Ann Blair, UCU Vice-President
When the then-AUT women’s group reformed early in 2005 one of the first questions we asked was – “Well, we think there is inequality at Leeds: is it true?” Using data provided by the University and collected for the Higher Education Statistics Authority, Anna Clough and I produced a presentation that showed a snapshot of women’s position in the faculties and services. This demonstrated – pretty universally – that whatever the concentration of women in the lower academic and academic related grades, women were not making it through to higher grades in the same proportions as men. And in most cases the disparity was stark.
This presentation formed the centrepiece of an AUT equality event in September 2005 and was then given to members of JCUA (the main negotiating committee). To their credit the University side of this committee immediately accepted the stark reality that, once the data was looked at in this way, something must be done, and done urgently. In the early part of 2006 the University and the AUT worked jointly to facilitate a series of consultation meetings, five for women and one for Black and Minority Ethnic staff, where staff could share their experiences of the promotions system and, in the women’s meetings, their views on what factors hold women back. The telling of women’s experiences was a real eye-opener and demonstrated without doubt that there is work to be done on many levels. A draft report was produced, but the process of finalising this, publishing it, and starting to implement the recommendations has been far from simple. Joint working suffered as a consequence of the national pay dispute, and then again as a result of the local job evaluation dispute. The draft report is just being finalised and a joint action plan is about to be developed. However, the results of the consultation are already starting to be felt in areas such as SRDS and in the negotiations on a new promotions system. The report will call for a massive change in the culture of the University and, of course, this will not be achieved overnight, but the need for fairness and the need for all staff to be supported to work to the highest levels is recognised. The changes it promises will benefit many under promoted men as well as women and this is fine. We are organising to address women’s issues, not to bash our male colleagues.
The proof of the pudding etc…. but if this was the result of the women’s group’s first question then our potential is massive. We are currently looking at the gendered impact of job evaluation and at the RAE. Will the results be as dramatic? We shall see.
The women’s group meets regularly during term time. All women members of the UCU have an open invitation and receive regular updates. If you would like to be more involved contact Chris Pickering on c.e.pickering@adm.leeds.ac.uk
Meetings
Notes from Annual Womens Meeting November 2010 available to download here
Notes From Womens Meeting 5th November 2009 available to download here
