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Agender - Challenging gender stereotypes at work

Logo for Agender - Challenging gender stereotypes at work www.equal-agender.net 

Partnership information

Description

Background

The Agender Partnership has drawn partners from the voluntary, community, public and private sectors including Primary Care Trusts, public authorities, Sure Start programmes, Children’s Centres, Information, Advice and Guidance networks, local businesses and business brokers.

Aims

The Agender partnership set out to promote positive images of people in non-stereotypical jobs. A key aim of the Agender Partnership has been to help local women and young females to aspire to higher level careers not traditionally associated with women’s employment by:

  • Developing support centres that combine family support (childcare, child and adult health services, social service support, etc.) with advice about jobs and careers
  • Offering training delivered by advisers who are expert in higher level jobs and non-traditional careers
  • Working with employers and intermediaries to identify where women are under-represented in the workplace and developing positive action strategies
  • Developing new routes into careers using learning and qualifications.

Objectives

The DP has focused on centres for family support and Information, Advice and Guidance services in areas of significant deprivation within the Birmingham and Solihull areas, some of which contain high levels of minority ethnic groups or lone or teenage parents.

The DP has been working with employers and intermediaries (eg recruitment hubs, developers) in a number of settings.  These include: redevelopment brokers who are active in Birmingham and Solihull; New Super-Hospital hub (University Hospital), DiverCity (positive action group for the Professional and Financial sector), Construction Employment Alliance and the Public Sector Compact.

The DP has been building new routes into careers not generally thought open to women and has been actively involving public sector planning and funding bodies in developing the solutions to gender inequality. The methodology has been to invite innovative project proposals from partners to deliver programmes and services that will pilot redress to job segregation, in sectors such as women into construction (in a variety of guises), women entrepreneurs, access to HE and and higher earnings in early years management (for children’s centre staff), film and TV production, engineering etc. 

The Agender DP has also been looking at issues surrounding men into childcare and health care occupations, working with the Children’s Information Bureau in Birmingham and the local PCT’s.

Target Groups

  • Women and men in non-stereotyped jobs in areas of deprivation
  • BME groups
  • Unemployed people
  • Lone parents

Video interviews

Aspirations for the Future - Charmaine Lewis, Beneficiary, Rosina Dyer, Beneficiary 6 6.1 MB
Diverse Age Range of Participants - Vernice Jeffery, Partner Staff 800.1 KB
Empowerment - Charmaine Lewis, Beneficiary, Rosina Dyer, Beneficiary 6.2 MB
Innovation - Neil Parker, Partner Staff 1.2 MB
Measuring Soft Outcomes - Charlotte Carey, Partner Staff 2.5 MB
Purpose of the Project - Charlotte Carey, Partner Staff 2.3 MB
Sports Coaching - Charmaine Lewis, Beneficiary 1 MB
Sports Coaching - Rosina Dyer, Beneficiary 934.7 KB
Sustainability - Charlotte Carey, Partner Staff 3.8 MB

Presentation

Download a presentation (2.8 MB)

Round

2

Round 1 to Round 2

In Round One, Birmingham and Solihull Learning and Skills Council was the lead body for the DP FORWARD and has brought key personnel and experience to this Round Two partnership.

Lead partner

Learning and Skills Council Birmingham and Solihull

Core partners

Barnardo's Community Plus, Birmingham and Solihull Connexions, Birmingham Childcare Information Bureau, Birmingham City Council Economic Development Services, Birmingham Industrial Therapy Association Pathways, Birmingham LEA, Birmingham Settlement, Birmingham Settlement, Birmingham Voluntary Service Council, Birmingham Women's Health Care NHS Trust, Birminham City Council Regional European and International division, Bournville College, Centre for the Aston Family, City College Birmingham, ENTA Employment Training Centre, Family Housing Association, Jericho Community Business, Jobcentre Plus, Longbridge Advice and Resource Centre, Norton Hall Women and Children's Centre, Pertemps People Development Group, Solihull MBC Early Years and Childcare, South Birmingham College, South Birmingham Primary Care Trust, Surestart Children's Centre, SW Birmingham, University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Transnational partnerships

Information for Transnational partnerships

Contact

Leon Edman, Learning and Skills Council Birmingham and Solihull,

End-dates

Action 2: 31 December 2007
Action 3: 31 March 2008

Equal theme

Gender equality

Origins

woman gardener

Birmingham City Council had established a regional group to focus on gender issues in employment. This regional group was the starting point for the development of the DP

Beneficiaries

Labour market returnees, Lone parents and people with care responsibilities, Unemployed, Women
Total beneficiaries: 210

Achievements

camera woman

1.  Achievements of main objectives 

Develop centres that offer support to women and girls:

  • The Agender partnership developed this objective by imbedding Informantion in Advice and Guidance services within Children Centres in Birmingham & Solihull

Work with employers to counter job segregation and gender pay inequality:

  • This was achieved by finding Employers willing  to employ and train Women  within a non-tarditional setting. The project produced DVD's capturing perceptions from Employers and benificaries experiences.

Develop new career pathways into non-traditional careers:

  • Funding enabled innovative ways of delivering learning to local women. Women were able to learn male related occupations this was achieved through a number of projects which are displayed on the website.

Develop a marketing strategy to attract men into care occupations:

  • Work was undertaken through contracting with speacialist within this area.  Birmingham City Council Childcare Breau enhanced their existing services to increase the recruitment of men into the  childcare profession. And as a result Employed a Mal worker to promote the service further.
    .

2.  Number of people achieving each objective

Objective

 No. of beneficiaries
Objective 4 (Marketing Strategy) Men into Childcare 1
Objective 1 New Empowerment 8
Objective 2 New Equal Opps /Employers Supported 19
Objective 3 New IAG 225
Objective 3 New Learning 47
Objective 3 New Qualifications 64
Objective 2 New Studies / Research 77
Objective 2 Jobs created 37
Objective 2 New Business Start up 2
Objectives 3 / 4 New Business Support /Leaflets 20
Objective 1 Pilot Children Centres 18

woman painter and decorator

3.  Dissemination of Agender

The two-day event at the International Convention Centre was for policy-makers, delivery agents where Equal Development Partnerships highlighted the successful outcomes of the programme and the role Equal can play in future policy development. The conference featured Margaret Prosser, Commission for Equality and Human Rights as key note speaker and Steve Wallace, Office for the Third Sector.

Findings from work under taken drew out and highlighted recommendations to carry forward. Workshops were conducted around the following cross cutting themes:

Businesses, particularly in a climate of low unemployment, were made  aware of the impact of good employment and working practices on their ability to recruit and retain staff. Deciding on the best approaches to work-life balance and CSR can be more difficult. As well as networking with other businesses and support organisations, the speakers and workshops at the symposium enabled us to explore emerging policy and practice and meet individuals who have implemented new ways of working. Additionally Agender were able to try-out tools and techniques that have been shown to enable change in working practice and  explore emerging issues affecting business and the workplace. 


men in childcare

4.  Mainstreaming

Agender has mainsteamed the following through project activities that will be sustained after the end of the Equal programme

  1. Bournville College Women in to non-Traditional Employment OCN qualification
  2. Pertemps People  Development Group Sports Coaching Programme
  3. Family Housing  Direct Labour Housing Programme
  4. Connexions IAG service to Children Centres
  5. Film Academy film production training
  6. Birmingham City Council Men into Childcare Programme
  7. Pertemps People Development Group Individual Advancement Programme
  8. Agender Website Will remain live for a limited period after Action 3 March 2008, and thereafter on Equal-Works

Intended impact/ sustainability

Develop and mainstream support centres that combine family support (childcare, child and adult health services, social service support etc) with advice about jobs, careers and training, delivered by advisers who are particularly expert in higher level jobs and non-traditional careers. The DP will work with existing Children's Centres to develop these broader support functions, and seek to establish the broader functions at other centres across the region.

Scatter plot

Process X
Practice X
Product X X
Policy X X
City Local Regional National European

Process/Local

Decisions made to equip Children's Centres with standard IAG information at other centres, and provide additional resources to support staff in their IAG role.

Practice/Local

Taster courses in non-gender traditional employment will be rolled out at more children's centres.

Product/Local

The project has been producing atoolkit which is being promoted at local level.

Product/National

The project has been producing atoolkit which is being promoted at European level.

Policy/Local

Local pilots re the role of Children's Centres in addressing non gender traditional employment will become embedded in the local strategic plans

Policy/Regional

Local pilots re the role of Children's Centres in addressing non gender traditional employment will become embedded in the Regional plans

Move the mouse over the scatter plots to see more information or view all information without using the mouse.

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Connections

Connections

Main outputs

DVD
The Agender Story DVD"The Story Of Agender" DVD takes us through the Agender project, it's aims, activities and outcomes, and includes interviews with beneficiaries and employers.

Activities and products

Video
Agender Partnership Video InterviewsThe Agender partnership in Birmingham has been piloting a unique route to encourage women into Sports Coaching.Expand/collapse Products (2)
Activity
Community Horticulture at Kings Health park Horticulture is a vocational sector not, traditionally, favoured by women and therefore comes under the theme of nongender traditional employment.Expand/collapse Products (2)
Activity
Development of Children's Centres The DP has been developing support centres that combine family support (childcare, child and adult health services, social service support etc) with advice about jobs, careers and training in particular with regard to higher level jobs and non-traditional careers.Expand/collapse Products (2)
DVD
DVD for employersThe Agender Employers Sub-Group has commissioned a short film to help engage employers and promote non-gender traditional roles.Expand/collapse Products (2)
Activity
Family Housing Association Women into Construction The Agender Employer’s Sub-group, in partnership with an innovative Direct Labour Organisation, have developed the Women into Construction project.
Activity
Film School 2 Agender’s Second Film School involved nine unemployed women who were given the opportunity to get involved in the world of television and film and take their first steps towards taking this up as a career.
Activity
Fork Lift Truck Training The fork lift truck training programme was delivered by Enta Training.Expand/collapse Products (1)
Activity
Individual Advancment Programme The Individual Advancement programme encourages parents considering a return to the labour market to explore traditional attitudes to gender.
Activity
Information Advice and Guidance Pilot Three of Agender’s partners – City College, Enta and Bournville College – took part in the Information, Advice and Guidance Pilot from January to March 2007.Expand/collapse Products (4)
Activity
Leaflets, Resources and Training PackagesThere are many free training packages, reports and leaflets available to download at www.equal-agender.net.
Activity
Men into care occupations The Outreach Support worker for the Men into Childcare project started work in April 2007.
Activity
Mini-BICCS Sprts Coaching for Women The Women-only Mini-BICCS (Birmingham Inner-City Sports Coaching Programme) was funded through a partnership of Agender, Sports Pathways, Sporting Equals and PPDG.Expand/collapse Products (1)
Activity
Research Projects, Diversity and Difference Bournville College is currently undertaking two research projects as part of the Agender programme: Diversity and Difference is a research project which targets minority and ethnic women living in the Birmingham and Solihull area.Expand/collapse Products (5)
Activity
University of Central England Soft Indicators Package‘ People sometimes struggle to understand “soft-indicators” as a term, an example of what we mean by this is measuring the progress made by beneficiaries in terms of improving self-esteem, personal skills, motivation etc as a result of engagement in the project, as opposed to the hard/easier to evidence outcomes for example ‘how many people got a qualification or a job.
Activity
WINGS Four countries have come together to engage in a broad set of transnational activities which is adding significant value to local DP activities and which is developing new thinking and approaches to common problems. WINGS is a transnational partnershipExpand/collapse Products (7)
Activity
Women into Non-Traditional Employment Training Package The ‘Women into Non-Traditional Employment’ programme focuses on providing opportunities for women to consider training for, or working in, non-traditional jobs followed by work preparation.Expand/collapse Products (2)
Activity
women into Non-traditional Work: South Birmingham College The Women into Non-traditional Training project, run by South Birmingham College, intended to introduce the concepts behind successful enterprise to women.Expand/collapse Products (1)
Print
"Focus" NewslettersFOCUS - a monthly newsletter covering labour market information and news for the Birmingham and Solihull area.
Print
Agender Project NewsNewsletters detailing work in progress.
Print
Women currently working in traditionally male vocations This research aimed to build upon research already undertaken in the Review of Gender Research (Equal Agender 2006) by identifying and interviewing women who are currently undertaking work traditionally identified as that performed by men.
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