We have published our gender pay gap report for 2017
This report sets out our headline gender pay gap figures, the reasons why we have a pay gap and how we are addressing it.
Monthly Archives: March 2018
Working dads lose out in workplace, say MPs
“I came back to a load of photocopying,” says tax specialist Richard Cahill of his return to work at a major international company after the birth of his second child.
“Basically they wanted to make the point that they weren’t happy with me,” he says of his former employers.
He had taken the time off under government rules which since 2015 have allowed mums and dads to share parental leave – but according to a new report from MPs, his story is typical of many working fathers who want to take a more equal share of childcare but fear their employers’ reaction if they ask for flexible work.
Government efforts to support fathers in the workplace have not yet delivered despite good intentions, says the report, from MPs on the Women and Equalities Committee. More
Mental health action plan for elite athletes put in place by government
A new action plan is being put in place to stop professional athletes “reaching crisis point” with their mental health.
The measures have been announced by the government to protect the mental health of athletes and include giving coaches and support staff extra training to spot the signs of poor mental health.
The plan has been developed with mental health and sport organisations.
The government says all elite sports must have a clear mental health strategy by 2024. More
Annie Swynnerton: The woman who forced open the male art world
Photoshop had not been invented, but most female bodies in Victorian art were effectively airbrushed – usually painted by men as idealised objects of beauty.
Annie Swynnerton saw things differently, and blazed a trail for female artists.
When she was elected to the most exclusive society in British art, the Royal Academy (RA), it was a male-only club.
It was 1922 and she was the first woman to join since the Academy’s foundation 154 years earlier.
In fact, it had taken the RA so long to let Swynnerton in that she was 77 by the time she was admitted – and most men relinquished their positions at the age of 75. More
The story of women’s football in 10 objects
A hundred years ago, teams of women were playing in front of large crowds and making big money. Then the Football Association banned them from its grounds. Here’s the story of the fall and rise of women’s football, told through 10 objects collected by the National Football Museum. More
‘Boxer Barbie’: Nicola Adams ‘honoured’ to be turned into doll
Boxer Nicola Adams has been turned into a Barbie doll for International Women’s Day, which is on Thursday, 8 March.
Nicola, who has twice won Olympic gold medals, is the first UK star to join Barbie’s ‘Shero’ range – designed to honour inspiring women.
Manufacturers Mattel say they chose Nicola because of her outstanding contributions to boxing.
“I am so excited and honoured to be Barbie’s first ever UK Shero and the first ever boxer Barbie,” Nicola said.
The Nicola Adams doll has boxing gloves, boxing gear embroidered with her ‘Lioness’ nickname and her distinctive cropped hairstyle. More
Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month – March 2018
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LAURA JAMES – AUTHOR |
On 26 March it is the start of World Autism Awareness Week and with this in mind we have chosen Laura James as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month. In the UK, there are 700,000 people diagnosed with autism, according to the NAS. One of those people is Laura James. Laura is a journalist, author and columnist and her work has appeared in many national and international newspapers and magazines, and she’s the author of nine books. Laura’s ninth book, Odd Girl Out, is a memoir focusing on her autism, the book tracks a year of her life as she comes to terms with the diagnosis. Laura always felt like she was different – but it took more than 40 years for her to find out why. At the age of 46 she was told she was autistic. Laura was being tested for a condition related to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, when a nurse recognised she was having an autistic meltdown. Laura presumed she had made a mistake but Laura visited her GP who referred her to a psychiatrist. After carrying out a six-hour assessment, she was given her autism diagnosis. At first Laura told only her family and close friends and found telling her husband and children quite uneventful, everyone else found out when she wrote an article about her diagnosis for The Guardian. Straight after her diagnosis things hadn’t changed very much, but then she had therapy which was amazing. Her therapist specialised in autism and understood how she thought and really helped with the things she found difficult. Through therapy and writing and everything that came after she learned to identify her feelings, put in to perspective the reason she always felt very fearful and learnt coping strategies like wearing noise cancelling headphones. Laura feels passionate about breaking the lingering stereotypes around autism and normalising the condition in conversation. She feels that ‘It doesn’t make you less of a person, just different.’ In an article for Good Housekeeping magazine Laura about her life and book said the following: ‘I want neurotypical women to read it so autism isn’t this big scary thing,’ Laura says. ‘When I was growing up people didn’t speak about depression – there was a proper stiff upper lip, whereas now there’s loads of people talking about health and wellbeing, including the royals. ‘If we could get to that stage with autism, where it’s mainstream and normalised, I think the world will be a much better place.’ To find out more about Laura see here https://twitter.com/girl_by_the_aga and to find out more World Autism Week see here http://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/world-autism-awareness-week.aspx
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