Gender

Gender refers to a sexual identity, especially in relation to society or culture. Traditionally, gender has been used primarily to refer to the grammatical categories of "masculine" and "feminine". In recent years the word has become well established in its use to refer to sex-based categories, as in phrases such as gender gap and the politics of gender.

Transgender

A term used to describe an alternative gender identity. This term can be used to describe people who appear as, wish to be considered as, or having undergone surgery to become a member of the opposite sex.

Yor-OK

The Children and Young People’s Plan has a priority, which commits to promoting and enabling an inclusive city.

Priority 22: Make sure that a commitment to equalities underpins everything we do by:

• delivering fair services and achieving equitable life outcomes for all children and young people, whilst respecting diverse needs and aspirations;
  
• recognising that equality is not about treating everyone the same. Children and young people can only achieve their absolute potential if diversity is recognised, valued and supported;
  
• concentrating support on those children, young people and families struggling against disadvantage and discrimination;
  
• fulfilling our legal duties in relation to gender, disability, race, sexual orientation, religion and belief, and age.

Facts and Figures

The gender split in York follows the national pattern with roughly equal numbers under 60 years of age and larger numbers of females than males in older age groups.

If York had just 100 children, 49 would be girls, 51 would be boys.A key issue for gender equality is the pay gap between men and women. Historically jobs of equal value have not received equal pay. Women working full-time earn on average 17.2% less per hour than their male counterparts, for women working part-time the gap is even bigger at 38.5% less than men.

The pay gap can also be exacerbated by women finding they hit a ‘glass ceiling’ that prevents their promotion; that occupations are stereotyped and it can be difficult to break into less traditional areas; and by taking time off for pregnancy and/or childcare women can find they are overlooked for promotion or they have less career choices.

Men are also increasingly taking on caring roles and so can face the same employment barriers and sometimes other ones too (such as the expectation that men don’t take time out to look after their children).

Political representation is also dominated by men.  Women make up less than 20% of MPs and only 13.1% of local authorities in England are led by a woman, either as leader or elected mayor.

The Law

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 was updated by the Gender Equality Duty 2007 (introduced by the Equality Act 2006). It places a general duty upon public authorities when carrying out their functions to have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, and
• promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

This applies to employment and the planning and delivery of services and means public authorities have to actively promote gender equality rather than waiting for someone to make a complaint. It also includes organisations that carry out work on our behalf, such as voluntary and community groups or private contractors, and it’s our responsibility to ensure they comply with this legislation.

For more thorough information please download the ‘Summary of gender legislation’ produced by the City of York Council Equalities team.

Useful Web links

The Commission for Equalities and Human Rights is a useful website to check out legislation requirements, codes of practice and get an idea of what the big issues for disabled people are.

The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is at the heart of information policy, setting standards, delivering access and encouraging the re-use of public sector information. OPSI provides a wide range of services to the public, information industry, government and the wider public sector relating to finding, using, sharing and trading information.

The Government Equalities Office has responsibility within Government for equality strategy and legislation and take the lead on issues relating to women, sexual orientation and transgender equality matters.