Miss Thomson’s Blog

Below is an article from Modernity Scotland on policies to reduce gender inequalities. Hope this helps!

 Government Reponses to Gender Inequalities

It is against the law to discriminate against a person, consciously or unconsciously, on the basis of their gender.

The current Labour Government has been very proactive in trying to reduce gender inequalities.

We should first of all restate what Government has already done. The Equal Pay Act means that men and women doing the same or similar job must be paid the same.

Not only this, but they must be paid the same if their job is “of the same value” and where jobs are rated as equivalent.

This has been a recent bone of contention between unions representing nursery nurses (overwhelmingly female) and Scotland’s local authorities.

The trade union UNISON claims that nursery nurses are underpaid compared with other council employees who are doing a job of similar worth.

The Sex Discrimination Act and European Human Rights legislation mean not only that employers cannot discriminate against persons on account of their sex, but that they must be transparent in showing that they are actively non-sexist, rather than merely “treating everyone the same”.

For example, application forms and interview procedures must take into every possibility of gender discrimination.

The UK Government has brought in increased paternal leave to allow men more opportunities to bring up baby. The Conservatives in fact are arguing for a year’s full pay for men to take time off in a further attempt to break the glass ceiling.

The National Minimum Wage, while not aimed directly at women, has indirectly benefited women more than men as it is women who are more likely to work in low paid jobs.

The Government has also adopted a National Childcare Strategy to improve women’s access to well paid work and break the glass ceiling

Women into management

Some employers are taking their own steps to break the glass ceiling. Scottish police forces have traditionally been one of the most male dominated organisations. Lothian and Borders police (March 2004 figures) had only 12% of women as Constables (the lowest rank of police officer).

This figure gets even lower the higher up the promotion ladder. Lothian and Borders has no female Superintendents and no female Chief Officers. Overall, the most female friendly police force in Scotland is Strathclyde.

It has 22% of its police as Constables and 12% of its Chief Officers. 33% of Central police’s Chief Officers are female.

Some employers are taking their own steps to break the glass ceiling.

Scottish police forces have traditionally been one of the most male dominated organisations. Lothian and Borders police (March 2004 figures) had only 12% of women as Constables (the lowest rank of police officer). This figure gets even lower the higher up the promotion ladder.

Lothian and Borders has no female Superintendents and no female Chief Officers. Overall, the most female friendly police force in Scotland is Strathclyde. It has 22% of its police as Constables and 12% of its Chief Officers. 33% of Central police’s Chief Officers are female.

It surely can’t be the case that women in the Glasgow area are so different from women 40 miles along the road? Something else must be at work and that is something Scotland’s police chiefs are tackling.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) is enlisting the help of high-flying businessmen to help attract women not just to join the police, but help them go for promotion.

High achievers such as Norma Graham (Asst Chief Constable, Central police), Elish Angiolini (Solicitor General), and Ann Gloag (Stagecoach entrepreneur) may be brought in as consultants to examine the police forces’ working culture and practices.

Changes which could be made are more family friendly working hours, more flexibility in height and age requirements, the introduction of mentoring schemes and new networking opportunities for women.

The police have famous sporting opportunities involving football and rugby, sports which have traditionally been dominated by men.

These are all good for morale and teambuilding – essential in an occupation such as the police – but these bonding and networking opportunities have tended to exclude women.

Currently about 30% of new police recruits in Scotland are female. The challenge is to change the image of the police and also its structures to allow these women, just like men, if they are good enough, to go all the way to the top.

S2 Mount St Helens projects are due in on Thursday 7 December.If you are still working on your project and are looking for inspiration, these links will help you:

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/msh/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_St._Helens

http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/StHelens.html

Remember that your project is to be a newspaper report for the day after the May 18th 1980 eruption (ie your newspaper report is for May 19th 1980). Good luck, and I look forward to receiving your projects!

Miss T

My current S2 class were in the library researching Mt St Helens this afternoon and introduced me to Flash Earth. Flash Earth is an experimental satellite imaging site that uses maps and aerial photos from other sites but without official consent. It’s fantastic, giving much clearer (and possibly more up to date) images than Google Earth. Here are flash earth examples of Mt St Helens (for those S2s who were looking for it this afternoon) and the school.

Here are some useful links for your Politics of Aid research:

Oxfam’s Cool Planet

Children Starving in Niger (BBC)

Photostories on African problems

African Schools

World Vision

Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund – site for kids

Well done to all those who have contributed to the collection for school children in Mozambique. Here is the original article from the Oxfam Cool Planet website:

Oxfam in Mozambique – sowing the seeds of recovery

Helping people to produce enough food to live on is an essential part of Oxfam’s work in Mozambique. Until recently, farmers in remote areas couldn’t travel to markets to get good prices for their crops. It was also difficult for them to hear about new techniques since virtually no one owns a radio, and most people are illiterate. Now however, farmers have begun to work together and form associations to make sure that they get a better deal.

Veronica Erque is a farmer who recently joined an association. She can see the benefits:

“My son, who is five, goes to school here and I have to pay 5,000mts (about 25p) a year to send him there. Sometimes there is no way I can pay this and so I have to pay using the maize we grow.

“I also have to pay for medicines here if we get sick. If my son is ill I have to take him to a small clinic about 18km away. Sometimes I have to leave without medicine, as we can’t afford to pay.

“It’s because of this kind of suffering that I got involved with the association. We sell traditional beer and rice and the money we earn is divided between us. It’s difficult to know what will happen to us in the future. The most important thing now though is for us all to make sure that the association is working well.”

3D were so shocked that people in Mozambique couldn’t afford 25p per year for school fees that they decided to donate 25p each to help. Some have given much more than that! Once the collection is complete we will send it to Oxfam. Well done global citizens!

Did you spot the deliberate mistake? The previous post asked you to read the article on the welfare state for Friday 3 November, but of course you don’t have me for MS on a Friday… Please read for Thursday 2 November instead!

Miss T

Homework for Friday 3 November

Please complete this online survey, giving your views on this unit of Geography and what you would like to see in your next block of Geography.

A group of second and third year students spent 3 nights at Lochranza Field Studies Centre in June 2006, carrying out Geography field work and taking part in outdoor activities. The group had a fantastic time – they learned a lot, enjoyed the outdoor classroom and had a lot of fun. Watch this space for details of Arran 2007!

This article on today’s BBC shows how aerial photos have become indispensible in the last year.

1GGE have finished map work for this unit of Geography, however if you would like more map practice, or would like some fun map games to play, try Mapzone.

This week both classes will be starting out Politics of Aid research. More information will be here soon.

You might find this article on today’s BBC news site interesting.