jackdalton jackdalton

From the outside, the message reads as a simple brag-about-colleague and a well-done. Perhaps some thing do exactly what they say on the box?

Paul Paul

Yes he would.

jackdalton jackdalton

Agreed. But isn't it a bit ungenerous to slap people about for not saying things only in the way *we* feel they should be said? PC anyone? :-)

Helen Helen

In response to S's comment, the Women's Unit (now Women and Equality Unit) has been promoting the principle of 'gender mainstreaming' since its inception in 1997. The key difference is that by tying the practice to PSA targets, Brown is giving the WEU real leverage across Whitehall. Where before they relied on persuasion and the presence of enthusiastic champions in the big spending departments to embed gender in working practices, WEU staff can now make a robust 'business case' to ministers and civil servants. You're right to be cynical though, and I for one am not satisfied that beating departments with a Treasury stick will necessarily solve all the problems - just look at other attempts to 'mainstream' using the PSA targets as levers, eg Neighbourhood Renewal - not a shining example at all. Government departments are huge, complex beasts, and it'll take more than an announcement from Gordon Brown to make policy genuinely women-friendly.

Will Davies

Over at iSociety, we've been fighting the good fight for equality for over a year now. Witness Mr. Crabtree use the 'M' word with reference to Mr. Roberts...
http://www.theisociety.net/archives/000184.html

Lydia Howland

Isn't the danger here that the quality of 'modesty' per se becomes a bad thing? We become reluctant to describe people as 'modest' for fear of offending them when, objectively, modesty is typically a good quality and should be encouraged in both sexes?

That aside, Helen's article is excellent and deserves our congratulation.

Duncan O' Leary

There's a poll in the Times today which shows that men are generally more favourable in their views towards Gordon Brown than are women...interesting implications for 'gender spending'.