The Equality Act, 2006 places a statutory General Duty on all public authorities and Higher Education Institutions to promote gender equality. This general duty came into force on 6 April 2007.
This means that the University, in carrying out all functions, should have due regard to the need to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination
- Eliminate unlawful harassment
- Promote equality of opportunity between men and women
The Equality Act 2006 also imposes a number of specific statutory duties on the University. These duties are intended to assist the University in meeting the General Duty, in particular by setting out what it should do to plan, deliver and evaluate action to eliminate discrimination and promote equality. The core requirements are:
- To prepare and publish a Gender Equality Scheme
- To address the causes of any gender pay gap
- To gather and use information on how the University’s policies and practices affect gender equality in the workforce and in the delivery of higher education
- To consult stakeholders and take account of relevant information in order to determine its gender equality objectives
- To assess the impact of its current and proposed policies and practices on gender equality
- To implement the actions set out in its scheme within three years, unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so
- To report against the scheme every year and review the scheme at least every three years
Aston’s Gender Equality Scheme was developed by consulting with staff and students to find out what gender equality issues were of most concern within the University. We also reviewed the employment and student monitoring data which has been collected over the past few years. From this, an assessment was made of what actions would contribute to improving gender equality within the University. These were addressed under the following key areas:
- Learning and Teaching
- Student Support
- Widening Access
- Human Resources
- Research
- Business, Statutory and Community Links
- Monitoring and review
- Publication, Promotion and Awareness raising
Although some of our objectives aim to continue with work already underway, a commitment has also been made to address areas of concern raised through the consultation. These include:
- Reviewing our procedures for dealing with harassment and bullying
- Completing a range of actions designed to improve the representation of women in academic roles and senior management positions
- Promoting the principles of Work/Life Balance more effectively within the University
- Taking action to reduce the gender pay gap
The full Gender Equality Scheme and Action Plan sets out how the University intends to address these issues and others and can be found on the website at:
Gender Equality Scheme
http://www.aston.ac.uk/staff/hr/equalops/gender/eqs.jsp
Further information is available from the Equality & Diversity Advisor, Kate Parsons at k.parsons@aston.ac.uk
Last updated August 2008
