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- Women and Work - The Facts
- The Business Case for Diversity
- Business Case for Diversity Case Studies
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Section head
Opening the conference, Joan Ruddock MP Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste .
Delegates of the conference enjoyed a networking lunch.
Helen Ghosh Permanent
Secretary of Defra and Defra
Diversity Champion closes the
conference.
Sex at Work
Defra's Diversity Team marked International Womens' Day with a conference entitled ' Sex at Work' . Defra wanted an inclusive event for both the men and women in the organisation and designed the event to :
- raise awareness of barriers to women in the workplace
- explore the issues faced by men in the workplace
- explain the changing role of women in the workplace and
- to look at what Defra is doing to provide a more inclusive environment.
Joan Ruddock MP Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and WasteI know I speak for the Secretary of State when I say that Defra is committed to removing the barriers that affect both woman and men in the workplace. Tackling gender inequality is a vitally important issue and one that no Department or organisation can afford to ignore.
The conference invitations went to all Defra employees and the audience was primarily Defra employees, (including HR Business Partners and Departmental Trade Unions) but also included Diversity Practitioners from other Government Departments.
Demonstrating the strong commitment to the gender equality agenda that Defra has at the very top of the organisation, the event was opened by Joan Ruddock MP, Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste and closed by Helen Ghosh, our Permanent Secretary. Helen is also the Defra Diversity Champion and she models flexile working by working part time.
The conference featured some excellent speakers, including Norma Jarboe- former Director at Opportunity Now. Norma spoke about the changing role of women in the workplace, providing a real insight into the pace of change and the business case for gender equality. The following speaker, Duncan Fisher, Director of the Fatherhood Institute offered a male perspective. His entertaining presentation, titled ‘why can’t a man be more like a woman’, focused on the desire for men to play a more active role in the care of children. He argues (rather persuasively) that policy changes that would encourage and enable men to share caring responsibilities would support the progress of women in the workplace.Chartered Counselling and Chartered Occupational Psychologist Andrew Kinder, gave a presentation on the psychology of stereotyping. He explained schemata with the aid of visual illusions and explained how this natural process led to stereotyping. Andrew is also the Head of the Employee Assistance Programme used by Defra for confidential counselling for members of our staff.
The later part of the conference focused on what Defra is doing to promote gender equality. Marian Laklia, the joint Chair of a new Work Life Balance staff network gave a presentation which gave insight into some of the negative experiences she had faced working part time, and she also spoke of the positives, such as being more disciplined about time management. Staff networks are an important element in the Defra Diversity Strategy and they have the full support of our Permanent Secretary. We are anticipating that membership of the network will increase considerably as a direct result of the conference- providing a valuable support mechanism for the members, and also an important consultation forum for business issues.
Gill Aitken, the Head of Defra’s Legal Group, who has Board responsibility for the HR function then spoke about what Defra is doing to support Gender Equality, such as the innovative flexible working and staff resourcing model which is being introduced in April 2008.
Helen Ghosh, our Permanent Secretary closed the event by talking about Defra’s new Gender Equality Scheme that is currently under development. This Scheme will be going out for consultation in May and all conference attendees were encouraged to participate in the consultation process. Extremely positive feedback was received from both the attendees and the speakers. Further events will be held in the future.
Norma Jarboe
Andrew Kinder Atos Healthcare
