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Gender Equity Framework (community facing)

Young male and female couple cooking dinner

Gender equity recognises that within all communities and organisations, women, men, and gender diverse people have different needs, access to power, resources, and responsibilities. To ensure fairness, strategies must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and social disadvantages, which have prevented a level playing field.

Gender equity leads to gender equality, where there are equitable rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for people of all sexes and genders.

Gender inequality is a precondition of violence against women, and, therefore, in order to prevent this violence, we need to address gender inequality. Women who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and disadvantage are at greater risk of violence and have greater difficulty accessing support.

Monash Council is committed to promoting gender equity in our community and our organisation, and ensuring that people of all genders enjoy the same opportunities, rights and respect.

Monash Council has also developed a Gender Equality Action Plan, which is a workforce facing Plan that sets out high level key objectives and actions to ensure that Council continues to exceed its obligations under the Gender Equality Act 2020.

About the Framework

Gender Equity Framework (community facing)

Following consultation with our community and across Council, Monash Council has developed a Gender Equity Framework which includes a policy statement, principles and recommendations to ensure that Council continues to exceed its obligations under the Gender Equality Act 2020 and to our community.

The recommendations are that Council:

Continue to embed actions that promote gender equity and prevent violence against women and family violence in future iterations of the Monash Health and Wellbeing Plan and Council Plan, to ensure integration and alignment with other parts of Council.
Continue to utilise the diverse skills and experiences within the Gender Equity Advisory Committee (GEAC) and seek opportunities to combine consultation with other advisory committees and the community to support an intersectional approach to our work.
Ensure that gender equity is a focus for the whole of Council. Prioritise actions in – but do not limit them to – the 5 settings that our community has told us are most important to them, which are: health, family, and community organisations; education and care settings for children and young people; sports, recreation, social, and leisure spaces; public spaces, transport, infrastructure, and facilities; and Universities, TAFEs and other tertiary education institutions.
Pilot new and strengthen existing intersectional gender equity activities, particularly in relevant language(s) with our multicultural and faith-based communities, and for our LGBTIQA+ communities, people with a disability, and young people and older community members.
Continue to acknowledge and publicise the link between gender inequality and the prevention of violence against women and family violence. Make it clear how our work in gender equity aligns with the goal to prevent violence against women and family violence.
Increase community knowledge of new and existing service providers for violence against women and family violence assistance and support.
Provide training for Council staff and Councillors in gender equity and prevention of violence against women and family violence. Work with internal staff on Council’s Gender Impact Assessments, Gender Equality Action Plan, and other requirements of the Gender Equality Act 2020.
Embed Gender Impact Assessments in Council processes so that they become ‘business as usual’ across Council on all policies, programs and services that have a direct and significant impact on the community. This includes asking for gender-disaggregated data as a standard minimum during consultation, and intersection data, particularly on sex, where supported by research and allowed under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014.
Continue to work with new and existing partners to implement this Framework, and to seek out initiatives and funding opportunities as they arise to support our work.