Issue - meetings

The Leader of the Council invited Councillor Sadie Bright, the Members’ Gender Equality Champion, to introduce the Council’s draft Gender Equality Charter.

Councillor Bright commented that she was extremely proud of the fact that Barking and Dagenham was the first local authority in the country to develop a Gender Equality Charter, which she felt reflected the Council’s ambition to create a fair and equal society.  The four main themes of the Charter were:

·  Access to power and representation in public life;

·  Economic inequality and impact of caring responsibilities;

·  Culture, including gender stereotyping; and

·  Violence against women.

Councillor Bright advised that the Charter had been developed with the help and support of the local voluntary sector, the Police, Health agencies, Schools, local businesses and the local community and it was hoped that all would sign up to the Charter’s plan of action.  The intention was for the Charter to be formally launched on 10 March 2016, as part of the Council’s second annual Women’s Empowerment Month.

Cabinet Members placed on record their thanks to Councillor Bright and officers within the Equalities and Diversity team for their work in developing the Charter.  Councillor Ashraf also thanked the Leader for his commitment to equalities, making the point that under the new administration the majority of Cabinet Members were women and the Council as a whole was represented by approximately 40% of women councillors, well above the national average.  It was also pointed out that the Barking constituency had been represented in Parliament by women MPs since 1974, firstly by the late Jo Richardson who was a central figure in the women’s rights movement and by Margaret Hodge since 1994.

Several Cabinet Members spoke in full support of the Charter and the Council’s commitment to equalities, while reference was also made to a number of other initiatives such as the White Ribbon domestic violence campaign which the Council was at the forefront of.  Arising from the discussions, issues were also raised in respect of:

a)  Implementation of the Action Plan – Councillor Bright advised that local businesses in particular would be asked to support the achievement of the priorities through active promotion in the workplace and the sponsorship of events;

b)  Main Themes of the Charter – It was acknowledged that the theme “Culture, including gender stereotyping”’ should be bolstered by the inclusion of reference to discrimination and that the issue of body image was only one component of stereotyping;

c)  Promotion of the Charter – Alongside the range of initiatives planned to support awareness of and support for the Charter, it was suggested that a presentation should be given to all Members of the Council at a future meeting of the Assembly.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Adopt the Gender Equality Charter and Action Plan at Appendix A to the report, subject to the amendments agreed at the meeting; and

(ii)  Agree to launch the Charter during Women’s Empowerment month in March 2016.