Gender Equality

Gender equity is the tool used to achieve gender equality. Gender equality is the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women, men, transgender, and gender diverse people.

Equality does not mean that women, men, transgender and gender diverse people will become the same, it means their rights, responsibilities, and opportunities will not depend on their gender. Gender equity is about fairness to all people. It is about implementing strategies and actions to ensure everybody in the community can participate in the way they want to.

Horsham Rural City Council welcomes the Gender Equality Act which requires organisations within the Victorian public sector, including local councils, to demonstrate positive progress towards achieving gender equality in the workplace and in the community.

HRCC’s organisational vision for gender equality is “to create a safe, equal and fair workplace where all people, regardless of gender and diversity of background, can access and enjoy the same rewards, resources and opportunities.”

In accordance with the Gender Equality Act, Council has developed a Gender Equality Action Plan(PDF, 2MB)  (GEAP) founded on results from a workplace gender audit. Strategies and measures to improve gender equality in the workplace have been included and are based on seven key indicators.

1. Gender composition of all levels of the workforce
2. Gender composition of governing bodies
3. Equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value across all levels of the workforce, irrespective of gender
4. Workplace sexual harassment
5. Recruitment and promotion
6. Availability and utilisation of terms, conditions and practices relating to family violence leave, flexible working arrangements and working arrangements supporting workers with family or caring responsibilities
7. Gendered segregation within the workplace

Our staff will look to promote gender equality in policies, programs and services by conducting Gender Impact Assessments to assess how they impact different genders in different ways. Assessments are done on Council programs or services that have a direct and significant impact on the public taking into account that gender inequality may be compounded by additional disadvantages or discrimination that a person may experience based on Aboriginality, age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation.

A further way of helping create gender equity is to apply a Gender Equality Lens in all our work. This ensures that any differences in the way processes, policies or services are likely to impact unfairly on women and men are anticipated, and that decisions are made that take account of, and are responsive to gender.

Gender inequality creates an environment in which violence against women is more likely to occur.  Horsham Rural City is part of the Communities of Respect and Equality (CoRE) Alliance, which is a partnership of organisations, businesses, clubs and groups that share a vision for safe, equal and respectful communities in the Grampians region.  Council has maintained this membership since 2016.

The development of the CoRE Strategy(PDF, 2MB) was led by Women’s Health Grampians (WHG), as part of the Women’s Health Services Leading Regional Action to Prevent Violence against Women and Children Project. The Strategy helps guide and direct individual and collective work in building communities of respect and equality, and prevent violence against women before it occurs.