CEDAW
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CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO TASK FORCE FOR THE LOCAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
Minutes for November 20, 2002 meeting
CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL
Emily Murase, Chair, called the meeting to order.
TASK FORCE MEMBERS Present
Emily Murase, Chair, Commission on the Status of Women
Youmna Chlala, WILD for Human Rights
Ken Theisen, Bay Area Legal Aid
Sonia Melara, Arriba Juntos
Carmen Herrera, Human Rights Department
Maria Guillen, Local 790/Commission on Aging
Cosette Thompson, Amnesty International
DOSW Staff Attending
Ann Lehman
Members of the Public
Nancy Gonchar, Arts Commission
Dee Williams, Adult Probation Department
Arturo Faro, Adult Probation Department
Intern (Mary), WILD
ADOPTION OF AGENDA & MINUTES
Ken Theisen moved, Carmen Herrera seconded, the Task Force unanimously approved the agenda for the November 20, 2002 Task Force meeting.
Maria Guillen moved, Youmna Chlala seconded, and the Task Force unanimously approved the minutes from the October 23, 2002 Task Force meeting.
MONITORING REPORTS
SF ARTS COMMISSION CEDAW PROGRESS REPORT:
Nancy Gonchar, Deputy Director and CEDAW Task Force liaison from the SF Arts Commission, gave a progress report.
1) THE ARTS COMMISSION WILL MAKE AN EFFORT TO EVALUATE ALL ITS PROGRAMS, SERVICES AND OPERATIONS, WHICH INCLUDE GENDER AS ONE OF THE FOCUSES. WE WILL CONSIDER HIRING A CONSULTANT TO HELP US ESTABLISH A MEANINGFUL EVALUATION PROCESS AS WELL AS A SURVEY TOOL FOR EACH OF OUR PROGRAMS. THE COMMUNITY WILL BE INVOLVED IN THIS EVALUATION PROCESS.
The Arts Commission has begun an evaluation of all its programs, however, they have not yet determined how gender issues will be evaluated. Discussion followed that gender is more than counting how many women there are in any given program. Gender analysis speaks to meeting the needs of women and girls throughout San Francisco including the different race/ethnicities and other characteristics in all of the Arts Commissions programs and services. Departmental staff spoke of the variety of Arts Commission programs, particularly the Cultural Centers that focus on different ethnic groups and the vast outreach that is done for all panels for the Cultural Equity Grants in particular and that the panels are always very diverse. Despite the board outreach, similar groups do tend to be recipients of grants and/or projects, in part, due their expertise in applying for city funds and projects. The Task Force discussed increasing training/mentoring opportunities, even requiring this of organizations who receive large projects. WILD and DOSW staff both offered to assist with developing criteria for gender to be utilized in evaluations.
Larger art project commissions that include a lot of engineering work did tend to go to men who make up the bulk of the individuals and groups with this type of experience. The Task Force recommended that recipients of commission be strongly encouraged to participate with local artists who would be interested in gaining this experience. The Arts Commission committed to exploring this recommendation.
2) THE ARTS COMMISSION WILL CONTINUE ITS PRACTICE OF OFFERING STAFF FLEXIBILITY AND CONSIDER OFFERING MORE OPTIONS SUCH AS JOB SHARING, PART-TIME (MOST STAFF ARE FULL-TIME), COMPRESSED WORK WEEK; FORMAL TELECOMMUTING WHERE FEASIBLE, AND OTHER WORK-LIFE RESOURCES (MOST LIKELY IN CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS) SUCH AS CHILDCARE AND ELDER INFORMATION OR REFERRALS, ETC.
The Arts Commission found it difficult to develop innovative and flexible
policies in a small office when faced with the myriad of City, Department
of Human Resources, Civil Service and Memoranda of Understanding.
3) THE CEDAW TASK FORCE SHOULD TAKE A LEADERSHIP ROLE IN RECOMMENDING CITYWIDE POLICIES REGARDING GENDER EQUITY, AS WELL AS EMPLOYMENT FLEXIBILITY POLICIES.
Given that staff reported that it has been difficult for the department to expand upon the current flexibility and programs in place, the CEDAW Task Force encouraged looking to other departments that had gone beyond the standard policies, such as the Board of Supervisors, Adult Probation, and Office of Citizens Complaints. Due to budget constraints, the need for flexibility was increasing in areas such as job sharing, part time and telecommuting, all of which can save in costs.
4) THE DEPARTMENT WILL ALSO LOOK INTO THE ISSUE OF THE STREET ARTIST LOTTERY AND THE IMPACT ON PARENTS.
The Arts Commission revised the guidelines of the Street Artists Lottery, to accommodate parents of school age children and to allow for in-persons proxies to at early morning lotteries for Street Artists space.
5) THE DEPARTMENT WILL ASSESS THE NEED TO INITIATE A STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS.
The Arts Department has begun to initiate a strategic planning process and will consider including gender in he process. Ann Lehman offered to assist in this endeavor.
SF ADULT PROBATION DEPARTMENT CEDAW PROGRESS REPORT:
Dee Williams, Personnel Director and CEDAW Liaison, and Arturo Faro, Acting Division Director, from the San Francisco Adult Probation Department gave the following report.
WORK-LIFE POLICIES:
The Adult Probation expanded its formal telecommuting policies (in place in the Investigations unit for almost ten years) to the Community Services Unit. Three more employees are now telecommuting and their work product has increased, absenteeism has decreased, and office rent savings have been realized. Department staff were asked to submit a short report on how the program was expanded and the results in terms of cost savings and improvements to staff moral. Other programs include an extensive flextime option for employees to begin the workday anytime prior to 10 am and end the day anytime after 3:30 pm (with supervisor approval). As an example, department staff cited an assistant who has changed her schedule a number of times to ensure her ability to carpool.
DATA COLLECTION:
The entire Department data collection programs are being revamped with a sophisticated automatic system that will allow for obtaining disaggregated data by gender, race, and other attributes, on probationers.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE:
The Adult Probation has been working extensively with the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women to implement the recommendations from the DOSW's Justice and Courage Report. The work in this area is outlined in a report to COSW and the Mayor in November 2002. Of particular concern to the Task Force was the fact that the average number of cases per probation officer (109) was over double the initially envisioned caseload. The Chief Adult Probation Officer, despite pressures to cut their Department budget, remains committed to maintaining all programs for domestic violence and to make this area is a priority for the Department.
LANGUAGE ACCESS:
Department staff reported that employees with bilingual language ability are now compensated for this skill. Available languages now include Spanish, Chinese, Filipino, and Russian. Forms have been translated for these languages. Approximately 5% of the staff is bilingual.
GENDER SPECIFIC SERVICES:
The Department's Power and Network Programs that serve women with case management and drug abuse services continue to be model programs. All programs, however, are being threatened by the 3-9 percent budget cuts required by the Mayor's Office.
SAN FRANCISCO JUVENILE PROBATION DEPARTMENT
Staff of DOSW met with the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department staff and were given a report from the Juvenile Probation Department on their Girls Services Unit, Programs and Services for Young Women and Girls. The report highlights the expansion of girls services from 1997 when only one mentoring program in Juvenile Hall for girls existed, to presently over eight girls' service programs, a girls' service coordinator, two case managers specifically for girls, and two probation offices who focus on female caseloads, training for all staff on issues facing young women and girls, and funding in 2001-2002 totaling $769,000 (this does not reflect General Fund money and other resources that serve girls but are not gender specific).
SCHEDULE DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEM
ACTION ITEM: Schedule of CEDAW Task Force meetings for 2003.
Ken Theisen moved, Maria Guillen seconded, the Task Force unanimously approved the following meeting times for 2003. February 26, April 23 and June 25th, 2003 at 2 p.m.- 4 p.m.
CEDAW TRANSITION ISSUES DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEM
Revisions to CEDAW Ordinance
CEDAW Action Plan
The Task Force is due to sunset Dec. 31, 2002. However, legislation has been submitted by Supervisor Maxwell extending the time until June 30, 2003. Deputy Attorney Amy Ackerman is drafting a memo with some questions regarding the new CEDAW legislation, which will need to be resolved before moving forward with a revised ordinance that incorporates the Five-Year Action Plan. The group tentatively set Dec. 4 at 9:30 to meet and discuss the action plan and ordinance. DOSW is in the process of replacing policy analyst Rebecca Rolfe who was staffing this committee.
WORKING GROUP UPDATES
The Work/Life Working Group reported that the State of California Family Leave law has been enacted providing for partially paid benefits to any employee who qualifies through the State disability fund. In addition, Supervisor Daly's Parental Leave Charter Amendment a passed, which provides for 12 weeks of full-pay for city workers who become parents or guardians of a new child. These are both remarkable and unique new laws that are models for the rest of the country.
PUBLIC AWARENESS
There were no announcements of Upcoming Public Awareness Events.
UNITED STATES RATIFICATION OF CEDAW
UPDATE ON STATUS OF UNITED STATES RATIFICATION OF CEDAW. Given the recent November 2002 election there is no expectation that ratification will move forward.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None.
