Timeline
of relevant SDG Targets for the intersection of
the Economy Womanifesto item and the Quality Education SDG goal.
2019
Develop and test an affordable childcare and nurseries scheme within three different neighbourhoods in the city
2021
Develop a new co-ordinated learning, employment and skills offer to adults to provide retraining and lifelong learning, with particular focus on disabled people and people with learning disabilities
BWV Actions: 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.
2022
Begin city-wide rollout of the affordable childcare and nurseries scheme
Given that the COVID-19 crisis has emphasised how gendered childcare truly is, this goal should be made a key priority. This must be done by improving access to childcare in all areas of the city, ensuring staff are well treated, valued and paid, and crucially, making childcare flexible.
BWV Actions: 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.
2025
Every older person in Bristol will have the opportunity and support to participate in an intergenerational learning activity
BWV Actions: 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.
2026
Every adult has the opportunity to attend free reading and numeracy courses
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.
2027
Programmes are delivered to improve the availability of work experience and post- 16 pathways support in the cultural and creative industries, reflecting the future skills needs of the city
This goal should also aim to improve the diversity of the creative industry in Bristol.
BWV Actions: 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.
2028
The proportion of parents and carers able to access affordable child care has increased by 25% due to city wide childcare programmes
Given that the COVID-19 crisis has emphasised how gendered childcare truly is, this goal should be made a key priority. This must be done by improving access to childcare in all areas of the city, ensuring staff are well treated, valued and paid, and crucially, making childcare flexible.
BWV Actions: 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.
2029
The number of girls taking science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at A-Level will be equal to the number of boys
This 50% must be representative of Bristol's population as a whole and include girls from different neighbourhoods, ethnicities and with parents from different socio-economic backgrounds.
BWV Actions: 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.
2032
All adults have the opportunity to access support to learn digital skills for life and work
Women make up 61% of those who have zero digital skills, and therefore programmes to learn about digital skills and work should take this into account.
BWV Actions: 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.
2033
All communities in Bristol are able to participate in the development and delivery of city-wide and local learning and skills programmes
BWV Actions: 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.
2034
Accredited, online, modular education courses will be available to everyone in the city
BWV Actions: Helping to disseminate and signpost information about where and how to access these courses.
2035
Free, good quality pre-school education is available for all
Given that the COVID-19 crisis has emphasised how gendered childcare truly is, this goal should be made a key priority. This must be done by improving access to childcare in all areas of the city, ensuring staff are well treated, valued and paid, and crucially, making childcare flexible.
BWV Actions: 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.
2035
All young people in Bristol have the same access and opportunities to higher education, in particular with university rates among young people in south Bristol matching levels within other areas of Bristol
This goal should intersect with other goals ensuring that young people are not just accessing higher education, but are accessing courses that are traditionally elitist such as law, medicine and STEM subjects.
BWV Actions: 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.
2038
The proportion of parents and carers able to access affordable childcare has increased by 50% due to city-wide childcare programmes
Given that the COVID-19 crisis has emphasised how gendered childcare truly is, this goal should be made a key priority. This must be done by improving access to childcare in all areas of the city, ensuring staff are well treated, valued and paid, and crucially, making childcare flexible.
BWV Actions: 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.
2041
Launch a revised Skills for the Future programme that builds upon developments and changes in the economy in the 2020s/30s and is geared towards future proofing the city’s workforce
The recent shift to online learning and teaching requires a new response, and different skills must be taught such as competence using online meeting software, basic coding and with new epithets to 'Business English'. Women are more likely to be digitally excluded and when future proofing the workforce, this should be taken into consideration.
BWV Actions: 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.
2042
Through the work of the Learning City, teaching is seen as a highly valuable, attractive and diverse profession, with an increase in recruitment of physics and modern languages teachers in particular, and increased retention of experienced teachers and senior leaders
BWV Actions: 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.
2045
All family members of working age have access to information, advice and guidance about education, employment and volunteering
BWV Actions: 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.
2048
All parents and carers are able to access affordable childcare across the city, five days a week if required
Given that the COVID-19 crisis has emphasised how gendered childcare truly is, this goal should be made a key priority. This must be done by improving access to childcare in all areas of the city, ensuring staff are well treated, valued and paid, and crucially, making childcare flexible.
BWV Actions: 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.
(18 targets)
This goal was achieved in 2019 (see Affordable Childcare Report 2019), however the situation has changed dramatically since COVID-19. As seen in the Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Bristol report shows, childcare was one of the key concerns of women in Bristol, and it drastically affected their employment and mental health. Furthermore, the models proposed in the report, such as the intergenerational model are no longer viable in the current climate, although will hopefully be a possibility in future. Moreover, while the network of nurseries model may provide more funding, it is also likely to increase the segregation that children in areas of multiple deprivations suffer.
BWV Actions: 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.