"Half of UK's Largest Housing Associations see gender pay gap grow"

Inside Housing this week had a number of stories and features on the growing gender pay gap in large Housing Associations.

See here (paywall) for  links to full reports.

I was asked to comment "John Gray, national executive committee member for housing associations at UNISON, questions whether employment practices are the reason some landlords have relatively few higher-paid female managers.

“Some of the organisations are notorious for only paying lip service to part-time work or care arrangements, so this brings into question the governance arrangements for these organisations,” he says. “There are a number of employers which do recognise the value of having managers who work flexible time, or do joint working, and are successful organisations".”

I also bought up with Inside Housing, the importance of decent maternity pay and trade union recognition in challenging gender discrimination. Also, the tiny numbers of senior people who identify as Black (4.5%), Disabled (1%) or LGBT (1.6%).

If Housing Associations claim to have a social purpose and to be progressive "exemplar" employers, they should work with their trade unions to put into place real plans to eliminate all such discrimination. 

"Let’s build on the brilliant Jo Cox women’s programme with leadership schemes for gay, trans and BAME activists"

Excellent article by West Ham CLPer, Rohit K Dasgupta, on LabourList today. 

"This is an exciting time to be a Labour member. The latest Survation polls puts us ahead of the Tories. Members are enthused and confident about the upcoming local elections in May 2018 and, in between all of this, Jeremy Corbyn has announced the democracy review.

The review, launched formally in November, will be a consultation to address how members can be democratically involved in the party and its structure as we prepare to form the next government.

At the very outset this is a mammoth task but its overall goals towards accountability, transparency and representation of all party members is welcome. I was recently at the launch of the BAME Labour consultation in London where I made a plea: the party has made great strides towards equality issues but we need to do much more.

As an openly gay and Asian Labour activist I have often found myself in groups where one or another part of my identity is seen as problematic. Our identities are not mutually exclusive but rather they are inextricably linked. Whilst I have faced racism in mainstream queer spaces, I have often also had to face homophobia in “safe” BAME spaces. I think the current democracy review gives the party an opportunity to shine a lens on these issues.

I propose that this can be done in four ways.

Firstly, the party already has a long established mechanism of all-women’s shortlists to address the issue of female representation in Parliament. Most recently AWS has also been used successfully in the selection of council candidates.

Positive action is useful as an affirmative action to bridging inequalities. If we are able to do this for gender, I would suggest that the party also takes into consideration race and sexuality in selections. It would be useful to point out at that this should not equate to making sure a BAME candidate is included in the longlist of parliamentary selections, as is currently done. That is simply not enough and for many CLPs it is as a tick-box exercise. I was surprised at the recent council selections for Newham in east London, where I belong, when the regional party did not even collect demographics related to sexuality.

Whilst positive action is a good thing and can open the door, the real test would be for actual training and mentorship. Trade unions have come out in support of making sure more working class voices in parliament and providing mentoring. We need similar training and mentorship for LGBT and BAME candidates. The Jo Cox women in leadership program has shown what a good training program can do. It is time for Labour to invest in similar programs. How about a Bernie Grant leadership program or a Chris Smith leadership Program?

The only way we can make our politics and political leaders truly representative is by investing. This is a good time for the party to invest in its socialist societies and liberation groups and ensure they are producing the next generation of leaders from under-represented communities. I would also suggest that this kind of training should involve bursaries and grants for working class and disabled candidates to help them participate.

The third point is to make the change at the grassroots level. The party needs to ensure that liberation groups and officers are given more power. All CLPs now have a women’s officer who is a voting member of the executive. Why are the LGBT and BAME co-ordinators not given the same status within our CLP executive and given equal voting rights?

This would increase accountability and help grow liberation groups. For many of us LGBT and/or BAME young people, we are conditioned to believe that politics is not for us. This must be challenged and it has to come from the very bottom. Socialist societies can also play an important role in this. Through affiliation with CLPs they can make sure that local parties remain progressive, inclusive and committed to equalities. Affiliation will also encourage more members of under-represented groups get involved within.

This brings me to my final point, of how to ensure grassroots engagement is beneficial for liberation groups. Let’s make it easier for people to join them when they join Labour. If members indicate they are BAME, LGBT or disabled they should automatically be made members of these groups. It took me almost five years to understand how to join BAME Labour.

This should be a turning point for us in Labour. The Tory government is in a mess, we have a very large and active membership base whose power we need to harness in the next election. For a truly democratic, progressive and transparent voice; we must embrace intersectionality and give all liberation groups that extra push to make sure our party is representative of the plurality of its membership.

Dr Rohit K Dasgupta is a lecturer at Loughborough University. He was Labour’s candidate for East Hampshire in 2017. 

https://labourlist.org/2017/12/lets-build-on-the-brilliant-jo-cox-programme-with-leadership-schemes-for-gay-trans-and-bame-activists

Lewisham Mayoral Selection put on hold!

I understand that the Labour Party Mayoral selection process for the London Borough of Lewisham has been postponed until sometime in the new year. I believe that there was understandable concern that the only candidates were white men and there were no Black, Asian  or females candidates. So the process which was due to start now has been stopped.

This brings into question why the Mayoral selection process in Newham is being rushed though 5 months earlier than the last time in 2013 which due to an early "freeze" date also disenfranchises hundreds of members.

There is no good reason for rushing through this process early and if Lewisham can be put back then so can the Newham Mayoral selection. The actual election is not until May 2018.

If there is quite rightly concern about the lack of diversity in Lewisham selection then why not equal concern about ensuring a diverse contest in Newham, which is the most diverse borough in the country.

The Labour Party NEC has the power to order an open selection process to allow black, asian and female candidates and push the "freeze" date back to allow members the right to fully participate.

View from the Coalface - The role of trade unionists as pension trustees

This picture is from the panel seminar last week at the "Workplace Pension 2015" conference in Birmingham.

I was with Bill Trythall, who is a fellow AMNT union appointed trustee on the massive USS Pension scheme. The chair was Louise Farrand from "Engaged Investor".

We took a number of questions from the chair and members of the audience on amongst other things - time limits for trustees on schemes; do trade unions help bring diversity and how can we tell if our pension board is any good?

My response (and since I was obviously not making notes I won't report on what Bill said) was "Yes", we should have time limits on trustees serving on a board. It is wrong that people like me have been on boards for 20 years. We need new blood and realistic succession plans. But so should all our professional advisors be similarly time limited to 5-10 years maximum. 

I think that trade unions do help drive the diversity agenda, since not only is equality and fairness a reason for our existence, we know that if a company does not recruit, for example, any women to its board, then it is is ignoring the potential talent pool from half the population. That is a bad business decision and ignorant companies who do so will suffer in the long term. 

This has nothing to do with political correctness but a well founded belief that companies who don't discriminate, do not  cause harm to its workers, destroy the environment, employ child labour or bribe public officials will in the long run be far more successful businesses to invest in than does that do.

My response to how we can tell if we are doing a good job or not as pension trustees will be to see firstly how we perform according to our benchmark, when compared to our peers and at our triennial valuations. But also we should see how open and transparent we are with our members and other stakeholders, do we seriously challenge our advisors, how realistic are our assumptions about future performance and liabilities, do we really drill down on all our fees and transaction costs and do we take our responsibilities as owners of capital seriously?

We ran out of time at the end but I think that Bill and I enjoyed the seminar and hopefully those who watched and participated did so likewise.

Cllr Seyi Akiwowo speech on diversity & heritage to Newham Council

Thank you Chair and good evening to my fellow Councillors and the Mayor.

To be elected to this Council as a Labour representative and stand here speaking in this chamber is a great honour. To be elected as the first young black woman by the residents of Forest Gate North, the ward where I grew up is also a very personal honour.

For my Maiden speech I would like to draw members’ attention to the recent anniversary which spanned across a month with celebrations and educational activities galvanising many members from different communities including those from Newham. I’d like to also remind members of the importance of celebrating our diversity and shared heritage in Newham.

October 2014 marked the 27th UK Black History Month - a significant milestone in the progress towards achieving racial equality in this country.

Seizing the opportunity to discuss Black and world history and honouring the too-often neglected accomplishments of black communities is what inspired me as a young Black female growing up in Newham.

It is this that has helped me forge my own strong British Nigerian identity - and has provided the grounding, knowledge and confidence to stand here this evening talking to you all.

Living in Newham means we have luxury of not having to travel the whole world to learn different communities’ heritage we do this every single day. Whether this is taking part in an Iftar, celebrating the birth of Jesus at a local church, enjoying a delicious Jerk Chicken and rice and peas meal at Stratford Theatre Royal, shopping in Green Street, or visiting the beautiful Hindu temples in East Ham.

Newham has the highest proportion of Black and Minority Ethnic residents of all the London Boroughs from ALL parts of the globe. What an opportunity and advantage this gives Newham in this 21st century!

And there are so many talented, pioneering black people living or who have lived in Newham that have gone on to achieve fantastic things including black actors Idris Elba from Canning Town and Chiwetel Ejiorfor from my Community Neighbourhood Forest Gate. Black British Athlete Christine Ohuruogu MBE, Black Rapper Kano and Mr Benjamin Zephaniah one of my favourite English writers.  I remember reading Refugee boy in my English class at Sarah Bonnell and couldn't believe he was living in Newham!

The thing that makes me really proud of Newham is its offer to all people to learn from the rich tapestry that is our diverse community Newham Heritage week. I think is fantastic and believe it is important for residents to have opportunity to not only learn about their history but about the history of other communities as well.

Moving forward I strongly believe it is important to build on Newham Hertiage week. My ambition is to ensure that IN Newham, BHM and Newham Heritage Week becomes an explicit, whole community focal point, especially at a time when the deceitful UKIP's rhetoric on immigration is becoming so divisive.

I feel it is even more important for us as local politicians to promote and maintain community relations through discussions on diversity and culture and their significant contributions to
our shared Newham heritage, our future and our society in many many enriching ways.

It is apt that the Borough's Coat of Arms proclaims "Progress with the People" - and for me this underpins our Community Resilience agenda, as it recognises that our strength comes from those around us and the community we belong to.

By understanding each other’s heritage we break down barriers and help combat isolation and marginalisation thus promoting a sense of shared identity and place.

And I would therefore like the Council to join me in committing ourselves over the next four years to continue to instill this dimension of Community resilience in all our community neighbourhoods.

To encourage our libraries, key stakeholders, schools and each other to celebrate and be proud of all of Newham's diverse heritage not just in specific months but throughout the entire year".

LAPFF Conference 2010: Diversity by Laura Liswood

Still playing catch up on my posts from last year. I did enjoy Laura Liswood, a senior American consultant with Goldman Sachs, talk on “Diversity”.

Her basic argument is that there is a compelling business case for Diversity. If you add someone with the same background to a group you get some improvement but it you add someone with a different background you get more. Transgender Ben is better than Sister Barbara. Why was Stephen Hawkins able to make so many breakthroughs in physics? This is because most physicists write down their ideas on paper. Stephen does it all in his head. He imagines problems. No linear thinking.

Member of dominant group in our society are thought to be competent until proved to be incompetent. Member of non-dominant groups are assumed to be incompetent until proved otherwise. Compare what happens to women who tell their boss they are pregnant with a man who tells his boss that he has joined TA and could be sent to Afganistan.

Why is it that only 16% of all men are over 184cm in height but 57% of the male top 500 CEO's are taller? There is no research whatsoever that proves leadership ability is due to your skeletal structure. Conformation basis. If you believe women play classical music less well. If you think she may make more mistakes, is less strong and less forceful. When you think this and watch – you notice the mistakes. In blind auditions for orchestra’s behind screens, the number of women has gone up by 20%.

Why is it if you ask 11 year girls what they would feel if they were to become a boy tomorrow they would go ugh but be positive about climbing trees, riding bike and getting dirty... but if you ask a 11 year boy about becoming a girl tomorrow - it is the worst thing ever. Why is there this change from 0-11?

There are two powerful myths in all cultures. One is the heroic journey where they seek to find a Holy grail. They may get in trouble along the way but will come back victorious. This is the plot for 99% of Hollywood movies. The second myth is the rescue or rescue me myth. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. The oldest version of the tale can be traced to 9th century China.

The most dangerous weapon you can use is words. Laura became a US reserve police officer after 9/11 (as you do). Words are verbal judo. As a Police officer late at night outside bars she can wind up situations or calm them down. In India if you give long answers to questions you tend to get higher grades. In the USA they say the squeaky wheel gets the grease. In Japan the nail that sticks out gets hit on the head. While in China the loudest duck gets shot. In the West girls are taught by their Grandma that if you can’t say anything nice - don’t say it. Men are more subtlety advantaged. They are subject to positive illusion. Tell a man that he should become a MP and he would answer, "yes, of course I should, why did it take you so long to realise"?

I asked Laura a question about her putting forward a powerful business case for diversity but surely it is essentially a moral and political point. She replied “whatever rocks your boat”.

As you can see from pictures of the conference LAPFF needs to do more about diversity but well done for putting on this keynote presentation.  I suspect that Goldman Sachs has quite a bit of work to do on this matter as well.