Part of 2. Questions to the Leader of the House and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 3:05 pm on 14 November 2018.
Thank you, and thank you for pointing out the EHRC report, 'Is Wales Fairer?', highlighting some very concerning statistics on levels of female participation in Welsh society. In Wales, women continue to be severely under-represented in public roles. In 2015-16, only 14 per cent of local government chief executives in Wales were women, despite making up 73 per cent of overall local authority positions. In our emergency services, 33 per cent of chief fire officers and deputies were women—that's 50 per cent workforce—whilst just 29 per cent of all police officers are female. Furthermore, the report also highlights that gender inequality is increasing, with seven out of 10 mothers in Wales reporting to have had a negative or possibly discriminatory experience after returning to work from maternity leave. Such negative experiences may go some way to explain why women are so under-represented in our public services. Ruth Coombs, the head of EHRC in Wales, has argued that it is now time for the action to be taken by the Welsh Government, and that you need to take a lead. Therefore, could you outline exactly what actions you are taking as a result of that report, and how are you showing strong leadership in that regard?