Introduction

The Equality Act 2006 amends the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and places a statutory “general duty” on public authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment and to promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

In addition some public authorities, including the Housing Corporation are required to meet a number of specific duties, which includes the requirement to publish a Gender Equality Scheme.

The Corporation’s Gender Equality Scheme was published in July 2007, which sets out implications for RSLs. The scheme notes that, whilst the statutory duty does not apply to RSLs directly, the Corporation will expect RSLs to publish their own gender equality action plans by April 2008.

EeH Gender Equality Scheme

The EeH Gender Equality Scheme identifies a number of key issues which can impact on gender equality. This includes domestic violence, harassment and anti-social behaviour, employment issues, homelessness and its prevention, access to affordable housing and resident involvement.

EeH aims to address these key issues in the Gender Equality Scheme by identifying key objectives in the gender equality action plan attached to the scheme and ensuring through monitoring that any service differentials on the basis of gender are identified and an appropriate response made.

EeH will undertake the following:

• Promote and develop policies and working practices which reflect best practice in the provision of housing for victims of domestic violence.
• Promote and develop policies and working practices which reflect best practice in responding to the needs of those facing harassment or anti-social behaviour because of their gender.
• Ensure that as an employer we will promote a healthy work-life balance and ensure we have appropriate provision in our policies and working practices to support those with caring responsibilities.
• Develop a working environment, ethos and culture which is inclusive for men, women and those who are transgender.
• Operate a recruitment and selection procedure that does not discriminate and which removes any barriers based on gender.
• Ensure that sexual harassment in the workplace is not tolerated.
• Ensure that housing management polices and working practices are designed to sustain tenants in their homes and prevent homelessness.
• Use a range of different methods of involving residents

Monitor service delivery to ensure that any differentials in service provision on the basis of gender are identified and an appropriate response is made.

Gender Equality - Action Plan

Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence is identified in the Anti-Social Behaviour Policy as an example of anti-social behaviour.  EeH will undertake regular monitoring of incidents of domestic violence and will benchmark this information with comparative data obtained from other landlords in Tower Hamlets.  This will enable conclusions to be drawn about the levels of reported domestic violence and action to be taken to address any identified trend in under reporting.  This will be reported each quarter to the Service Review Board.

Harassment and Anti-social behaviour

Harassment and anti-social behaviour targeted at people because of their gender or because they are transgender will be monitored by EeH.  All cases of anti-social behaviour will be reviewed for 2007/8 to determine whether the gender of the victim is an issue and whether there are differentials in the nature of the ASB.  A case management system will be introduced and maintained for ASB which will monitor victim and perpetrator profiles.

Work-life balance

EeH has a range of employment policies designed to support a healthy work-life balance for our staff.  EeH acknowledge that family friendly employment policies such as flexi-time, job-sharing and opportunities for career breaks can support staff who face work-family issues and conflicting priorities.  Together with EeH policies which reflect our statutory obligations for parental leave, maternity and paternity rights, and for flexible working, we offer an range of policies to attract people into employment and to support those with caring responsibilities. These policies are all designed to be non-discriminatory.  As part of EeH commitment to assisting staff to achieve an appropriate work-life balance, it is proposed to introduce monitoring of take-up to identify whether there is a gender bias and to determine the appropriate action that can be taken to address this.

An inclusive working environment

EeH has a range of progressive employment policies and practices which are designed to nurture a positive and supportive working environment which is non-discriminatory and inclusive to all.  Such policies however, also require the organisation as an employer to provide support and mechanisms for staff to develop the appropriate behaviours and attitudes to foster such an environment.  This requires the development of an appropriate set of competencies in each of our role profiles and a performance appraisal process which measures staff against these competencies.  EeH will therefore develop training plans which support   staff in developing these attitudes and behaviours and for managers to support  them as part of the team development process.

Recruitment and Selection

The Recruitment and Selection Policy explicitly includes the statement that EeH will not discriminate in our recruitment process.  It is therefore proposed that monitoring information on recruitment activity will be regularly reported to the Personnel Committee to ensure there is no bias, including on grounds of gender.  It is also proposed that further training of managers will be undertaken in the recruitment and selection procedure to ensure they are aware of good practice in this area.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment at work can take several forms: verbal, non-verbal and physical and can include comments, remarks, staring, touching and the display of inappropriate material.  Staff respond to different situations in different ways and individuals perception of what is or what is not harassment may differ. Sexual harassment is any unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature and often is about an abuse of power.  The EeH Disciplinary and Dismissal policy provides a framework for the investigation of allegations of sexual harassment and management development training will ensure that managers have the right skills to effectively confront alleged perpetrators and to provide a positive and supportive working environment for those who may experience sexual harassment and confidence to raise the concern with their managers.  EeH will therefore ensure that the message will be reinforced to all staff that sexual harassment will not be tolerated at EeH.

Preventing Homelessness

Homelessness can affect a range of individuals due to a variety of circumstances.  However, recent statistics indicate that a significant proportion of those households accepted nationally as homeless were single female parents. EeH acknowledges the damaging effect homelessness has on families as well as society as a whole and therefore will work to develop a range of approaches to assist in preventing homelessness. This will include tenancy sustainment through debt advice, family support, good rent arrears management, and  support for victims of domestic violence. EeH will investigate debt management services to be provided by an appropriate partner organisation and will develop a training programme for rents and housing officers to further assist in rent arrears management.  EeH will also develop a mediation service to provide mediation within the home.

Affordable Housing

EeH is able to offer a limited range of affordable housing options including social housing for rent, and in the future shared ownership and outright sale. EeH will monitor the take up of affordable housing by type and householdin order to ensure that there is no obvious gender bias.

Resident Involvement

EeH has developed a range of opportunities for residents to become involved which are designed to be inclusive. EeH policies on resident involvement are intended to assist in developing a cohesive and sustainable community through empowering groups and supporting individuals. Our terms of reference and constitutions aim to promote inclusion and discourage discrimination on any ground including gender.Monitoring of all activity by gender  will therefore be developed to identify any inappropriate gender bias and action taken to address this.

Service Delivery

Key Performance Indicators are reviewed by an officer panel on a monthly basis and reported on a quarterly basis to the Service Review Board and EeH board.In order to ensure that  service provision has no gender bias that could be unlawfully discriminatory we need to further develop our monitoring of our services on the basis of gender. The EeH residents profile survey will be used to gather data to assist in this exercise.