Research
Attitude Survey Report. (1994)
This report summarises the response to the attitude survey of female staff in the district councils which examined whether they were interested in promotion, if they perceived barriers to progression and what initiatives would assist them to balance home and working lives.
Research into Gender and Equality of Opportunity in the Public Service. (1997)
The Commission participated in a research project into gender and equality of opportunity in the public sector sponsored by the Chief Executives’ Forum, in conjunction with the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland and with the assistance of Human Resource Research and Evaluation Branch of the Department of Finance and Personnel. The aim of the project was to identify and document the organisational arrangements made by public sector employers to promote equality of opportunity between men and women and to evaluate current practice and planned actions.
Women in Management…towards a full partnership. (2000)
The Commission in partnership with the Chief Executives’ Forum facilitated a study to open discussion on the issues, barriers and development needs of women managers in public sector organisations.
Women's Development Project. (2002)
The Local Government Training Group commissioned an external consultancy, the River Group, to carry out a small-scale research project on women’s development issues in local government in Northern Ireland. The research included analyses of demographic information and questionnaires sent to all authorities, focus groups and interviews. The outputs detailed a development and training needs analysis for women managers in local government and suggestions for development delivery options in the future.
The issue of women’s development featured as part of a broader based agenda during the consultation day on the role and strategy of the Local Government Training Group held in April 2004. A half-day working group session of the Women’s Development Steering Group was held on 10 August 2004 to discuss the way forward. This report builds on the initial research and the two subsequent sessions and makes recommendations accordingly.
Women and the Review of Public Administration. (2005)
The RPA Team commissioned the Queen's University Institute of Governance toexplore the implications for women in the Review of Public Administration andprepare a paper for consideration. As part of this work the Institute organised aroundtable under Chatham House Rules involving academics, policy-makers and practitioners which took place on 2 September 2005.
Participants included 8 women from 5 political parties (each party was invited tosend two representatives); 11 fromsocial partners - 6 from voluntar organisations, 3 from the private sector and 2 fromtrade unions; 7 from the public sector including local government and the RPA team;and 4 academics.
The purpose of this report is to examine the nature and extent of barriers towomen’s progression to senior posts within the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland. Promoting equality of opportunity involves more that the elimination of discrimination as public authorities are obliged to have regard to the need foraffirmative action to correct disadvantages among men and women under section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act.
Select this link to view a copy of the Breaking the Barriers Questionnaire
