We can only fulfill on our commitment to create A City That Works For Everyone – Men And Boys Included – if the public sector locally delivers on its Duty To Involve and engage with men and women equally.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the city’s leaders are not involving men as effectively as they are involving women and our initial research in 2010 has thrown up some interesting examples where men have not been involved which include:
- A parents’ consultation that informed the Brighton & Hove Children and Young People’s Plan where 90% of the participants were mothers
- A review of the needs of disabled children and young people where it appears the only consultation was conducted with mothers
- An intelligent commissioning pilot to assess the need for services for male and female victims domestic violence, male and female perpetrators of domestic violence and couples in mutually violent relationships where 53 women were invited to take part in focus groups but no men
- The public consultation for Brighton & Hove NHS’s Equalities strategy (the Single Equalities Scheme) where 81% of participants were women
In 2011 we aim to undertake local research to identify how best we can support the public sector to involve men more equally in future in line with our commitment to help develop a culture of public service in Brighton & Hove that is both pro-male and pro-female which is one of the key strategic objectives of our Citywide Strategy For Men And Boys.
[…] INVOLVING MEN AND BOYS: The public sector has a Duty To Involve and engage with men and women equally and yet our local research is showing time and time that services do not involve men as effectively as they involve women and in some case actively exclude men all together. Read more about Involving Men and Boys in the design of public services here…. […]