These recommendations below were formulated in 2000 and based on the suggestions of 600 women from across the University who attended a series of 'listening seminars'. This listening exercise as a whole was awarded the Opportunity Now Workplace Award Northern Ireland (HE Sector) in 2001.
1. Immediate actions and quick gains: June to December 2000
- Relaunch family-friendly policies
- Identify an immediate sum for a central earmarked fund for maternity leave cover
- Institute a formal review of childcare provision for staff
- Further career advancement for clerical staff
- Institute a mentoring scheme for academic women
- Maintain the Women’s Forum with an annual budget and secretariat to monitor progress
- Investigate and continue to monitor closely: pay at appointment; equal pay at equal stages; and promotion rates
- Identify and investigate the problems of culture in clearly unhappy areas
- Increase resources in the Equal Opportunities Unit to make formal recognition of the importance of the agenda
- Appoint/second a short-term champion at Pro-Vice-Chancellor level to oversee the implementation of gender equality policies with a Committee for Gender Equality to report to VCC
- Set targets and timetables for 30%, 40%, 50% women PVCs, Deans, Head, Professors and grade 6 administrators etc
- Launch major publicity campaign based on this package of measures
2. Medium-term action: 2000-2005
- Provide and require gender-aware training for all Heads of School/Chairs of committees and for both men and women in female management styles
- Reconsider criteria for academic promotion
- Reconsider criteria for academic-related promotion
- Make managers responsible for the advancement of gender equality
- Implement the review of childcare provision
- Create a confidential staff welfare service with a core briefing system
- Institute mechanisms for keeping in touch with women who have left to have children
- Give pro-active consideration to the timing of meetings to accommodate home and family responsibilities
- Investigate possibilities of career development for women in Research and Technical grades
- Investigate the particular barriers to recruitment and carer advance of black and ethnic women; of women with disabilities; and of part-time employees
- Set targets and timetables for 30%, 40% and 50% women at senior lecturer and reader level
- Publish results of Women’s Forum research projects
3. Longer-term culture change: 2000-2010
- Monitor the effectiveness of the welfare service and the core briefing system
- Ensure consistency in implementation of policies across the University
- Gender-proof all QUB policies, activities, training and publications, using external objective expertise
- Increase female committee membership
- Reward in promotion terms effective and excessively heavy contribution to the University incurred in the interests of gender representation
- Monitor academic workload to ensure women are not given heavy teaching, pastoral and administrative loads
- Encourage a sense that it is a good thing to avail of family-friendly policies
- Increase options for childcare
- Carry out a full pay-audit of the salaries of all grades of staff
- Set targets and timetables for 50% employment in the University overall and equal pay
- Publish the Queen’s equality process
- Use it to establish a fully thought- through equality policy for 2010-2020 to include religion, gender, sexuality, race and disability
