Gender Equity and Inclusion Project
Yarra Ranges Council has introduced Gender Equity and Inclusion Training recognising the diversity of needs across the community and aimed to take proactive action. Over the past 12 months two workshops were facilitated to analyse gender definitions, integrate a gender lens into work practises and create a gender action plan specific for the Traffic and Transport Engineering team.
This project prepared the team for the proposed Gender Equality Bill, which will require local councils to plan, implement strategies and report on progress towards gender equality in the workplace and community [1]. The training was facilitated by Council’s People and Culture department which provided a customised training with specific cases studies.
Post-training, the team action plan continually updated and processes continually monitored to apply a gender lens. Currently, department request data is being aggregated to identify trends in types of infrastructure requests, frequency and location and are including gender categories. The team can analyse trends which has led to the decision-making processes adopting proactive gender inclusion.
A defined gender lens is now applied to all infrastructure delivery policies which include how strategies and practices impact people of different genders and assess how new infrastructure needs to include diverse minority groups. Positive feedback has been received via public consultation, that the changing needs of the community have been better accommodated.
A gender lens has been applied to all recruitment and workplace practices and most recently the Industry Based Learning placement program. Changes resulted in a higher number of female applicants than previous years and greater gender diversity in the team.
Our presentation will discuss the detailed outcomes of the project, its application in developing infrastructure and the team’s ability to deliver inclusive services to the community