethnic women, this situation is even worse. There is clearly a power gap in our institutions and workplaces. Currently less than 20% of MPs are female. There are only two ethnic minority women MPs and there has never been an Asian woman MP. Ethnic minority women make up less than one percent of the House of Lords. Only 29.3% of Local Authority Councillors in
England are women and less than 1% of all councillors are Black, Asian and minority ethnic women.
2
The report highlights the ‘zapper’ effect where women felt excluded, and frustrated by the way business is conducted. So, as well as encouraging more and different women to become more constructive, critical, cooperative, confident and challenging in the public domain, there have to be changes in how organisations and structures work. If this doesn’t happen, even though the pool of women might increase and expand, women will still experience the ‘zapper effect.’
Women Take Part builds upon successful work done by some of the Take Part Network, (as part of the Home Office funded ‘Active Learning for Active Citizenship’ programme
3), engaging with and supporting women from all walks of life to ‘get more involved’.
The report provides a summary of the research findings and guidance on models and
approaches which can be used to encourage, equip and support women. It is a resource for Government and other agencies, from which they can extract information and ideas to inform delivery of relevant performance targets. The report
4 draws upon contemporary research and knowledge
5 which discuss and explore the inequalities surrounding women’s active participation in public life. It emphasises the need to develop and grow the ‘pool’ of women available for civil participation and civic engagement.
The power gap needs to be closed, with true representation for all groups of women, including ethnic minority women, disabled women, working class women, lesbians, and women of all ages and faiths. Engaging more women into public life can enrich decision making, ensure that decision making boards reflect the communities they serve, and tap into the talents of women. A more representative local democracy can also make civic roles more attractive to those currently under-represented.
Recommendations:
Recommendation one: build on this research
• Develop and pilot the WTP framework as a resource/toolkit for change for women and organisations;
• Use the WTP framework to develop good practice case studies;
• Promote and support the WTP Framework as a tool for change;
• Investigate the relevance of the WTP framework for other under-represented groups.
Recommendation two: bring together initiatives that offer relevant learning, support and development to agree a useful way forward.
Recommendation three: address the issue of resources for learning, support and development for women’s journeys.
Recommendation four: broker networking between women’s organisations and democratic structures and processes.
Recommendation five: clarify and disseminate the legal position for organisations on promoting gender equality within civil and civic governance roles.
Recommendation six: broker dialogue with public agencies and VCS organisations around gender, fairness and positive action.
Footnotes:
1 Sex and Power 2008, Equality and Human Rights Commission
2 Census of Local Authority Councillors 2006
3 ALAC Evaluation report. Mayo and Rooke 2006. Home Office available at www.takepart.org
4 Closing the Gap Final Report: Women Take Part available from www.equalities.gov.uk and www.changesuk.net/
Closing_the_gap.pdf
Other associated reports including: Women Take Part; research on organisations and structures report 30 Women Take Part; Learning Women Take Part: Learning, Support and Development Research report , Women Take Part: ‘Action and Changes’, Women Take Part: Research Event, Focus Group reports from the South West Foundation and Manchester Metropolitan University Gender and Participation Unit and the IMPACT! Evaluation Report, are all available from www.changesuk.net
5 Includes Councillors’ Commission Report, Joseph Rowntree Foundation Report on Citizen Governance, Leadership
Centre for Local Government, Where are the Women in LSPs, Urban Forum/Oxfam/Women’s Resource Centre,
Routes to Power: research on ethnic minority women and decision-making, Fawcett/Government Equalities Office.
For full report, please visit:
http://www.equalities.gov.uk/publications/7841-TSO-Women_Take_Part_WEB.pdf
Briefing note prepared by Andre Pettersson, Research and Communications Assistant. ProDiverse UK Ltd. 16th October, 2008.
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