NEWS | LEARN

The European Union programme for employment and social solidarity PROGRESS is a key instrument to support a modern, effective and innovative EU employment and social policy. Anti-discrimination is one of five priority areas of the programme, which invests around 20 million EUR per year in new studies, awareness raising and events between 2007 and 2013.
The 2010 PROGRESS performance report (in German, English or French) gives a full account of the programme's contribution to the achievement of its mission. It provides an overview of the deliverables produced in 2010, as well as their use by and benefits for policymakers, social partners, NGOs and other stakeholders across the EU.
The report containing the survey results of the SWitch CETT Project “Diversifying the South West Further Education & Training Workforce (September 2010)” is now available to download.
This survey was conducted on behalf of the SWitch CETT by the School of Education at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) in collaboration with the Western Training Providers Network (WTPN) during the academic year 2009/10. Its aim was to evaluate the implementation in the South West of the Government’s 2007-12 “Workforce Strategy for the Further Education Sector in England” and offer recommendations for improvement in related practice.
The ‘Diversity Management’ training course, the main result of Learn+ project, is already being tested. In Learning South West agroup started on the 7th March, and two other groups are following.
In AHE (Poland), Gazi University (Turkey), FDEP (Switzerland) and AidLearn (Portugal), the course will be provided during April. For more information, please go to ‘Logbook’ section or contact the partner nearest to you.
In New York, the United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Social Policy and Development just published the results of the study ‘Men in Families: and Family Policy in a Changing World’, which you can access here (in English) . This publication aims to promote the knowledge of trends affecting families and incresae awareness of family issues among Governments, as well as in the private sector. It is also hoped that the study will stimulate efforts to develop family-oriented policies focusing attention upon the rights and responsibilities of all family members.
On the 8^th March 2011, was celebrated, for the 100^thtime, the International Woman Day. You can access the Declaration of that day, in French, on and the Eurostat release, with figures on the subject, on
The 5^th March 2011 was the first ‘European Day of Equal Salary’, between men and women. In average, on European Union, women earn less 17.5% then man through out life, doing the same jobs. To have more information on this subject, please go to http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=681
There was, in New York, the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, between 22^nd February and 4^th March 2011. To see more information on the subject, please consult
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/55sess.htm
In Portugal will be launched a new GAM – Grupo de Ajuda Mútua (Mutual Help Group), in Porto, in February. These GAMs are created with the intervention of Psychology School of Minho University and CIG (Comissão para a Cidadania e Igualdade de Género – Commission to Citizenship and Gender Equality). The subscriptions are open, to (+351) 222074370 or gam.uminho.cig@gmail.com
The Fatherhood Institute, in the UK, just published the Fatherhood Report 2010-11, regarding the Fairness in Families Index. In the top 10 rank, there are 9 European Countries. For more detailed results, please go to the report, on http://www.cite.gov.pt/pt/destaques/complementosDestqs/FI-FiFI-Report-2010_FINAL.pdf

REGUS, a main supplier to innovative solutions in working spaces, has published the results of a study regarding the hiring of working mums. This study was performed on more than 10.000 enterprises all over the world. The main conclusion is that the proportion of enterprises considering hiring more working mums diminished a fifth comparing with the same period last year. This result is not good for the equality of gender in the labor market; also, the questionnaire presented by Regus addresses only working mothers, but there is an increasing number of active fathers also working, and maybe it is a good idea t incorporate in this study questions addressing working fathers too. For detailed results, please go to the report on http://www.cite.gov.pt/pt/destaques/complementosDestqs/FULL_WhitePaper_Mothers_Day.pdf

It was published in Portugal, Diário da Republica, the IV National Plan to Equality, Gender, Citizenship and Non-discrimination, 2011-2013, on the 18th January. This Plan includes 97 measures that should be implemented nationally, around 14 strategic areas. For reading the Plan, in Portuguese, please go to http://www.cite.gov.pt/asstscite/downloads/IV_PNI_2011_2013.pdf

In Portugal, CIG – Comissão para a Cidadania e a Igualdade de Género (Commission to Citizenship and Gender Equality) published a 2011 agenda which includes written texts evocating moments of women determination in fighting for their rights, social, political and civic, like the commemoration of the one hundred years anniversary of Carolina Beatriz Ângelo, the first woman to vote in South America.
Learning support for disabled learners: Application of the National Occupational Standards for Learning Support Staff (June 2010)
Teaching disabled learners: an application of the new professional standards for teachers, tutors and trainers (June 2010)
The Comissão para a Igualdade no Trabalho e no Emprego – CITE is organising an International Conference “IGUALDADE PROFISSIONAL COMO FACTOR DE CRESCIMENTO” (Professional equality as growing factor) on the 10th November, in Teatro da Trindade, Lisbon, Portugal. Please contact conferencia@cite.gov.pt if you would like to attend.

The European Commission published recently a book on an study “The Gender Pay Gap in Europe from a Legal Perspective”, which is available in English , French and German .

“Diversity Management in Brazil.
The management of diversity is an important issue not only in Europe. In Brazil, a very big country with many diverse cultures and people from all around the world, this subject is part of everyday life. Diversity management is crucial to the performance on organizations, and there is vocational training available to managers. Handling the best way with diversity is considered, too, a matter of education, and is included in some university courses. You can take a look at a short movie produced and directed by university students, on Diversity Management, from the Federal University of Viçosa. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m614cKJaUWg”

Diversifying the UK South West teaching and training workforce.

In Portugal, the CIG – Comissão para a Cidadania e a Igualdade de Género (Commission to citizenship and gender equality) is promoting, and financing through POPH – Programa Operacional do Potencial Humano (Operational Program of Human Potential), training courses on Equal Opportunities to all, specially to both genders. These training courses aim to make the Portuguese society handling better the diversity of people, namely men and women, in labour and personal life. Therefore, they promote training courses to vocational trainers and teachers, 72 hours long, so these professionals can pass these ideas and behaviours to all their learners. And CIG also promotes training courses, 42 hours long, to key professionals, such as managers, judges, in order for them to put in practice the behaviours and procedures that promote an effective diversity (two genders) management.