Challenge
The Agència de Qualitat i Avaluació Sanitàries de Catalunya (AQuAS) begins the process to develop an Equality Plan for the organization to allow progress in equal opportunities between women and men.
However, the Agency has the perception that gender inequalities within the organization are almost inexistent. This is justified by the fact that the workforce is highly feminized and that the work conditions of employees depend on the collective agreement of CatSalut, which is highly valued for protecting labour rights and conditions. In this way, the AQuAS business culture is seen as an advantage for women and a certain sensitivity towards equality between men and women is emphasized.
The first step in drawing up the Equality Plan is to carry out the organization’s gender-based Diagnosis that allows to identify inequalities and discrimination within the Agency, and thus weave a strategy to deal with it.
But, given this context, what can a gender diagnosis bring to an organization with such a feminized workforce?
Answer
The Diagnosis is structured, according to the recommendations of the Department of Labour, Social Affairs and Families of the Generalitat de Catalunya, in the following areas of analysis:
The analysis has allowed to identify the challenges of AQuAS in terms of equality between women and men. Despite the perception of an advantageous context for women, the Diagnosis indicates that equality between women and men is not yet effective within this organization. In the Agency, as in many other organizations, inequalities in the labour market and in society in general are reproduced and specific measures are needed to tackle them.
The process of preparing the Equality Plan is seen as an opportunity to formalize the will to promote real equality and to finish consolidating issues that are currently informally or not properly processed, such as guaranteeing non-sexist communication or having a protocol prevention and intervention in cases of harassment.
