{"id":3257,"date":"2020-03-19T17:28:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T17:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empathygap.uk\/?p=3257"},"modified":"2020-03-19T17:28:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T17:28:13","slug":"minister-for-equalities-the-reply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/?p=3257","title":{"rendered":"Minister for Equalities? The Reply"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You may recall this post<\/a> from last January calling for people to submit letters to the Prime Minister and\/or their MPs to change the remit of the Minister for Women and Equalities to be the obviously more equitable Minister for Equalities. I duly made my submission to the Prime Minister (Cabinet Office), copied to my local MP (Conservative). As I expected, the Cabinet Office passed it to the Government Equalities Office (GEO). Below is the text of my letter, followed by the reply I have just received. I believe others have received an identical response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was not so disconnected from reality as to expect the request to be immediately fulfilled. The purpose of the exercise – if carried out by many people – is to start the process of nudging the political psychology in the right direction (expanding the Overton Window). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*******************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My letter…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the forthcoming Cabinet\nreshuffle I urge you to consider that the title of the current \u2018Minister\nfor Women and Equalities<\/em>\u2019 be changed\nto simply \u2018Minister for Equalities<\/em>\u2019 and that the remit both of the minister and of the\ncurrent Government Equalities Office<\/em> (GEO) be changed to include issues affecting men and\nboys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is anachronistic beyond belief that inequality is\nequated with women. It is boys who are failing in education, men who massively\ndominate the suicide statistics, men who die earlier, and men who make up the\noverwhelming majority of rough sleepers and deaths at work. It is also men whom\none can denigrate freely without fear of censure. And the epidemic of fatherlessness\nis now having catastrophic effects on the wellbeing of children and young\nadults. Perhaps fathers need help rather than more brickbats? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a strange anomaly that the remit of the Government Equalities Office is currently <\/em>women, sexual orientation and transgender equality when the 2010 Equality Act recognises nine protected characteristics. Moreover, that related to sex is just that \u2013 sex \u2013 not the female sex alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

***********************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Reply from the Government Equalities Office…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GEO.CORRESPONDENCE@cabinetoffice.gov.uk <geo.correspondence@geo.gov.uk>Thu 19\/03\/2020 10:33\ue97a\uee0a\ue72a\ue712<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear *********,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for your recent letter of 15th January concerning issues that affect men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nYou raised the issue of a change being made to a ministerial title and remit. All ministerial appointments are made by the Prime Minister. Any suggestions for future ministerial appointments would be a matter for the Prime Minister to consider, but let me assure\n you that this Government is continuously working to ensure that gender equality works\n for men and boys, as well as for women and girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nYou also raised the issue of boys failing in education. \nOur education policies are intended to ensure that all young people, whatever their background or circumstances, have the opportunity to reach their potential.\nEvidence indicates that variations in the academic attainment of different groups\n of pupils reflects a range of complex and interwoven factors, including socio-economic; cultural; linguistic; geographical; intergenerational; and gender related aspects.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe Government\u2019s policy has not been to create programmes and separate funding streams\n targeted at specific groups of pupils, but rather to support the move towards a school-led, self-improving system characterised by high expectation for all, autonomy and flexibility, underpinned by robust accountability. Teachers and head teachers are best-placed\n to understand and respond to the specific needs of their pupil cohort and increase opportunity and attainment for all their pupils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nYou also raised concerns around the high suicide rates in men, this is a terrible issue\n that is of the utmost importance. Research has shown that men account for three quarters of all suicides, and that in women, suicide rates have risen among certain groups, including in the 45-49 year-old group and for the 10-24 year-old group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nI am sure you will agree that every suicide is a tragedy and we must understand the factors\n behind each suicide across the whole of society \u2013 including those committed by men. This is why the steps we are taking to reduce suicide rates include actions to ensure that fewer men die by suicide. In January 2019, the Department published the first cross-government\n Suicide Prevention Workplan, which sets out an ambitious programme across national and local government and delivery agencies to reduce suicide rates. The Workplan sets out action that is being taken across Government departments and the NHS to reduce suicides,\n including amongst men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nTackling the stigma associated with mental health remains a key priority and is one that can have a major impact on help-seeking behaviours. The Government continues to provide funding for The Time to Change national initiative which continues to play a key\n role to reduce mental health stigma, including through campaigns targeted at men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIn addition, tackling homelessness and rough sleeping in all its forms is a key priority for this Government. It is why we are putting in place \u00a3437 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over 2020\/2021. This marks an additional \u00a369 million\u202fon what\n the Government provided\u202fin 2019\/20, \u202fand will go towards funding important programmes such as the Rapid Rehousing Pathway, the Rough Sleeping Initiative and the Flexible Homelessness Support Grant.\u202f\u202f\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nDuring April 2018, the\u202fHomelessness Reduction Act \u202fwas introduced to transform\u202fthe culture of homelessness service delivery.\u202fLocal authorities and other public bodies must\u202fnow\u202fwork together to actively\u202frelieve people of their homelessness or\u202fprevent homelessness\n for people at risk.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWe understand the importance of \u202ftaking early action to swiftly prevent and relieve \u202fhomelessness, which is why the Government\u202f committed in \u202fits \u202frecent manifesto to \u202ffully \u202fenforce the Homelessness Reduction Act. \u202fWe have already taken steps to\u202f achieve \u202fthis\n \u202fby announcing a new \u202f\u00a363 million Homelessness Reduction Grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nRegarding deaths in the workplace, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has statistics that\n show that about 95% of workplace fatalities were male (*link below). However this correlates closely to the type of employment \u2013 certain occupations e.g. fishing, construction, agriculture, arboriculture are more hazardous than others and consequently more\n workers are killed in these areas.  The majority of employees in those sectors are men (often for historical reasons), so it is understandable that the majority of workplace fatalities are male. HSE activity is focussed on encouraging effective management\n of risk in the most hazardous sectors for fatalities and accidents rather than taking a gender based approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFinally, the UK has a long tradition of supporting working families, and we have a range\n of policies that support parents to take time off work when their children are born or placed with their family for adoption. Shared Parental Leave (SPL) was introduced in 2015 to support fathers to spend more time with their child in the first year. It allows\n eligible parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay in the first year. The scheme gives eligible working parents much more choice and flexibility to structure responsibility for childcare in a way that is best for them and their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAs part of the 2019 Manifesto, the Government committed to make it easier for fathers\n to take paternity leave. Officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) are currently looking at the barriers to taking paternity leave and how we can realise this commitment, alongside evaluating the SPL policy and how the\n SPL scheme is being used in practice. They expect to report on findings in the spring.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nI hope this information is helpful in addressing your concerns.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n*https:\/\/www.hse.gov.uk\/statistics\/pdf\/fatalinjuries.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kind regards,
Government Equalities Office<\/strong>, Correspondence Team @WomenEqualities\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0www.gov.uk\/geo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may recall this post from last January calling for people to submit letters to the Prime Minister and\/or their MPs to change the remit of the Minister for Women and Equalities to be the obviously more equitable Minister for Equalities. I duly made my submission to the Prime Minister (Cabinet Office), copied to my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-equality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3257"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3259,"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3257\/revisions\/3259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empathygap.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}