CHAPTER 8 - IMPROVE NETWORKS WITH MEN
Introduction
Because of their sex or gender roles, women and men can experience different types of disadvantage and, in certain circumstances, it will be necessary to treat men and women differently.
We recognise that, in many areas of policy and practice, it is women rather than men who have been traditionally excluded and that our focus has therefore tended to be on the inclusion of those marginalised perspectives. However, we also recognise that there are a number of areas where men and boys experience disadvantage and we should improve our consultation with men on these.
What we said we would do
We said that we will improve our consultation networks with men and explore options for establishing an effective network.
What we've done
The Scottish Government held a meeting in November 2008 of Equality Unit contacts, internal and external and across equality strands, of people with an interest in - and knowledge of - a variety of issues concerning men.
(The minutes of the meeting can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/18500/Minutes).
The Group identified a number of issues that they considered should be a priority for the Scottish Government in advancing the interests of men and boys and intimated that a further meeting would be useful in 2009. For the next meeting, we asked the Group to consider whether meeting on a regular basis would be welcomed and, if so, to consider future membership.
One of the issues raised at the meeting was the importance of putting men back into children's lives.
The Equality Unit's grant to Children in Scotland - to enable it to explore, promote and support the involvement of fathers (and men who have a fathering status or role) in their children's lives and assist in the development of work-life balance for men and women - ended in June 2008. The project raised awareness of issues affecting children in their relationships with their fathers and encouraged all fathers to develop their fatherhood skills. It also facilitated discussion about the meaning of the Gender Equality Duty for men (particularly as fathers), and for children and young people. Children in Scotland subsequently published Making the Gender Equality Duty real for children, young people and their fathers23 in 2008. This publication considers the potential impact and benefits of the Duty for children and their fathers, particularly within the areas of health, early years, education and for vulnerable children. It provides questions for public authorities to consider when implementing the Duty as well as providing a list of useful resources.
Building on this work, we commissioned Children in Scotland to assist the Scottish Government (in the period August 2008-March 2011) in its ongoing work to assist implementation of the Gender Equality Duty in Scotland in ways that:
a) increase the likelihood that children will benefit from healthy, nurturing relationships with their fathers; and
b) increase the active positive engagement of public sector organisations with the fathers of children receiving public services.
The project will also contribute to Scottish Government's wider objective to tackle gender stereotyping and occupational segregation. Its activities include, for example, encouraging public sector employers that have children and young people as clients (e.g. education, health and social services, which tend to have a female-dominated workforce), to examine their employment policies, practices and services and address any barriers that may contribute to gender imbalances/inequality. This should assist in developing responsive policies, practices and services that aid the development of a healthier work-life balance for women and men.