{"id":68326,"date":"2016-03-08T14:14:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T14:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=16f47a417e12a173ca5396a01db17178"},"modified":"2016-03-08T14:14:57","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T14:14:57","slug":"speech-international-womens-day-matt-hancock-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=68326","title":{"rendered":"Speech: International Women’s Day: Matt Hancock speech"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It\u2019s a great privilege to be here today with you all, and it\u2019s a joy to be hearing from these inspirational public servants. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been an MP for nearly 6 years now, and I\u2019ve spent a fair amount of time here in Portcullis House.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s named after a Tudor badge that has been the symbol for our Parliament for over 500 years. It denotes fortitude, strength and stability. <\/p>\n

Castles and ramparts and gates have for millennia been erected to keep people out. That is a perception we must change.<\/p>\n

In my first speech as Cabinet Office Minister I said that to govern modern Britain, the Civil Service has to be more like modern Britain. <\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s a matter of social background, or gender, or ethnicity, or sexual orientation, we must end the injustice of unfair discrimination.<\/p>\n

Indeed one of the reasons I\u2019m in public service is because I passionately believe that everyone should have the chance to reach their potential, whatever their background. <\/p>\n

I came to Westminster to fight for that principle and I intend to do so with every tool at my disposal.<\/p>\n

I want my daughter to have every opportunity that my sons have. And like all of you here today, I pledge to do my duty to build a world in which all can succeed. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud of this great feminist cause, and I\u2019m proud to call myself a feminist in making that pledge.<\/p>\n

This is a moral quest. Indeed I believe it to be a self-evident, cornerstone British value. <\/p>\n

We are all individuals with strengths, weaknesses, hopes and dreams. For each of us these things add up to the unique contribution that every one of us can make. <\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s a moral quest, but it is also deeply practical.<\/p>\n

My core mission as Cabinet Office Minister is to help the government deliver more than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n

A crucial and integral part of that is opening our doors to the best talent, making sure all people have the opportunity to grow and excel.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good business sense to bring in as many different ways of thinking as possible. Difference promotes innovation and strength. <\/p>\n

International Women\u2019s Day is a chance to hold up a mirror to ourselves. To do so we must take a good hard look at where we are, where we need to go, and how we get there.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s look at where we are. Today, women make up 54% of our civil servants. A record 44% of new public appointments last year were women. <\/p>\n

The Bridge report<\/a> I commissioned recently found that we\u2019re improving gender access to the upper echelons of the civil service. <\/p>\n

Since the launch of the Talent Action Plan<\/a> in 2014 we\u2019ve improved support for returning mothers, increased the number of job shares, and put a halt to all-male interview panels.<\/p>\n

But as you climb higher the numbers get worse. 60% of junior employees are women, but only 40% of the Senior Civil Service. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s striking that in 1996 \u2013 the year the portcullis was officially recognised as Parliament\u2019s emblem \u2013 the figure was less than half that. <\/p>\n

Research shows the gender pay gap is closing, and in some cases has closed. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re making progress, and this should be celebrated. But parity hasn\u2019t yet been reached everywhere, and so there is more to do. <\/p>\n

First, we must turn our commitment to equal opportunities in public leadership roles into meaningful action.<\/p>\n

I want to see an end to single-sex shortlists and selection panels for public appointments. Whilst this is currently the case in the majority of competitions, I want it to be the standard across the board. <\/p>\n

This shows we\u2019re serious about gender parity, and I hope that the private sector takes notice and follows suit.<\/p>\n

Next, our new digital advisory group for the government\u2019s digital revolution<\/a> is made up of 50% men and 50% women. And we intend to have more women on boards in the future.<\/p>\n

I want more women to consider a career in the Civil Service, and I want those that are here to be proud of their job and their achievements. <\/p>\n

So we\u2019re going to make the selection and promotion process as transparent and fair as possible by tackling bias, conscious or otherwise, and making name-blind recruitment standard.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot more to do, and I\u2019m going to set out our full strategy to boost social mobility in the Civil Service in the spring. <\/p>\n

So, to those storming the ramparts of injustice, I support you. Let us tear down these barriers to fairness for all.<\/p>\n

Today is an important day but one day isn\u2019t enough. We must make sure our top institutions are bastions of equality and opportunity.<\/p>\n

They must be exemplars for the society we want to build. A society where everyone has the chance to succeed, and to serve their country. <\/p>\n

And I hope that you too will continue to be standard bearers for that society.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minister for the Cabinet Office, Matt Hancock, gave a speech on increasing opportunities for women and ending single-sex shortlists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}