The UK Women and Work Commission's 43 Ways to Make a Fairer Future - Building Gender Balanced Business

1. A national strategy for tackling gender inequality in the education system, especially for under age 15: By March 2010

2. Inspect educational entities to ensure they meet standards, including challenging stereotypes, and sanctions for laggards: By end of 2011

3. Clarification of students' entitlements for vocational study as part of national effort to tackle gender inequality in education: By March 2010.

4. Implementation of approved minimum wage for apprentices: “As quickly and effectively as possible”

5. National Apprenticeship Service make advice available to all pupils, and such advice must be tailored to help non-traditional choosers find work after training: By March 2011

6. Buddy programme of work experience for girls in non-traditional areas, plus mentorships: By March 2011

7. Have primary schools work with businesses to work to set targets for placing members of the both sexes in traditionally male and female sectors: By March 2010.

8. Set up 2 work experience placements for pupils, with at least one in a non-traditional role: By March 2011.

9. Initiatives to combat gender stereotyping and segregation should be implemented: By March 2011.

10. Short-term exposure programmes in non-traditional sectors: By March 2011.

11. Produce and distribute “good-practice guide” with mention of benefits of non-traditional apprenticeships: By March 2011.

12. As part of improving all education, establish programme for training careers advisors to work in a non-gender stereotypical manner: By March 2011.

13. Careers advisors should be in place in all educational entities and trained (see No. 12) under the Continued Professional Development programme that focuses on challenging gender stereotyping.

14. Produce and distribute guide for pre-primary instructors on avoiding gender stereotyping: By March 2010.

15. Ensure that all career advice outline opportunities of all professions, including pay, as a means of fostering diversity and equality in education: By March 2010

16. Establish gender equality objectives for new Skills Funding Agency and for the Young People's Learning Agency: By March 2010, with report on results by March 2012.

17. Specific programme for reaching “those on the margins” and thus “least likely to demand 'support'”, as part of gender equality effort: By March 2010.

18. Use Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative for re-training, and then monitoring and reporting results: By March 2010

19. Push Sector Skills Councils to adopt co-ordinated and standard approach to (remedying) gender segregation: By March 2011.

20. Identify and adopt those approaches of Sector Skill Councils that have proved successful: By March 2010

21. Monitor the Train to Gain program: By March 2010

22. Learn better whether women have adequate access to part-time apprenticeships: By March 2010.

23. Set up monitoring and reporting programmes to make sure Adult Apprenticeships are supporting women: By March 2010.

24. Report on which colleges offer flexible courses: By March 2010.

25. Make sure work programmes are flexible: By March 2010.

26. Review the Quality Part-Time Work Fund to find which approaches worked best; “we expect considerable resources to be committed to this”: This year.

27. Develop training package for middle managers on flexible working issues, starting with government departments: This year, with government training done by March 2011.

28. Make sure Child Poverty Unit places people in high-quality part-time jobs: Immediately.

29. Work with companies to promote benefits of job-sharing, particularly at senior level: By March 2010.

30. Seek confirmation that the right to request flexible hours is not being held against women, including termination, and that it is being promoted for men and portrayed as beneficial to business: Results sought by March 2010.

31. Have the government show professional associations that do not offer pro-rata rates to part-time and sabbatical members the benefits that groups that do so reap: By Summer 2009.

32. Ascertain that government help is facilitating efforts by parents of children under age 3 to find child-care: By March 2011.

33. Ensure that initiatives aimed at facilitating child-care provision are functioning well: By March 2010.

34. Look into means of raising pay and professionalisation of childcare workers: By March 2011.

35. Encourage and assist women in starting their own enterprises: By March 2010.

36. Pair successful companies with laggards to allow the former to show the latter how to better reach at least one of such standards as wage equality, flexible working arrangements, ending occupational segregation, etc: In March 2010 to March 2011.

37. Government should support its new Gender Equality Check Tool: Summer 2009.

38. All public entities should verify and monitor their policies' impacts on women, with women involved in the assessment, with annual reports: Starting in March 2010

39. Expanded Equality and Human Rights Commission efforts to meet requirements in promoting the Gender Equality Duty: By March 2010.

40. All Government departments must continue to effort to fulfil the Public Service Agreement targets.

41. The Office of Government Commerce develops best practices and case studies concerning procurement, including gender equality issues as concern both parties to procurement: Distribute results starting in April 2010.

42. Establish greater consistency among Regional Development Agencies on tackling employment gender inequality, in particular promotion among part-timers: By March 2011.

43. Regional Development Agencies should make themselves links for local services, jobs and training opportunities between employers and women seeking work: By March 2011.