ANTI SEXISM POLICY

NAPO Anti Sexism Policy is written to assist all members to develop and implement strategies which will enhance and strengthen the role of women in all their range of activities.

This policy sets out NAPO's definitions, aims and policy objectives for challenging sexism in all its forms and in all situations likely to impact on NAPO members. The policy will be supported by an annual statement of targets for NAPO committees and branches to be set by the National Executive Committee annually.

The implementation of the Policy will be monitored by a report on implementation of the Anti Sexism Policy and Targets included in the Annual Report to AGM.

September 1996

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DEFINITIONS

DISCRIMINATION

NAPO defines discrimination as unfair or unequal treatment, based on prejudice, taken against a person or group of people because of race, colour, gender, religious belief, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, disability, age, class or trade union membership, political beliefs, dependants or other reasons.

Discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably, on one of the above grounds, than others are or would be treated in the same or similar circumstances. This may be the result of conscious decision, policy or bias in a system or procedures.

Indirect discrimination consists of applying a requirement or condition which although applied equally, has a disproportionately adverse effect on one group because the proportion of the group which can comply with it is much smaller that the proportion in the whole which can comply with it.

OPPRESSION

NAPO defines oppression as the application of prejudice and discrimination by people or institutions in positions of power, the effect of which is to subjugate a person or a group of persons and to deny them access to equal and fair treatment.

Therefore, the oppressed experience an absence of choices. Class, race, religion, sexual orientation and disability create a diversity of experience that determines the extent to which sexism will be an oppressing force in the lives of individual women.

BLACK

Black is used in its political sense and includes persons of African-Caribbean, African and Asian origin.

SEXISM

Sexism arises from those attitudes which consciously and unconsciously inform

language and behaviour through which men individually and through institutions and structures undermine, disadvantage, offend, harm, stereotype or deny equality of opportunity to women. The impact of sexism will fall differentially on women who also experience discrimination on the grounds of race, sexual orientation or disability.

AGEISM AND SIZEISM

Ageism and Sizeism constitute other forms of discrimination particularly (although not exclusively) experienced by women. They are based on negative assumptions and stereotypes formed by a culture in which women are expected to be of a specific age and size, e.g. young and slim. Such negative assumptions can lead to many levels of discrimination, both overt and subtle, which have far-reaching effects and deny a person their rights and dignity.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Sexual harassment is a form of victimisation or intimidation which uses gender as a basis for undermining or attacking a person, or seeking favours.

Sexual harassment has been defined as any uninvited, unreciprocated, and unwelcome physical contact, comment, suggestion, joke or attention of a sexual nature which is offensive to the person involved, and causes that person to feel threatened, humiliated, patronised or embarrassed.

Sexual harassment is overwhelmingly a problem experienced by women. However, it needs to be acknowledged that such harassment can be directed against men; although as sexual harassment stems from this abuse of power, it is generally women who are subjected to this treatment in a male dominated society.

For black women the experience of sexual and racial harassment is inter-connected.

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Gender is not the sole determinant of black women's fate. As a group black women are in an unusual position in this society, collectively they are at the bottom of the occupational ladder and overall their social status is lower than that of any other group. Occupying this position black women bear the brunt of sexist, racist and classist oppression; whilst simultaneously they have not been socialised to assume the role of exploiter or oppressor. White women and black men can act as oppressors, or be oppressed. Black men may be victimised by racism but sexism allows them to act as exploiters or oppressors of women. White women may be victimised by sexism but racism enables them to act as exploiters or oppressors of black people. Black women have no institutional "other" that they may discriminate against, exploit or oppress. Therefore, black women are particularly vulnerable at all levels they occupy within hierarchies.

Attacks on gay men or lesbians on the grounds of sexual orientation also constitutes sexual harassment. However, due to heterosexist assumptions and attitudes in society, gay men and lesbians may be particularly reluctant to complain about sexual harassment.

For black women the dividing line between racial and sexual harassment is often blurred. They can be particularly vulnerable if they occupy relatively powerless positions within hierarchies.

Sexual harassment is about power. It is conduct which is imposed on another person because of her/his sex, often with coercion or a job-related threat. It can take many forms. Sexual harassment can range from unnecessary touching through to sexual assault. It can be verbal: sexual propositions, unwanted comments on dress and appearance, or verbal abuse of a sexual nature. Other forms of sexual harassment include staring, leering, displaying sexually offensive or pornographic material, suggestive gestures, compromising invitations and demands for sexual favours.

Sexual harassment can either manifest itself in single, overt instances, or be the culmination of persistent unwelcome behaviour which is covert and undermining over a period of time.

HETEROSEXISM

Heterosexism is activity based on and enforced by judgements and statements about lesbians and gay men arising from prejudice and homophobia and the assumption that heterosexuality is the only appropriate and morally acceptable way of exercising sexual choice. This process is overt and covert and is both deep-seated and systematic. It operates on a personal and institutional level. The effect of such discrimination is to deprive lesbians and gay men of their rights and dignity.

HOMOPHOBIA

Homophobia is the irtrational fear and hatred of homosexuality. Audre Lorde in "Sister Outsider" defined homophobia as "the fear of feelings of love for members of one's own sex and therefore the hatred of those feelings in others". At its worst homophobia results in violence against lesbians and gay men.

RACISM

Racism is a systematic form of oppression, and in Britain it is black people who are the victims of racism and its perpetrators are white. In our multi-cultural society, racism is a problem created and maintained consciously and unconsciously by white people. NAPO therefore defines racism as a combination of power and prejudice exercised by white people and white institutions, the effect of which is to systematically oppress black people. In short therefore, racism is the systematic oppression of black people.

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IMPAIRMENT

Impairment is defined as a limitation or impairment of functions which are customarily expected of body or mind. Such an impairment may arise through genetic causes, trauma, accident, disease or the ageing process. These impairments may not always be visible (e.g. hearing impairment, epilepsy, heart conditions, dyslexia). There are primarily three categories which cover most impairments: mental ability, mobility and senses/channels of communication. Each present their own different, distinct issues. Some impairments may limit access to services. In this paper we use the term "person with a learning difficulty" (in place of the term "mental handicap").

DISABILITY

Disability is defined as the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a comtemporary social organisation which takes little or no account of people who have impairments and thus excludes them from participation in activities.

DISABLED PERSON

Someone who as a consequence of their impairment experiences social oppression of whatever kind. We are not using the term "people with disabilities" as this tends to relate the source of discrimination back to the individual. It is the way society is organised that disables. "Full integration will not be achieved by pursuing `cures' for disability, but must be achieved by breaking down the barriers in society which prevent the full and equal participation of disabled people".

ACCESS

Access means the ability to participate on equal terms in all situations; i.e. to be able to enter and move about within all premises, to be able to receive and understand the spoken and written work, and to have both the right and the facilities to respond and contribute in situations e.g. at work, in meetings, conferences, political processes.

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THE HISTORY OF GENDER ISSUES AND ANTI SEXISM POLICIES IN NAPO

EARLY DEVELOPMENTS

NAPO began to address the position of women in the criminal justice system during the mid 1980s, in particular the situation of women in prison and women with children going into custody. The approach sought to reform and minimise the punitive, damaging impact on women and children of imprisonment. As NAPO went on to focus on the position of black people in the criminal justice system our analysis was extended to consider the socio economic and structural position of groups who are discriminated against in the criminal justice system, in the trade union, in the employment of the probation service and in wider society.

COMMITTEE STRUCTURES

NAPO Equal Rights Committee was established in 1983 and gender issues became one of its main responsibilities. In 1988 the AGM passed an extensive resolution calling for the improvement of maternity leave, enhanced maternity pay, the introduction of dependent care leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, child care provisions, flexible working hours and career breaks.

In 1988 NAPO AGM passed a resolution calling for the urgent establishment of an Anti Sexism Monitoring Committee to work in conjunction with the Anti Racism Monitoring Committee. After a lively internal debate it was resolved in 1989, that this committee would be a women only group because it was agreed that women working in NAPO needed to progress together through continuing barriers between women, in terms of sexual orientation, race and disability in order to challenge effectively the male oppression of women. The Anti Sexism Monitoring Committee has been operating since 1989. Its role has been almost exclusively one of monitoring to ensure that NAPO policies, strategies and activities are conducted so as to challenge sexism and promote the rights of women. NAPO has established Anti Sexism Link Officers in every branch in order to monitor local activity. An annual conference of Anti Sexism Link Officers has been organised by the national Anti Sexism Monitoring Committee.

Since 1989 NAPO has also operated a voting system onto our committees in which 50% of the membership of all committees must be women. This means that on any committee only 50% of the elected places may be taken by men. This system reflects the overall gender balance in NAPO, which is of slightly over 50% women membership. The system was introduced after various attempts to increase the percentage of women on committees. This has been a controversial development, which has met challenges from within membership but has been well supported overall. The structural change has had varying results. Some committees have consistently attracted more than 50% women but others have not, and on those committees there remains a gender imbalance.

In order to encourage women to participate more actively in the committee structure and in speaking at meetings NAPO very briefly held a day forum for all women interested in joining committees, and a day forum for black women. An opportunity to gain practice and experience in using microphones was offered at one Annual General Meeting. Although well received it has not been continued.

POLICIES

NAPO has produced a small number of further policies addressing gender, in the early 1990s: in 1991 Professional Committee produced the policy document "Working with Women: an Anti Sexist Approach" and in 1991 the same committee produced the policy document "Black Women Clients: Probation Practice Guidelines".

Alongside these structural and policy directions have been a number of less coordinated developments in NAPO. From the mid 1980s NAPO has had a significant number of women officers in nationally elected roles

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as Chair and Vice-Chairs. Out of four nationally elected officers up to 1987 and five thereafter, the gender profile has been thus:

1984-1986
woman chair and one woman vice-chair

1986-1988
two women vice-chairs

1988-1990
two women vice-chairs

1990-1991
three women vice-chairs

1991-1993
woman chair, woman vice-chair,
woman treasurer

1993-1994
woman chair, woman vice-chair

1994-1995
woman co-chair, woman vice-chair

At times it may have seemed that this profile would ensure that the position of women in the union and in all our work would be promoted consistently by the women officers. However, the reality has tended to be that these women were always facing a large volume of work and did not prioritise women's issues. It may have seemed that structural change was a solution in itself. There may also have been a tendency throughout the union to minimise the need to address women's issues because women held positions of power. By 1993/94 it had become clear that NAPO was not progressing gender issues sufficiently strongly. This may also have coincided with a backlash against the effectiveness of the wider women's movement and the marginalisation of equal rights issues generally.

WOMEN IN NAPO

There has been an unstructured women's organisation in NAPO since the early 1980s. Women In NAPO is an informal network of women which meets at branch level in some areas, to support each other and to ensure that the local branch addresses issues affecting women in the local service. Women In NAPO has aimed to organise an annual national conference open to all women in NAPO. This has been difficult to sustain through informal organisation, and in the conference has often come about every two or three years. At the 1995 Women In NAPO conference it was agreed by the participants that a Women's Committee and women's structure in NAPO are now required with emphasis on developing and supporting women's structures in all local branches.

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THE NATURE AND IMPACT OF SEXISM: WHY POLICIES AND STRATEGIES ARE NECESSARY

The structuring of society has been based on patriarchal assumptions in which, through the process of paternity, there is male control over women, children and the family as an institution. These assumptions extend through all social relations into the institutions of capitalism, the education system, the health services, the criminal justice system and the welfare state. Patriarchy has been the back drop against which all women have been subordinated and ignored. The liberal state perpetrates these structures in slightly different forms from the authoritarian state; nevertheless constituting the social order in the interests of men through its legitimising norms, relations and policies.

The impact on women of the patriarchal state has been to subjugate, to silence, to trivialise, to exploit, to intimidate and to oppress. During the 20th Century we have seen unprecedented and effective challenges to patriarchal structures through the feminist movement. However, these challenges have impacted on some structures more than others; not least because feminism has operated largely from a white, heterosexual, able bodied and middle class standpoint. Not only will the liberation of women remain largely illusory if it does not achieve a wider standpoint, but failure to incorporate the standpoint of black women, lesbians and disabled women into a feminist perspective, both historically and in relation to current socio economic structures compounds their oppression and reinforces the racism, disablism, homophobia and sexism which they experience.

In developing policy and strategy for an anti sexist approach in the 1990s we shall need to address ways of ensuring that the challenge to structures, attitudes, language and behaviour which oppresses women is relevant to black and white women, lesbians and heterosexuals, women with special needs and women in all class structures.

"Feminism is the political theory and practice that struggles to free all women:

women of colour, working class women, poor women, disabled women, lesbians, old women - as well as white economically privileged heterosexual women. Anything less than this vision of total freedom is not feminism, but merely female self aggrandisement."

Barbara Smith 1982, New York.

For NAPO members the position of women in all social structures is relevant to the experience of members and the work of the union. The position of women in the criminal and civil justice systems as clients or workers and the position of women in the trade unions are all casually interwoven with wider socio economic structures. Challenges to the oppression of women in the courts or as employees must be reinforced by challenges to ways of seeing and challenging wider structures.

WOMEN IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Female offenders experience discrimination in the contemporary criminal justice system. Myths and assumptions surround the treatment of women who commit offences. Theoretical perspectives on crime, as on medicine, social sciences, law and many other, developed within a western patriarchal academic structure, from which all women were until very recently, effectively excluded.

Women represent approximately 15%a of criminal justice statistics, of these 2907o are black; whereas black women represent 5% of the community (1992 figures). Studies of criminology have traditionally only dealt with men. The principal agents in the criminal justice system have been predominantly men: police, solicitors, barristers, magistrates, judges, prison officers, politicians have been heavily dominated by men at all grades of the occupations. The probation service is alone in employing approximately equal numbers of women and men, although this too has been heavily dominated by men in the higher

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grades. Moreover, since 1994, the Home Office has begun to challenge the equality of recruitment into the probation service. Studies and research into offending and the treatment of offenders has been the study of men by men for men. Among the consequences of this dynamic we can see that on the one hand theoretical perspectives in relation to men in the criminal justice system have been informed without the influence of women's experience and without the consideration of feminist concerns and on the other hand, the actual experience of all women in the criminal justice system was completely, and remains largely, ignored.

As the "founding fathers" of scientific criminology, in 1895 Lombroso and Ferrero contributed the stereotypes of women offenders as "bad" i.e. "abnormal" women; lacking in the qualities of normal women, namely reserve, docility and sexual apathy. 100 years later, in her recent book "Eve was Framed", Helena Kennedy QC writes:

"Why is it we feel differently about women committing crime? It always seems to me that crime is seen as an inevitable extension of normal male behaviour, whereas women offenders are thought to have breached sacred notions of what is deemed to be truly female".

In the 1990s also the increase in offences of violence recorded against women attracts headlines in the "serious press" such as "Gentle Sex Indulges in Thrill-Seeking Violence" and the phenomenon is described as an epidemic, drawing comparisons with illness. We should not be surprised if one result of women's struggle for independence in an oppressive and divided society is the externalisation of the feelings of anger which women have hitherto directed against themselves both psychologically and physically.

The position of black women in the criminal justice system is different from that of white women, in that for black women the system imposes a set of racist as well as sexist

stereotypes; independence from men is seen as unstable and irresponsible, the expression of anger at the treatment she receives in the criminal justice system is seen as trouble and aggressive in a black women. In cases involving rape and sexual abuse black women experience more exaggerated forms of the stereotyping as promiscuous and sexually active. Black women are stopped by police on the streets and are frequently abused by police seeking to arrest their children. Joy Gardner's death in 1992, as a result of acknowledged police brutality, would not have happened to a white women.

WOMEN IN THE FAMILY COURT SYSTEM

The Family Court system shores up the traditional role of women in the family and makes assumptions which are rarely challenged about her role as carer, peacemaker, and homemaker. In our work as Family Court workers NAPO members play a very significant role in relation to the experience of women in families and as carers. There is potential for collusion in home making and peacemaking by the women without ensuring that men share equally in these roles. Family Court work is an important opportunity to build on the strengths and the expansion of women's roles.

Family Court work is also an important opportunity to redress discrimination against lesbians and women with disabilities as carers and to challenge the racism which black and mixed race families can encounter in dealing with institutions.

WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS

The position of women in the trade union movement has changed significantly in the last 20 years, and considerable influence has been exercised through the TUC leadership in terms of monitoring and targets for gender balance.

Many trade unions have taken structural steps to strengthen the representation of women in trade unions, the TUC Women's Committee and the annual TUC Women's

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Conference having established one model. The TUC Women's Committee, Congress and the Race Relations Committee all have reserved places for black women.

Equal Pay, union membership and representation of part-time women, equalisation of the state pension at 60, women's health and sexual harassment have been significant issues within

the TUC women's movement.

The Labour Research Department has produced valuable guidance in handling sex discrimination cases. Nevertheless, the leadership of the trade union movement as a whole still remains heavily dominated by men; with only those unions representing a majority beginning to reverse this situation.

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POLICY OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS

1. The Criminal Justice System

(i) Women and Custody

(a) To develop and promote strategies which work towards ensuring that custody is restricted to only those women who present a genuine risk of serious harm to the public.

(b) To oppose the use of custody for those women who have imported drugs, particularly as a result of financial pressure, or under duress, and where the length of sentence imposed on black women suggests that racism may be a factor in sentencing.

(c) Where the genuine risk of serious harm to the public is considered to necessitate a form of containment of women who are pregnant or who have children, strategies and resources should be developed to provide containment in a more constructive and caring environment than a prison.

(d) To campaign and work to achieve the ending of requirements to use shackles, chains and handcuffs on women who are held in custody.

(e) To end the use of imprisonment for fine default.

(f) To maintain active support for the campaign to establish acceptance as a legal defence the experience of women who have been victims of violence in the home and who have killed.

(g) To end the use of prison for women who have problems of mental health, mental disorder or substance dependence.

(h) To work to ensure that lesbian partners are included in the assisted prison visits scheme.

(i) To end the discriminatory use of custody for lesbians who may be charged with sexual offences.

(ii) Women and Community Sentences

(a) To ensure that community sentences for women are widely and consistently

available to the courts, accessible to women and relevant to their needs.

(b) To monitor the use of community penalties for women, particularly community service, day centres and hostels.

(c) To develop partnerships in the community which support women in the criminal justice system, including, and separately as necessary, black women, lesbians and disabled women.

(d) To develop pre-sentence report writing strategies which strengthen proposals to achieve the most constructive outcome for women with the minimum intervention necessary, and ensure that all reports are gatekept in respect of anti discriminatory content.

(e) To encourage all NAPO members to assist in the protection of all women from abusive situations and to recognise and manage appropriately the impact of violence on women in the criminal and family court systems.

(f)To work with women under the supervision of the probation service in a manner which reinforces the positive image and strengths of women, promotes equality of opportunity, supports women in their chosen role, and avoids pathologising women or labelling women as in need of treatment.

(iii) Discrimination in Criminal Justice

(a) To work with men under the supervision of the probation service in a manner which promotes equality and the strengths of women, which values challenges to patriarchal assumptions and behaviour and sexist language and which encourages men to undertake roles as carers.

(b) To ensure that arrangements affecting women and facilities for women in the criminal justice system acknowledge that women assume the bulk of child care in our society and reflect the diversity of their needs.

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(c) To develop policies and strategies which ensure that women who are mentally vulnerable or mentally ill are neither oppressed nor abused and are empowered by appropriate support and choices.

(d) To ensure that women in the criminal justice system who are HIV positive or who have AIDS receive appropriate support, confidentiality and equality of access to services.

(iv) Domestic Violence

NAPO will produce an extensive policy in 1997 on a range of issues related to domestic violence; on assessing and working with survivors and perpetrators in criminal justice and in family court work; on campaigning and training issues and supporting survivors of domestic violence as colleagues and trade union members.

NAPO defines domestic violence thus:

"Domestic violence involves the perpetration of violence by a more powerful person against a less powerful person. It is defined as assault, abuse or harassment which occurs between persons who have a sexual, familial or other close personal relationship. Generally, domestic violence is perpetrated by men against women.

"The following also fall within this definition:

-violence against a child by an adult or young person. This also falls within the framework and definitions of Child Protection Legislation;

- violence against same sex partners (lesbian or gay);

- violence against an older, infirm or disabled person.

- Violence by women against adult males is rare and therefore unlikely to fall within this

definition.

"The assault or harassment may take the form of physical, sexual, emotional, mental or economic abuse, damage to property, or a combination of these.

"Domestic violence occurs in relationships between persons who currently live together, who have lived together in the past, or who spend significant amounts of time together:'

(v) Women of Foreign Nationality

NAPO will encourage, develop and promote strategies which:

(a) increase the preparation of Pre Sentence Reports in respect of women of foreign nationality who are at risk of custody, aiming to reduce the use of custody and the length;

(b) promote links with organisations supporting women of foreign nationality in custody, especially those organisations which help women to maintain links with their home country, and making maximum use of agencies, including probation services, which optimise early release;

(c) help women waiting for deportation to obtain bail.

2. The Family Court System

(a) To develop and promote policies and strategies which strengthen and enhance the ability of women to make and carry out choices within separating families.

(b) To develop and implement policies and strategies which challenge the experience of oppression of all women in separating families.

(c) To support the rights of lesbians as mothers and carers.

(d) To develop policies and strategies which challenge the discrimination against women in contested residence and contact decisions.

(e) To develop policies and strategies which challenge and redress racism in the family court system, and discrimination on grounds of race in separating families.

(f) To develop and promote training strategies which strengthen the anti discriminatory perspective of family court work.

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3. Women in Trade Unions

(i) Participation

(a) To increase the active participation of women in trade unions at local and national levels, particularly black women, lesbians and disabled women.

(b) To promote an anti sexist and anti racist perspective on trade union issues which seeks to redress the disproportionate influence of white men over trade union policy and activity and which uses the trade union movement to empower black and white women at work and in the wider society.

(c) To promote and maintain structures in the trade union movement which facilitate the active participation of women.

(d) To promote, develop and maintain working arrangements, practices and locations which are safe and accessible to all women, including disabled women.

(e) To encourage and promote attendance by women members at regional TUC meetings and Trades Council meetings.

(f) To promote links between women in trade unions at a local level e.g. through inviting

women from other unions to address meetings.

(ii) Policies

(a) To promote and maintain the equality of pay and conditions throughout the trade union movement and to defend the conditions of service of women wherever possible through national pay bargaining.

(b) To ensure that the trade union perspectives on all forms of discrimination are also informed by an anti sexist perspective.

(c) To promote effective sexual harassment policies in the trade union movement; including the use of harassment counsellors.

(d) To promote policies and strategies which extend screening for gender specific illnesses and those to which women are particularly susceptible.

(e) To develop policy and strategies which recognise and combat the additional impact on women of age discrimination.

(f) To maintain active campaigning to equalise the state pension age at 60 and to achieve equal survivor benefits for all adult partners.

(g) To campaign with other trade unions for strategies which promote the education, health care, economic stability and rights of all women both employed and unemployed.

(h) To work within the trade union movement to increase the provision of or funding for childcare.

(i) To work within the trade union movement to promote the responsibility of men in caring for dependants.

(j) To use the trade union movement to improve the health of women at work; in particular to campaign for paid time off for medical tests and screening in respect of occupational risks, breast and cervical cancer, sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia.

(k) To campaign with other trade unions to equalise (death) pension rights for women who are not married, but who have partners or significant others who are currently unable to benefit from pension contributions.

4. Woman as Employees of the Probation Service

(i) Aims

(a) To achieve and maintain equality of opportunity in recruitment and selection, training, mobility and promotion for women of all grades in the Probation Service.

(b) To promote and negotiate conditions of service and working arrangements which support women as carers and partners.

(c) to ensure that conditions of service do not discriminate against lesbians and black women and women with special needs.

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(ii) Flexible Working Arrangements

 (a) To promote and negotiate locally or nationally flexible working arrangements which protect pay and conditions and which do not casualise the work of women.

(d) To promote anti sexism training for all staff and training in the use of the sex discrimination and race relations legislation for service managers.

(e) To promote and negotiate the use of the best available aids and adaptations for disabled women working in probation.

(f) To promote anti heterosexism training and policies which protect and promote the rights of lesbians and gay men.

(Ii) Women Working Part Time in the Probation Service

(a) To ensure the right to work part-time or job share in all posts.

(b) To take positive action to encourage and facilitate women who work part-time and who job share to participate in the work of the union locally or nationally.

(c) To ensure that the conditions of service applied to part-time workers are the same as those applied to full-time workers e.g. sickness pay, bank holidays, pension arrangements.

(d) To monitor the opportunities and take up of training and career development of women working part-time and to develop starategies which help to promote parity with full-time staff.

(e) To promote equality of opportunity for promotion for part-time staff and job sharers.

(f) To challenge discrimination experienced by women who are working part-time and/or whose working lives are constrained by dependant care.

(iv) Maternity Leave, Pay and Arrangements

(a) To protect the legislative provision of government funded maternity leave and pay.

(b) To negotiate increased maternity leave and pay, including the right to return to the same post, on conditions no less favourable up to 12 months from the birth of the baby.

(c) To provide guidance for women on maternity leave on matters affecting their maternity leave or their circumstances on return to work, e.g. mortgage repayments, car loans, transfer of post, returning to work part-time.

(d) To negotiate for and to protect cover through her absence on maternity leave for all women opting to return to her own job on return from maternity leave.

(e) To develop stategies to ensure that women choosing to return to a different post after maternity leave are offered the maximum choice and support in obtaining an appropriate post.

(v) Adoption Leave

(a) To negotiate terms for adoption leave nationally and locally which are equal to the arrangements for maternity leave.

(vi) Childcare Payments and Nursery Provision

(a) To negotiate for and protect existing arrangements for payment of childcare through voucher schemes or money payments, and to press for the provision of employer funded nursery places as an alternative to childcare payments. To press for childcare payments to include after school care during working hours, and school holidays during working hours.

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(vii) Dependant Care Arrangements

(a) To negotiate automatic time off agreements for dependant carers whose dependants are ill and require full-time care.

(viii) Increased Bereavement leave

(a) To negotiate for and protect automatic arrangements for increased bereavement leave including lesbian partners, and particularly where long distance travel is necessitated.

(ix) Safe Working Arrangements

(a) To negotiate and promote the policy that probation workers do not work in buildings alone, and do not visit alone the homes of clients who are either not known to the service or whose behaviour is uncertain.

(b) To require and promote the safest working practices for women using information technology and to obtain agreement to employer funded tests as necessary.

(x) Sexual Harrassment and the Use of Counsellors

(a) To develop a model sexual harassment policy for negotiation in all probation services, including the provision of harassment counsellors.

(b) To promote training in the use of the sex discrimination legislation among probation managers.

(c) To promote awareness of the sex discrimination legislation among probation service employers.

(xi) Reorganisation

(a) To ensure that procedures for reorganisation or amalgamation of services, or re-structuring of grades, or redundancy do not treat women unfairly by intention or outcome.

(xii) Women's Health

(a) NAPO will disseminate the maximum available information on matters affecting women's health at work, e.g. use of information technology, time off for screening for illness.

(b) To ensure that through national and local negotiations, the development of employers' policies to monitor sickness do not discriminate against women.

(xiii) Stress at Work

(a) To develop policy and strategies which recognise and combat the stress which arises out of women's multiple roles in employment, in caring for dependants and in trade union activity. Those policies and strategies should recognise in particular the additional impact of racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination and the particular demands of working in the criminal justice system.

(xiv) Appraisal Systems

(a) To ensure that appraisals, job descriptions and other evaluative schemes are implemented in ways which redress the potential for discrimination against women on grounds of gender, race, sexual orientation, disability or any other improper grounds.

5. Women in NAPO

(i) Aims

(a) To promote and develop policies and strategies which are consistently anti racist, anti sexist, anti heterosexist and anti disablist.

(b) To develop strategies to enable and support the safe, active participation of black women, lesbians and disabled women.

(c) To strengthen NAPO's representation of black women, lesbians and disabled women, particularly in cases involving discrimination.

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(d) To support women who have complaints of discrimination under the Sex Discrimination Act including representation at Industrial Tribunals.

(e) To ensure that NAPO policies and strategies effectively and consistently incorporate the interests of women members working as probation service officers and as managers in the probation service.

(f) To establish a women's structure within NAPO through which the representation of women's interests and the active participation of women throughout the union can be enhanced.

(g) Through consultation, to develop structures and events which encourage and support women who wish to be and who are active in the work of the union, including those elected into leadership roles e.g. public speaking, information sharing, support systems.

(ii) Liaison with Autonomous Groups

(a) To ensure that regular liaison between the "Association of Black Probation
Officers" (ABPO) and NAPO addresses implementation of the Anti Sexism Policy.
(b) To ensure that regular liaison between "Lesbians and Gay Men in Probation"
(LAGIP) and NAPO addresses the implementation of the Anti Sexism Policy.

(iii) Structures

(a) In accordance with the 1995 Women In NAPO Conference, to establish a women's structure in NAPO through which the representation of women's interests and the active participation of women throughout the union can be strengthened.

(b) To maintain and promote the gender balance arrangements in NAPO structures, and to develop stategies to increase the active participation of women

in committees both nationally and locally, particularly those committees which have had low representation of women.

(c) To maintain arrangements for monitoring NAPO procedures and policies in accordance with the Monitoring Advice and Guidelines.

(iv) Arrangements

(a) To ensure that all venues used by NAPO for conferences, meetings and training are as safe as possible for women.

(v) Training

(a) To encourage and facilitate the maximum use of Training for Negotiators for women branch representatives; including specific training in use of the sex discrimination legislation.

(b) To promote and provide financial assistance for anti sexism, anti racism, anti heterosexism and anti disablism training for all NAPO committee members, and in NAPO branches.

6. NAPO as an Employer

As an employer of staff, the majority of whom are women, NAPO recognises the importance of setting a high standard of anti sexist practice as an employer.

Accordingly, NAPO will ensure that all the anti sexism policy objectives are applied as appropriate in respect of NAPO staff, and in particular will ensure:

(a) A gender balance in NAPO's employer/employee committees and working groups.

(b) That all staff undertake anti sexism, anti racism, anti heterosexism and anti disablism training.

(c) That conditions of service are reviewed regularly to ensure that they incorporate the safest working practices, and anti discriminatory conditions of service.

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Napo National Association of Probation Officers

4 Chivalry Road London SW11  1HT

Telephone : 0207-223 4887 Facsimile: 0207-223 3503

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