The Board of Deputies this week launched its Gender Equality Plan.
The Honorary Officer team elected in May is in many ways diverse, with the youngest ever president, the first president from a part-Mizrachi background, two HOs under the age of 40, representation from progressive communities and from the regions, and with a vice president who has a registered disability.
However, as the Plan notes, it is “a serious challenge” that for the first time in 15 years there were no women elected to the Honorary Officer team.
This Gender Equality Plan has been created following two meetings of women Deputies hosted by the President during his first month in office. This was supplemented by data from an informal survey of women Deputies and further individual conversations. It has also taken in to account the recommendations of the Jewish Leadership Council’s 2012 Commission on Women in Jewish Leadership. The Honorary Officers then consulted further on this plan with Deputies, with the ambition to generate sustained action over the course of the next triennium. This will seek to enhance the representation of women in the organisation and make it fully inclusive and meritocratic in future.
President Phil Rosenberg said, “Our work to make the Board of Deputies more inclusive continues apace. Our internal election results in May may have given us an all-male Honorary Officer team for the first time in 15 years, but I am determined that the voices of women are heard are every level in our organisation. Our new Gender Equality Plan, produced in consultation with women Deputies, is a first for our organisation. Many of its provisions, including a changing culture, will make the organisation better for everyone. We have already started implementing many of its recommendations, including the appointment of two brilliant new independent chairs for our meetings, and I am delighted that women Deputies have put themselves forward for around 50% of positions in this weekend’s divisional elections. Gender equality is a very high priority for our team”.
Photo: Karen Newman and Dame Louise Ellman, the Board’s new independent plenary chairs