WHITE RIBBON 16 DAYS OF ACTION

The annual White Ribbon 16 Days of Action campaign got under way yesterday (November 25)

Ruth pictured with NA Womens Aid
Young voices group & council leader Willie Gibson

The White Ribbon campaign is a worldwide movement set up and co-ordinated by men who know there is never an excuse for violence against women. They pledge never to condone it, or to stand by when they know it’s happening.

The North Ayrshire Community Planning Partnership will begin its own 16 days of action with the launch of the North Ayrshire Violence Against Women strategy at an event which will incorporate  presentations from Women’s Aid, “The Young Voices for Change” group and will conclude with Councillors being invited to sign ‘The Pledge’ to end Violence Against Women. 

The launch will be followed by a calendar of new events and initiatives which will be delivered across North Ayrshire on each day of the campaign, giving local people the opportunity to get involved and sign “The Pledge”.

Some of the events organised include; a pledge signing with organisations such as the North Ayrshire Tornadoes and Balfour Beattie employees, a social media campaign and pledge signing stalls set up in various locations across the region.

The campaign will culminate with the annual ‘Reclaim the Night’ walk from Irvine’s Harbour Arts Centre to Bridgegate on Thursday, December 10.

Councillor Ruth Maguire, Chair of the Violence Against Women Partnership, said: “White Ribbon’s global campaign is so important because it recognises that violence against women is not just a women's issue and encourages men to take action. 

“All of us - individual men and women, communities, governments and international bodies - have a responsibility to put a stop to Violence Against Women in all it's forms and to redress the suffering it causes. 

“I am very proud of the support we have had here in North Ayrshire and look forward to welcoming new allies and supporters to the campaign this year."

COSLA set to play part in tackling Gender Inequality

This week COSLA’s Gender Balance Task group met with Political Leaders to discuss our recommendations for achieving gender balance in COSLA’s Leadership Team and Spokespeople.  I am very pleased to report positive responses from the SNP, Lib Dem and Labour Leaders who will commend our recommendations to enshrine Gender equality in COSLA’s Constitution to their groups.  This does not guarantee the matter will receive support of convention but is a very welcome step.

With our First Minister Nicola Sturgeon leading the way with a gender balanced team of talents in the cabinet and the shadow cabinet also 50/50 it feels like we might just be at a place where we can make changes that will deliver lasting results and show that we are all serious about equality.

In Scotland women make up 52% of the population.  24% of Councillors are women and only 3 of the 32 Local Authorities are led by women.  We know that women are more likely to use public services, it is counter-intuitive that they have least responsibility and input as elected members for their delivery.    

It matters that in 2015 women in Scotland are not equally visible in public life and not just because women are just as capable as men of holding public office and leadership roles.  

Diversity in decision making produces better results.  Men and women don’t have different ways of making decisions and calculating risk, but having homogeneous groups of decision-makers is a known risk.

Where there are different people from different backgrounds coming together there is challenge of ideas and assumptions.  But more than that, research has shown that where there is diversity in a group, members change the way they process information taking a more careful and questioning approach.  

Whether we’re talking about a room full of women in their 30s or a room full of retired men.  Cosy clubs of similar people is a way of continuing with “it’s ae been”, assumptions and vested interests can remain unscrutinised – it’s a real risk and should be of particular concern to those of us delivering public services.

  

OpeNAyrshire Birthday Bash, LGBT History month

With founding members Sian & Josh

On Saturday I was honoured to attend OpeNAyrshire's first birthday party.  

OpeNAyrshire are North Ayrshire's first LGBT youth group.  Set up last year with support from North Ayrshire Council Youth Workers they meet weekly and provide a safe, friendly supportive, fun space for LGBT young people and their supporters.

The event was chaired ably with confidence and good humour by Josh McCormick who welcomed the audience which which included North Ayrshire Councils Provost Joan Sturgeon and Chief Executive Elma Murray.

Speakers from the group introduced us to a selection of short films they had picked.  The introductions and the films were inspirational, informative and pretty emotional.  Some of the younger speakers had never presented in public before, it's no mean feet standing in front of an audience and sharing, thoughts and feelings so frankly - very proud of you all!

North Ayrshire 16 Days of Action 2013

November 25^th is the start of the White Ribbon 16 Days of Action - an international drive to encourage men and boys to speak out about domestic violence.  Rates of violence against women in North Ayrshire continue to give cause for concern.  Sadly, domestic abuse continues to affect too many families and individuals within our communities.  White Ribbon’s global campaign is so important because it recognises that Violence against women is not just a woman’s issue and encourages men to take action.

In the past, violence against women, particularly domestic violence, might have been deemed as a private issue, hidden or ignored perhaps not treated with the seriousness it deserves.  It is crucial that we change this.  It inflicts devastating physical and psychological impacts on women and has wide-ranging costs for their families, communities and society as a whole.  Violence and the threat of violence affect, regardless of wealth, race, and culture.  One in four women will experience domestic abuse from a partner in her lifetime. 

Violence against women is never normal, legal or acceptable and there are no circumstances under which it should be tolerated or justified.  All of us, individual men and women, communities, governments, and international bodies - have a responsibility to put a stop to it and to redress the suffering it causes.

In North Ayrshire, all of the agencies involved in tackling violence against women have been working in partnership since the establishment of the first Domestic Abuse Multi Agency Forum in 2000. The partnership is composed of members from North Ayrshire Council, Women’s Aid, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Police Scotland, Procurator Fiscals office, Victim Support and Break the Silence.  Our work together has been based on a shared understanding of what is meant by violence against women and has allowed for positive collaboration between services, particularly at an operational level.  The Multi Agency Domestic Abuse Response Team (MADART) are a great example of this joint working.  Based at Kilmarnock police station the team comprises Social Services, housing and police personnel and works in partnership with a range of services including: addictions, health, welfare rights, women’s aid and the Scottish children’s reporter.  Working together the team have improved the response to domestic abuse incidents ensuring that it is quick, proportionate and effective which means the best, most timely support for victims.

It is the cost of Violence against women which will be explored at the North Ayrshire Women’s Aid conference taking place on the 26^th November.  “The Economics of Gender based violence” sees delegates from across Scotland arrive in Irvine to hear from expert speakers Emily Thomson of Glasgow Caledonian University and Karen McCluskey from the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit.  A highlight of the conference will be the DVD launch from Young Voices, NA Women’s Aids’ young women’s group. Workshops on trafficking of women and children, legal issues, LGBT access to services and gender budgeting are planned for the afternoon session.  

This year our North Ayrshire launch event will take place in Bridgegate, Irvine.  A white ribbon image will be projected onto the square where male members of the community help decorate the campaign banner “These hands are not for hurting” with their handprints.  Many men including all the junior football clubs and rugby clubs in the area took part previously and this year The North Ayrshire Violence Against Women partnership hope even more men follow their good example and get involved taking action by pledging to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women.

In asking men to take action we also recognise that speaking up can be challenging and it is with this in mind that the partnership is delivering White Ribbon Speaker training to young men in the area.  5^th and 6^th year pupils interested in taking part will attend a full days training at the Ardeer neighbourhood centre.  Passing on the skills in public speaking along with the knowledge and resources to communicate and highlight the issues around violence against women is an essential part of the success of campaign.

The partnership will have a stall set up in the Rivergate Mall, Irvine where people can visit, sign the pledge and access help and information.

25th November 2013	4.45p.m. – 6.30 p.m.	Launch of White Ribbon Campaign and 16 Days of Action	Bridgegate, Irvine
26th November 2013	9.30 a.m. – 4.00 p.m.	North Ayrshire Women’s Aid Conference	Menzies Hotel, Irvine
27th November 2013	9.30 a.m. – 4.30 p.m.	White Ribbon Speaker Training	Ardeer Centre, Stevenston
28th November 2013	11 a.m. – 3 p.m.	White Ribbon Campaign Stall	Rivergate Mall, Irvine

Award nomination for Irvine Library

After first calling in on the Provost's fundraising event in Cunninghame House it was onto Irvine Library for their MacMillan Coffee Morning.  I really enjoyed hearing about Irvine Librarys' nomination for an Ayrshire Business award this year in the "Employer Diversity" category.  It's always good to hear first hand the positive impact an inclusive approach to the workplace has on all.  An inclusive workplace that recognises the differing talents and needs of all is not just good for the place of work but for the community around it.  I commend the staff for their wonderful work and will keep my fingers crossed for a win!

LGBT Youth Scotland Civic reception and Youth Awards

Speaking about North Ayrshire councils' commitment to equality

It was a real pleasure to attend the reception and awards ceremony in Ayr on Saturday and show North Ayrshire’s support for LGBT Youth Scotland.  I was there both in my role as Youth Champion and as Chair of the Corporate Equality group.  North Ayrshire’s Corporate Equality Group is responsible for directing, supporting and reviewing the arrangements for promoting Equality, tackling discrimination and fostering good relations on behalf of North Ayrshire Council.

North Ayrshire council has strengthened its approach to equalities over recent years.  We now have 9 equality outcomes which we aim to achieve.  These were devised after extensive consultation with our communities and act as a focus across the council.

Our Equality Action Plan contains actions from all Council services outlining exactly what they will do to achieve outcomes such as “pupils feel safer in schools” and “the incidence of hate crime is reduced”.  In Education, very important work is being undertaken in our schools.  Training is being provided to ensure that staff are better informed in relation to the reduction of homophobic language in particular and indeed discriminatory practice in general.  We are improving the recording of bullying behaviour and Equalities champions in every school are promoting an anti-bullying ethos.

We are particularly proud of “OpeN Ayrshire” our first LGBT Youth group.  The group are well established meeting weekly to promote and support local Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people.  OpeN Ayrshire were recently finalists for a Rising Stars award, this is an awards ceremony held in North Ayrshire to recognise the positive contributions our Young People make to their community.  The group as a whole were recognised for their excellent work they've done as a team creating and promoting their group for LGBT young people and their supporters – we are very proud of them and I was really pleased that Joshua and Sian from the group attended the civic reception with us.

At North Ayrshire Council we aim to mainstream equalities.  We are moving away from seeing equality issues as an additional part of council business and instead recognise that promotion of equality must be an integral part of the way North Ayrshire Council thinks and functions.  In April this year we published a report on Mainstreaming the Equality Duty in North Ayrshire.  This provides a useful overview of the range of work we are taking to raise the profile of equalities issues within the council.

We are very clear that it’s not enough just to ensure that our policies and practices not discriminating unlawfully and are taking proactive steps to promote equality and advance equality of opportunity.  To do this we use an Equality Impact Assessment toolkit.  The results of these assessments are available on our website.  In further support of this approach Equalities training will be mandatory for all North Ayrshire Council employees and an e-learning training course has been developed, which in addition to training provided as part of the corporate training programme will help all staff to take on board their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.  For us it’s not just an understanding of equality policies and procedures but also effective implementation and meaningful change throughout North Ayrshire that is required.

This is a journey we are on and means building on previous work in changing sometimes long held attitudes, language and behaviours.  I really believe North Ayrshire is making progress, however recognise that there is always more that we can learn. 

Events like Saturdays are a wonderful opportunity to do just that.  I enjoyed hearing from the other speakers on the evening and it was a privilege to be part of celebrating the success of our young award winners.   

Signing the Pledge