Friday, June 10, 2016

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

What women want

Posted: 09 Jun 2016 10:22 AM PDT

women, community planning, Northern Ireland, WRDA, Women felt that councils did not take account of the variety of women's needs.

With the restructuring of local government under the Local Government (NI) Act 2014, councils in Northern Ireland now have the new statutory duty of Community Planning.

Community Planning aims to improve the effectiveness of public services in meeting people's needs, to support the development of local communities and to improve the quality of life for all.

Community Planning is now seen as the best way of ensuring that communities in Northern Ireland become safer, stronger and more sustainable.

But how should this be done?

And how can women – wherever they live – best involve themselves in its design?

The Women's Resource & Development Agency (WRDA) hosted a series of events for women over the past few months in different parts of the North to help them find out about the local Community Planning process.

The resulting report – ‘Women Speak Out on Community Planning’ – was published recently, and had several launch parties to celebrate, and give women in different parts of the province a chance to attend.

For WRDA it was imperative that women become involved to help define the consultative and engagement process and ensure that their voices are heard respectfully and reflected in each council decision.

Women's interests are not homogenous, and participants at the various events felt that their 'gendered roles' were socially constructed and that they often experienced significant disadvantages which have an impact upon their physical, mental and social health differently from that of men.

Participants wanted councils to recognise that within all communities, women and men have different needs, and that women don't often have access to power or resources.

Moreover, women felt that councils did not take account of the variety of women's needs nor the plethora of women's organisations and groups within local areas, instead consulting with the same groups over and over.

Councils have a critical role in creating and supporting women, and to do this means putting in place the mechanisms to respond to the issues facing women in all aspects of council activity.

The presence of gender experts could make a difference to ensuring women's voices are heard, and WRDA has therefore recommended that councils put in place a Gender Champion who will drive policy and engagement mechanisms which are inclusive of women.

Councils should develop standards that ensure the involvement of women in meaningful and effective engagement, and WRDA recommends the development of a set of principles that will ask women first; they should contain standards and actions that all councils will work towards and use as a measure of progress in developing increasingly effective engagement with women.

When it comes to health and wellbeing, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised that gender matters – and participants at WRDA events reported that as a diverse group of women they often felt that councils failed to assess the impact of policies, programmes and services on women's lives.

Councils should develop tools to conduct a gender analysis of all policies, programmes and services offered including ways to answer a number of key questions: How does this policy affect women? How will Council ensure the specific needs of women are considered? How will disadvantaged and rural women be included? How does this policy, programme or service rectify gender inequality?

The design and planning of the engagement processes is something else that has a significant impact on the way women interact with councils.

Planning and design needs to be responsive to and respectful of the needs of women, for example with engagement sessions which are characterised by a relaxed atmosphere that allows women to engage in the process in a non-judgemental environment.

The process must also allow for mothers of children to participate in the processes by for example, providing crèche facilities or conducting meetings at times suitable to mothers.

Women's lived experience is different to that of men, and processes must take notice of this, councils really need to ensure that women feel safe and are encouraged to participate by for example allowing for women-only and family friendly sessions, and taking account of any literacy or disability issues, faced by women.

The clear message from participants in relation to their current engagement with council was the lack of feedback at regular intervals, including an honest assessment of the scope for change as well as feedback on views/ideas expressed. Some women talked about 'being turned off if nothing appears to happen'.

So the conclusion here was that at regular intervals councils should provide accurate and timely information to women on the issues they have raised during engagement sessions.

There is also a clear need for councils to plan ahead, to ensure there is time to bring women from disadvantaged and rural areas to a point where they are involved effectively and are kept informed at all times. This may well involve supporting capacity building programmes for women's groups and organisations.

Engagement is at the heart of Community Planning, but it can be a complex and challenging process.

Nonetheless, women from disadvantaged and rural areas must be a part of that process.

While many of the same challenges and principles apply in working with all citizens, there are important additional considerations that need to be taken into account to ensure there is a meaningful involvement of women from disadvantaged and rural areas.

And while there are significant benefits to involving women in the Community Planning process, the WRDA report on the meetings concluded, it requires commitment, resources and imagination to do so effectively.