Creating a Feminist Government

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 21 May 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:00, 21 May 2019

Llywydd, the Member will welcome, I'm sure, the fact that the latest figures on the gender pay gap show that it is falling, not rising, in Wales. It fell from 16 per cent in 2016 to 15 per cent in 2017 to 14 per cent in 2018. Much too big, of course, but, unlike the way in which her question began, those figures are heading in the right direction and I know that she'll be keen to support them falling further and faster still. 

She asked for some specifics, things that we want to make sure that we see happen here in Wales. Again, I'm sure she will welcome the fact that the Welsh Government provides paid leave for victims of domestic abuse, as initiated by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, and that we are taking steps to make sure that that entitlement is better known and better advertised amongst staff, and that we are discussing it with our trade union colleagues because we want to make sure that, beyond the Assembly, that paid leave is available more widely in our public services.

And we want to go beyond that as well, so we will be discussing with our social partners ways in which other forms of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence are recognised in the workplace, that managers are properly trained to be able to recognise the signs, that they know how they are able to signpost people to get the help that they need, and that the costs involved in all of that are recognised by employers here in Wales as part of our effort to create that more equal Wales that the former First Minister mentioned in his first question.