Bringing Birmingham to You: International Womens Day 2024
‘Bringing Birmingham to You – International Women's Day’ on 12 March 2024
To support your engagement with the topics discussed during the webinar please see below questions that were raised that we didn't have time to cover, and answers from each of our academic experts in turn.
Bonus Q&A
Please see below answers from our academic panel: Dr Holly Birkett on parental leave, Dr Meghan Campbell on human rights law and Dr Kelly Mackenzie on women, crime and justice.
Dr Holly Birkett, Senior Lecturer in Organizational Studies, Department of Management, College of Social Sciences. Holly is Co-Director of the Work Inclusivity Research Centre (WIRC), and Co-Director of the Equal Parenting Project.
What approaches can be taken to convince employers wanting to remove hybrid working?
We have found dealing with employers for our research, that most employers want to move to a model where people are in the office 2-3 days a week. This is often about trust issues and ensuring office space that is being paid for is being fully utilised. I think pushing employers toward research on hybrid working which demonstrates the advantages and research on the positive impact of trust in the workplace is one way to encourage them to continue to support hybrid working. Also pointing to examples of what competitors do and highlighting that Gen-Z talent really value policies like flexible working can also help.
Do you have any advice for women who are put off having children due to the inequality I have seen at work, how this can negatively affect your career and your finances? Are these positive changes you have mentioned close to being implemented?
The day one right to request flexible working and the right to request up to twice a year (as people’s circumstances can change, for example children starting school) comes into law on the 6th April 2024. This is a practically useful change for women and parents (and others too) but it also helps normalise forms of working which can help create more equality in the workplace.
Your work on reducing inequality in parenting leave is really interesting, and interesting to hear how much parliament has been involved. Can you give an idea of the extent to which your recommendations are being adopted within the Houses of Parliament themselves, as parental leave rights don't apply to MPs as they are office holders rather than employees.
We have had a number of MP’s bring this up and be spurred on to try and lobby around this. One of the issues here is that a lot of people, including MP’s, are currently not entitled to various forms of parental leave, one particularly large group being the self-employed, but there are a lot of groups fighting to try and expand eligibility. We hope it is something the next Government will take seriously.
How can Birmingham alumni get involved and support your work?
If you are interested in our work around Gender Equality, Parental Leave and Flexible Working come and talk to us. You might be able to participate in research, lobby your organisation to improve their policies, apply for the Working Dads Employer Awards or help us get access to share our findings and policy recommendations with people who have the power to effect change.
Dr Meghan Campbell, Reader in International Human Rights Law, Birmingham Law School. Her research explores how the international human rights system can best respond to gender inequality and poverty.
How does international human rights law dissolve / absolve gender poverty as a result of gender discrimination?
There is a lot of work being done on poverty and IHRL. The UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls recently released a report on poverty that might be of interest. Essentially, the UN treaty body system tries to pay attention to how poverty acts as an obstacle to the enjoyment of rights and regularly encourages states to address those obstacles (i.e. making sure women have access to legal aid, to affordable contraception, that school fees do not cause girls to drop out of school).
What challenges have you faced in promoting inclusivity when undertaking research to engage individuals across wider cultural backgrounds?
There are lots of challenges of doing comparative legal work. Most revolve around my own assumptions on how law should be, or how law functions. Different jurisdictions have different ways of doing things and while there maybe overlaps between places, there may also be important differences. Those differences are rooted in unique political, economic, social and cultural histories. So, the big challenge is for me to check my own assumptions, to actively listen and to work collaboratively on how to achieve shared goals of inclusivity and equality.
How can we empower more women in embracing entrepreneurship and support their entrepreneurship journey?
Increasing women's economic participation involves asking hard questions on how we have structured working days, on the availability of childcare, on criteria on access to credit and financing.
How can Birmingham alumni get involved and support your work?
I think alumni can get involved by events like these, by sharing academic research among their own networks, in talking about the value of academic research in the broader community.
What do you think the future of women’s rights in your field looks like?
In my field, I think the future is exciting. There are lots of challenges but there are so many women who are creative and innovative in how to use the law to achieve women's inequality.
Dr Kelly Mackenzie, Research Fellow and member of the Women, Crime and Justice Research Group. Kelly’s research interests are primarily socio-legal and span both law and criminology.
What would you like the public to better understand about your research?
Women’s centres work within the voluntary penal sector and provide a vital service which is largely unknown to the general public. Women’s centres provide community-based support, including preventative work, diversionary work to divert women away from the criminal justice system, and provide support post-conviction which is centred on addressing women’s unmet needs and aims to address the causes and driving factors that form some of the reasons why women becoming involved in the criminal justice system. Our research is focussed upon evidencing the vital work that women’s centres do and the forms of support they provide to women. Our primary aim is to evidence that women’s centres are viable alternatives to prison for women given how damaging and unnecessary prison is for the vast majority of women, particularly in light of the fact that the majority of women in prison have committed low-level offences and are in prison on short sentences.
How can you get people/parties on the political right to care about people convicted of crimes?
Two areas that may help people/parties on the political right (among others) to care about people convicted of crime is that there is little evidence to show that deterrence works as an aim of punishment, which is evidenced by the number of people who are in prison and current rates of reoffending. There is evidence to suggest that rehabilitation works, serving society better by reducing crime in the long run. Another aspect that may be insightful for people/parties on the political right is the amount of money that it costs to place people in prison per year. It cost almost £50,000 per person per place in 2021/22 (see MOJ, 2023). Compare this to a place at a Women’s Centre which ranges from £1,223 to £4,125 per woman depending on their needs (Women’s Budget Group, 2020). The Women’s Budget Group found that “an estimated £1.7bn is spent on issues linked to female offending, whilst in the long term £2.84 is saved for every £1 spent on women’s centres.” Diversion, prevention, and community-based support makes economic sense. Ministry of Justice - Costs per prison place and costs per prisoner 2021 to 2022 summary (publishing.service.gov.uk). Women’s Budget Group - WBG-15-Womens-Centres-Report-v4.pdf
What do you think the future of women’s rights in your field looks like?
We as a research team are ambitious about the future and believe there is scope to make long lasting changes for the improvement of society if we focus on viable alternatives to prison. This extends beyond criminal justice-involved women, to a situation where the innovative approaches that we are involved in can be applied to the criminal justice system as a whole rather than in silo, as it currently is. There is some absolutely brilliant work being conducted by fellow academics and third sector organisations, among others, that are working tirelessly to fight for systemic change for women, including creating gender-responsive and trauma-informed approaches to support women involved in the criminal justice system. A prime example of this is the work currently being conducted by the charity One Small Thing.
How can Birmingham alumni get involved and support your work? We welcome any interest from alumni, including opportunities for funding. If you have further questions or would like any additional information, please contact our principal investigator Professor Simon Pemberton s.pemberton.1@bham.ac.uk.