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WQ.22/2020
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
BY DEPUTY K.G. PAMPLIN OF ST. SAVIOUR ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 21st JANUARY 2020
Question
Will the Minister advise what work is being undertaken to address the gender pay gap in education, as highlighted in the 2019 States of Jersey Gender Pay Gap Report', and state what policy, if any, is in place to support the Island's schools make any changes required in this area?
Answer
The Minister recognises a Gender Pay Gap exists across Government and is fully supportive of the commitments listed below from the 2019 States of Jersey Gender Pay Gap Report'.
The Government has committed to reducing the gender pay gap, and to do this will involve programmes aimed at targeting the barriers to progression and increasing opportunities for employees in under- represented areas of the organisation. Opportunities to address the issue of gender balance and underrepresentation will be delivered, enhancing career progression and closing the gender pay gap through a new people strategy.
The people strategy will explicitly address inequality and disparity throughout the Government through better organisational design, career structures and removing the barriers to equality. Data has shown that, while we have a higher proportion of female colleagues across all quartiles, the proportion of women to men is significantly higher at the lowest quartile (74% female).
We are able to use organisational design as a tool to target barriers to pay progression by providing career progression prospects to employees at the lower tiers, which will target more female employees, due to their dominance in the lower-tiered groups.
Ensuring that there are channels for women to progress into new roles and higher tiers will address the glass ceiling' and reduce inequality, both in respect of the pay gap and gender balance.
Our aim is to improve gender balance at all tiers of the organisation, and particularly where groups are historically under-represented.
The steps we are taking across Government to improve gender balance and diversity in our workforce include:
• working to create an inclusive culture, where difference is valued
• supporting flexible and agile working, through reviewing and changing related policies and working practices
• using structured interviews based on the criteria for the job for recruitment and promotions
• improving our offer of parental leave polices, to promote inclusivity for both men and women establishing an initiative called Inspiring Women Into Leadership (I WILL) sponsored by a female senior leader
• establishing a consistent performance management structure, which supports improved development, engagement and productivity
• developing leadership and colleague learning programmes and activities that are gender neutral and provide opportunities for all
• introducing talent and succession planning programmes that are gender neutral and support progression
• developing a coaching and mentoring framework to support development across the organisation
• developing systems that allow us to collect data, report and analyse diversity within the organisation
• annually reporting on the gender pay gap, so progress is tracked and monitored
• undertaking further analysis to determine an action plan to improve gender balance.
Our supporting policies will also be reviewed, to ensure that we are supporting employees with caring and domestic commitments, by offering flexible working arrangements and encouraging agile working. We will invest in long-term programmes, such as talent and leadership development, and will be looking at how we tackle social and cultural challenges and unconscious bias in the workplace through our talent and attraction strategy.
The I WILL' initiative aims to increase the number of women in senior leadership positions and to develop opportunities for women to connect and network across the organisation. The initiative proposes not only to provide support and guidance to women, but to work towards making the Government of Jersey an employer of choice for women in the Island. As part of our wider mentoring offer a pilot mentoring scheme is in the process of being established by the group, with the full support of the Government's Corporate Strategy Board.
My departmental officers will play an active role in working with the State's Employment Board and People Services Professionals to adopt and influence Corporate Policy to ensure it is designed to enable maximum effectiveness in the Education Department.