Notes from the workshop on women in governance: FE Staff Governors’ Conference 2013

Caring responsibilities
We discussed what some of the challenges are for women staff governors in FE. One of the first issues to arise was that of caring responsibilities – both for children and for elderly parents. One interesting point to arise out of this discussion was that staff governors should/could claim expenses for childcare. Some of the workshop participants had done this whereas others had no idea that this was possible. It was suggested that information about expenses should be made more widely available, not just to existing governors but to prospective governors as worries about childcare may  put women off applying. 
The discussion about caring responsibilities also encompassed the issue of timings of meetings. We discussed whether having set times, scheduled a year in advance was more useful for those with caring responsibilities or whether a more flexible approach (discussing best times for next meeting with the governing body and moving the times around to suit different people) is better.
Role models
The fact that there are so few role models was cited as a barrier to some women governors. 
Recruitment
We also talked about the role of the search committee. One woman participant was on the search committee but no one else was and no one else knew how they could get involved in the search committee. Actively pushing to get involved in the search committees was a suggested action arising from this discussion.
Trust
Some issues about trust came out of the discussion which were quite surprising. Some participants talked about the lack of trust on the part of the other governors (eg. parts of the agenda and some of the papers being confidential and staff governors being excluded from those discussions). Others talked forcefully about how little trust they had in the other governors and gave examples of being very badly treated (eg. shouted at) in meetings. Examples were also given of governing bodies lying about the union agreeing pay deals etc. 
Isolation
Feeling isolated was a common theme. It was suggested that staff governors should make more use of the “observer” role – eg. staff governors could invite a UCU rep as an observer who would not be able to speak in the meeting but would be able to challenge any misinformation about pay agreements at a later date.
It was  suggested at the end that perhaps a way of addressing the feelings of isolation and a way of sharing experiences/best practice would be for UCU to organise a network or an online forum to allow women staff governors to stay in touch with each other and turn to each other for support. Charlotte Neilson UCU Equalities and Participation Dept  agreed to contact those who participated in the workshop to set up a network to allow ongoing communication.