Recommended Actions
Ensure the findings from the COVID-19 impact on women report are implemented both through the council, and that the work of specialist organisations such as Bristol Disability Forum is celebrated and effectively used to challenge the stigma in healthcare.
1. Provide events and volunteering opportunities that allows women of all ages to connect and learn from one another.
2. Engage city wide partners in the planning, development and execution of International Women's Day to enable women of all ages and communities to connect, volunteer and celebrate collaboratively
Collaborate with the Black South West Network to assist connecting BAME women entrepreneurs to each other and the ‘Bristol Urban Skills, Innovation and Enterprise Specialist Hub’. Signposting or providing a space for BAME women to discuss possible ideas for businesses where they can access support.
Collaborating with other women's organisations to ensure that information about education, employment and volunteering is disseminated as widely as possible, and creating a coordinated response to ensure that no woman is excluded.
1. Provide support to women surrounding their employment rights particularly surrounding maternity and childcare. Support the continued flexibility of work from home.
2. Support the Women's Commission to connect with businesses and partners of the One City Plan to consider childcare and flexible working as a priority in recovery from the pandemic lockdown.
Continue to advocate for women's employments rights and inform women of their rights surrounding maternity leave, childcare and workplace discrimination.
Encourage the provision of channels for women to be involved in the development of local learning and skills programmes, through events, volunteering and access to paid work across the city. As the programme is developed, ensure that local learning and skills benefits women of all races, abilities, sexualities and gender expressions.
Continue to use community research to provide insight into older women's experiences with public transport.
In order to tackle domestic violence, we should take part in Safer Bristol Partnership/BWC Safety Task Group. Liaise with VAWAG organisations, academics and criminal justice agencies to gather information and make a plan for how to proceed within the city. Further Zero Tolerance work with employers. Gender quality has to be tackled holistically, but from the results of CLP and the COVID-19 report, key issues appear to be childcare and employment. Therefore these are key areas to focus on moving forwards.
Ensure that in developing these training skills disabled people, and women in particular, are being consulted about what they want from these courses and how they can access them by supporting organisations such as the Bristol Disability Forum to create an umbrella group of physical and mental disabilities to help with planning.
Reducing social isolation by providing women with volunteering opportunities and community-led events to increase solidarity among women in Bristol. Researching the key barriers to women's inclusion in the community, and barriers to employment, liaising with the Women's Commission to ensure these women are represented at local government level.
Liaise with the Women's Commission and other specialist organisations to ensure procurement policies are having a positive impact and that they are benefiting a diverse and inter sectional group.
Signposting women, particularly those who are BAME, disabled and LGBTQ+, to organisations that can help them with possible barriers to teacher training such as childcare and advice services.
Identify barriers for women in accessing programmes such as the Stepping Up programme and make recommendations to the council about how to address these barriers.
Signpost women to organisations that specialise in FGM and forced marriage when necessary, contribute towards empowering women by supporting campaigns and projects to educate women and girls and help gain economic freedoms.
We can aim to assist with two steps of the whole family approach. Firstly, we can provide a space for women's organisations to collaborate in order to assist the coach finding the right support for families. Secondly, we can help women to overcome some of the barriers that prevent women from fully participating in family life by campaigning for better employment rights, better housing and better education for adults.
Provide research into what the barriers are for women learning digital skills, liaise with the Education Group of the Women's Commission and the universities to garner support for women learning digital skills.
Ensuring the recommendations of the CLP come to fruition. Work with organisations such as Shelter to campaign for a better definition of 'decent' housing to include accessibility, campaign for more genuinely affordable housing. Engage with social housing providers regarding the development and implementation of 'Race Discrimination Risk Assessments' within their housing placement policy decision-making processes.
Support female-led artistic endeavours, showcase them at events such as the International Women's Day and provide space for artists of colour, queer art, and artists with disabilities.
Signposting women, particularly those who are BAME, disabled and LGBTQ+, to organisations that can help them with possible barriers to job roles such as childcare and advice services.
Ideally, getting age-appropriate information about gender and sexuality should come from both parents and schools. In order to encourage parents to talk to their children about gender and sexuality BWV should utilise and signpost organisations such as Outspoken.
1. Provide a central hub for women's organisations specialising in domestic violence and emergency housing to ensure that they are coordinating strategies and the are aware of the current emergency housing available.
2. Continue community research and outreach to understand the barriers women face in accessing social housing. Using the outcomes of the research campaign for more available, decent and appropriate social housing.
3. Continue to feed into the Mayoral Commission for Domestic Violence which seeks to create systematic city wide pathways to the reduction of and service planning and responses to gender based violence
Working with the Women's Commission, Bristol City Council and Bristol's diverse range of community organisations, implement the recommendations from the CLP and Women of Lawrance Hill that addressed marginalised areas of Bristol, and provided insight into the root causes of income inequality. Continue to identify marginalised areas of Bristol and conduct community research.
Working with the Women's Commission, Bristol City Council and Bristol's diverse range of community organisations, implement the recommendations from the CLP that addressed marginalised areas of South Bristol, and provided insight into the root causes of income inequality. Continue to identify marginalised areas of Bristol and conduct community research.
Conduct community research to identify barriers to educational attainment for young women and work with the Women's Commission and Bristol City Council to rectify these issues. Ensure that the data is disaggregated regarding women's attainment by protected characteristic and economic status or geographical location within the city to highlight patterns and particular barriers for different groups.
Provide a central hub for specialist domestic violence services to plan a coordinated response and liaise with the Safety Group of the Women's Commission, Bristol City Council, along with academics, particularly the Centre for Gender and Violence research.
This goal provides a large scope to bring women together for inter-generational activities. This could include programmes that focus on wellbeing or opportunities to talk about issues that are contentious within feminist communities to try and understand each other better.
1. Using outcomes of City Listening Project data and Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Bristol research to provide information to the economy group of the Women's Commission, Bristol City Council and other relevant decision making bodies.
2. Hold local government to account through recommendations for change by agreeing milestone outcomes.
Work collaboratively with other organisations to agree and impact economic outcomes for women across the city.
In partnership with other organisations provide support about women's legal rights and to include information on how to tackle wider employment discriminations and unfair treatment.
Continue to do community research into the impact childcare is having on women and feeding it back to the Women's Commission and the council.
Continue to provide research surrounding the health inequalities women face to ensure the Marmot Review's recommendations are as effective as possible in combating the gendered experiences of health.
Campaign for the City Council and the NHS to disaggregate data.
1. Liaise with the Education and Economy group of the Women's Commission to ensure that women-led businesses are being represented along with majority female sectors such as hospitality and healthcare.
2. To foster woman to woman and women and girls mentorship programmes across the city which include diverse sectors, communities and educational communities.
Signposting women, particularly those who are BAME, disabled and LGBTQ+, to organisations that can help them with possible barriers to public sector roles such as childcare and advice services.
Facilitating discussions between community organisations to coordinate a response that gives citizens of Bristol information about where to go if they experience sexual or domestic violence, but also more importantly widely disseminates information about how to prevent it and report it. Advocating for more relationships education in schools across Bristol and 'myth-busting' sessions for adults.
1. Continue to advertise opportunities from other organisations, in future there should be a focus on bringing women's organisations together to ensure that as many women are reached as possible. Bristol's incredible assortment of women's charities should be utilised more effectively.
2. Using collaboration between organisations, campaigning for the recognition of the intersection's that exist for women over 65+ such as race, class and sexuality and calling for tailored solutions to get older women into suitable work and volunteering opportunities.
Continue to use the community researcher model to identify children being left behind in terms of education and employment. Utilise the Women's Commission to make recommendations on the areas that need improving by the council.
Continue to organise events such as hustings were women have their voices heard. Provide opportunities for disenfranchised women to contribute to decision-making in environments they feel comfortable. Identify barriers to having women's voices heard and work collaboratively with other organisations to overcome them.
1. Use the results of the Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Bristol, and the City Listening Project to campaign to ensure that women's childcare needs are made a priority as we recover from lockdown.
2. Provide opportunities to allow women to raise their childcare issues and solutions to decision-makers.
Support and signpost organisations that specialise in tackling FGM and forced marriage such as Karma Nirvana, The Halo Project and True Honour. All responses to FGM and honour based violence must be community-led and inter-agency, so BWV's should be involved by reaching out to community groups to build their internal capcity and provide them with information and education that empowers women, then feeding back their findings to the Safety Task Group of the Women's Commission and the Bristol City Council more widely to ensure the right support is being given.
Ensure that the City Listening Project outcomes relating to the barriers that women face accessing work such as economic status, familial and caring responsibilities are taken into account during planning discussions. Highlight the importance of a holistic approach which takes account of barriers to women progressing their careers (to include employers) to key decision making bodies, both in local governments and big businesses.
In order to tackle the root causes of food insecurity, BWV will continue to research what barriers women face in escaping poverty, along with supporting sessions and organisations that tackle food waste.
Campaign for businesses to report on their gender and ethnicity pay gaps in order to address the issue, continue to campaign for fair employment rights and pay through hustings, research and supporting other organisations.
Continue to run events with women in STEM professions but ensure that they are being targeted to girls in areas that have a low proportion going into STEM courses and professions. It would be useful to provide mentoring for girls attempting to get into STEM courses, in future facilitating this could be a role for BWV.
Provide volunteering opportunities to allow women of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, sexualities and gender identities to connect with one another and support the Bristol community.
Signposting to organisations such as Self Injury Support, as well as advocating for better awareness and education for young women.
Liaise with the Housing Group of the Women's Commission to ensure that women's voices are being represented when developing the new Local Plan, and that outcomes from the City Listening Project and the Impact of COVID-19 on women are being taken into account.
Highlight groups of women that have particular issues with accessing primary care and support them to achieve better health. Create a network of women's organisations that can help to support these groups in accessing care.
Continue to support and run targeted sessions for BAME women's mental health, both within BWV and with other organisations.
Identify groups through community research that are struggling to access services and collaborate with other Bristol organisations to reach out to these groups.
Continue to organise events such as hustings were women have their voices heard. Provide opportunities for disenfranchised women to contribute to decision-making in environments they feel comfortable. Identify barriers to having women's voices heard and work collaboratively with other organisations to overcome them.
Continue to campaign and lobby for better, safer and more accessible transport in Bristol. Provide older women with opportunities to speak to policy-makers surrounding the issues they face with accessing healthcare. Liaise with the Health and Wellbeing Board of the Women's Commission about the issues older women are facing.
Support community development plans with information gathered from projects such as City Listening Project and Women of Lawrance Hill to highlight the women that are being marginalised in order to plan outreach. Continue events such as hustings, but focus each husting on an area of Bristol.
Help to disseminate information about why and how to quit, signpost women to organisations that can help them to do so.
1. Helping to find women in businesses to be mentors to any woman who requires it, particularly in areas were women are traditionally underrepresented.
2. Continuing to run events with Women in Business to ensure they are accessible to women regardless of age, ethnicity, ability or any other intersecting experiences and characteristics.
Ensuring that the council are implementing the findings of projects that focus on the most deprived areas of Bristol such as Women of Lawrence Hill, the City Listening Project and the Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Bristol. Campaigning for a holistic view of health to be taken.
Continue to advertise opportunities from other organisations, in future there should be a focus on bringing women's organisations together to ensure that as many women are reached as possible. Bristol's incredible assortment of women's charities should be utilised more effectively. Collaborate with organisations such as Bristol Older People's Forum, RSVP West, Bristol Disability Forum to ensure no one falls through the cracks.
1. Using hustings to raise the gendered issue of household debt and ensure that all responses are stratified by race gender and class
2. To work collaboratively with partner organisations such as Bristol Law Centre to make debt advice accessible to women across the city, especially those in deprived outer areas
Collaborate with other organisations in Bristol to ensure that women's housing needs are being properly represented and that a holistic approach is being taken to women's housing needs. Furthermore, by taking an interconnected approach women will know where to go with concerns or issues about their housing situations. Conducting further research on how to create inclusive communities, as highlighted by the CLP and implement the findings to create safe and inclusive neighbourhoods.
When planning events such as Bristol Women in Trade and the International Women's Day event that showcases these courses and professions ensure that BWV partners with organisations in areas of high deprivation, and that advertising is targeted to south Bristol and other areas of high deprivation.
Raise these issues via the Women's Commission, liaise with the university and new employers to ensure they are providing equal opportunities and helping to provide childcare.
Campaign for companies to release data on the make-up of their leadership roles by gender, race, abilities and sexualities. Work with the Women's Commission to set targets for businesses and to highlight if any groups are facing specific barriers accessing leadership roles.
Work with the Women's Commission to ensure that women are being consulted in all major transport decisions, and that the decision makers are not made up of solely white men.
Provide a hub for community research and feedback the results through the Women's Commission.
Campaign for a systemic, joined up pathway approach to women's homelessness, engaging targeted collaboration between sectors.
Signpost women to organisations that can provide specialist support.
Liaise with the Women's Commission to ensure that the specific issues homeless women face are being taken into account by the council
Using community research identify key methods for overcoming prejudice and creating inclusive communities, as suggested by the CLP. Supporting education for children and adults surrounding Bristol's diversity and history of colonialism. Empowering women to recognise prejudice and hate crimes and provide them with tools to counter them, and collaborating with other organisations to create a coordinated plan to tackle injustices.
Continue to use community research to provide insight into women's experiences with public transport and represent those views to the Women and Transport Group, the Women's Commission, Bristol City Council and any other relevant bodies.
Continue to run menopause workshops and other health-related sessions to women outside of formal education. Highlight areas of key concern to the health board of the Women's Commission (WC), and provide this information to the education partners within the WC to enable them to lead the discussion regarding female health in education to include menopause as part of period/menstruation education.
Coordinate a response with other women's organisations in Bristol and specialists such as the Good Things Foundation to help reach women marginalised by the recent changes in work patterns. Help to identify the key areas that may prevent women from accessing employment and training and tackle them through events, information and representing their voice to the Women's Commission and the Bristol City Council.
Helping to disseminate and signpost information about where and how to access these courses.
Ensure that in any community and cross-sector response the gendered aspects of prejudice and hate crime are represented. Offer support for those suffering the impacts of prejudice and hate crime, particularly on mental health, by running regular sessions for BAME women's mental health.
Working in collaboration with the Women's Commission and other women's groups in Bristol examine the root causes of digital exclusion to come up with holistic solutions.
Ensure that women's voices and women's organisations are represented in an future pledge. BWV should also work collaboratively across the city to support women's mental health and wellbeing, especially BAME women who may have experienced the impact of COVID-19 disproportionately to any other groups
Coordinate a response with organisations that focus on the wellbeing of lone parents, disabled people and older people. Provide intergenerational volunteering opportunities to allow women of all abilities and ages to form a community. Establish the barriers lone mothers face in socialisation by working with groups such as Mothers for Mothers, and feed this back to Bristol City Council.
Sharing opportunities with mental health charities to our members and utilising our links with other organisations to ensure as many women as possible are aware of where and how they can be trained.
This is a crucial goal for breaking the cycle of inequality, as improving literacy levels means more women can enter the jobs market and improve their children's education.
**BWV Actions: **To incorporate women's voices from the outcomes of the City Listening Project regarding infrastructure barriers to accessing education and training, which are transport and childcare.
1. Use CLP findings and recommendations to campaign across the city for better housing allocations for women, focusing on women's needs.
2. Work with partners to ensure women are better informed about tenancy rights, and landlord responsibilities towards them.
3. Encourage women to report discrimination and find housing support, developing collaborations with organisations such as Shelter and Bristol Law Centre.