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City and County of San FranciscoDepartment on the Status of Women

Meeting Information



CEDAW

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CEDAW TASK FORCE

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

 

DRAFT

Minutes for November 28, 2001 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

Cosette Thompson, Amnesty International

Maria Elena Guillen, Commission on Aging /Local 790

Ken Theisen, Bay Area Legal Aid

Carmen Herrera, Human Rights Commission

Angela Calvillo, Board of Supervisors

Sarah He, Board of Supervisors

DOSW Staff Attending

Ann Lehman, DOSW

Rebecca Rolfe, DOSW

ADOPTION OF AGENDA & MINUTES

Ken Theisen moved, Maria Elena Guillen seconded, and the Task Force unanimously approved the minutes from the October 26, 2001 retreat. Ken Theisen moved, Maria Guillen seconded and the Task Force unanimously approved the agenda for November 28, 2001 meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

  • DISCUSSION / ACTION ITEM: Review and approve Work Plan for 2002 and establish working group assignment for Task Force members. DOSW staff Rebecca Rolfe reviewed the draft of the CEDAW Task Force Work Plan for 2002 with goals, objectives, timeline, and action steps. Ken Theisen moved, Maria Elena Guillen seconded, and the Task Force unanimously approved the attached work plan with a notation to correct a few of the timelines and an understanding that the timelines are goals that may change once established work groups review their assignments. A sign-up sheet for Task Force members was circulated.

Goal #1: Improve the quality of life of women and girls in San Francisco by ending discrimination

Outcome: Institutionalize CEDAW in City of San Francisco by developing and implementing a Five-Year Action Plan.

Goal #2: To increase awareness and understanding of CEDAW principles and support for the Five-Year CEDAW Action Plan within City Departments and the San Francisco community.

Outcome: Conduct educational presentations and a public hearing to provide information on CEDAW principles and the CEDAW Five-Year action plan, and receive community feedback.

Goal #3: To improve the effectiveness of the City department's implementation of the recommendations included in the Gender Analysis. Outcome: Measurable achievements reported to the Task Force through monitoring and follow up with City Departments who have completed the Gender Analysis.

Goal #4: To improve/expand/publicize work life options for employees who work within the public and private sectors of San Francisco.

Outcome: To increase public awareness of work life options for employees throughout the public & private sectors of San Francisco; to publish best practices report on work life policies.
  • DISCUSSION / ACTION ITEM: Establish Task Force meeting schedule for 2002. Ken Theisen moved, Carmen Herrera seconded, and the Task Force unanimously approved the following meeting times for 2002. Each meeting will take place at City Hall (room to be announced per Sarah He) from 2:30-4:30 p.m.

January, 23, February 27, April 24, June 26, July 24, September 25, November 20. A public hearing date for presentation of the Five-Year Action Plan to the Board of Supervisors to be announced.
  • DISCUSSION / ACTION ITEM: Adoption of the Adult Probation Gender Analysis Reports and recommendations including CEDAW Task Force response. The Task Force reviewed the Adult Probation Department's Gender Analysis Report, along with its appendix and questions and answers to a series of questions regarding their domestic violence work. Ken Theisen moved, Maria Elena Guillen seconded, and the Task Force unanimously approved the acceptance of the gender analysis report with the understanding that the Task Force would prepare its own response to the report and questions.

The Task Force was impressed with the Adult Probation's incorporation of many previous concerns, namely:
    1. the information reviewed in data collection about Adult Probation "services,"
    2. the adjustment to qualifications of probation officers to ensure an equitable recruitment effort,
    3. information on use of interpretative services, and
    4. an effort to answer the Task Force's domestic violence questions.

Also noted were some of the best practices such as the Power and Network programs for women probationers who have drug and alcohol problems, telecommuting programs, and a diverse workforce, especially the high number of women probation officers, a nontraditional employment occupation for women.

Significant concerns about the Department's CEDAW implementation remain. Some of the Department's most innovative and successful programs, such as the Network and Power programs for women probationers are reliant on grant funds. Language access is still an issue as language capacity, even on phone messages, is primarily limited to English and Spanish. Gender is not considered during preparation of the department's budget, and it appears that women are over represented in lower paid administrative positions.

Specific Task Force concerns about the Adult Probation Department's policies and practices regarding domestic violence cases included:

    1. Overload in assignment of cases to Probation Officers (PO), the ideal caseload is 50. Currently DV Unit POs are carrying 94 cases each.
    2. Shortage of Staff for specialized units relative to the number of cases in that area of specialization and lack of attention to an assessment of the seriousness of the past and potential re-offense.
    3. Concerns about DV Probation Officers training. Much of the training appears to be voluntary and based on availability of funds.
    4. The tracking of DV cases and re-offenses.
    5. The inability to know if a probationer re-offends, and once they are aware of a new offense, protocols for responding.

6) Contact with victims/survivors. In particular, what kind of communication do they have, how are victim/survivors referred to intervention and other services, how does the PO preserve the safety of the victim/survivors?

Lastly, the Task Force noted the Department's concern that they were not made aware of all of Task Force members particular interests until the report was presented at a meeting and that it would have been helpful to have Task Force members attend meetings with DOSW staff as the work progressed. Better communication at the beginning of the gender analysis will be addressed in the final CEDAW Task Force Recommendations and Action Plan.

 

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

  • DISCUSSION / ACTION ITEM: Review and approve 6th CEDAW Task Force Progress report. Ken Theisen moved, Carmen Herrera seconded, and the Task Force unanimously approved the 6th CEDAW Task Force report with the understanding that it would include the Adult Probation's Final Gender Analysis and response, a summary of the first two department's gender analysis and recommendations, and be circulated as soon as possible to the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors. The Task Force designated Ken Theisen and Emily Murase to review and approval the report prior to circulation.

Also discussed was the presentation of the report to the commissions or governing bodies of all six departments that have undergone gender analysis during the next two calendar years.
  • DISCUSSION / ACTION ITEM: Staff reported on public awareness campaign.

DOSW staff Ann Lehman met with Michele Y. Stanners, Regional Director, The Council of Canadian Unity, Calgary, Alberta regarding the implementation of CEDAW in San Francisco.

DOSW staff Ann Lehman and Rebecca Rolfe along with Cosette Thompson met with "Women's Advocacy in the United States," a program of The Asian Foundation. The meeting focused on the adoption an implementation of CEDAW. A variety of Korean Women's groups, including Jung Chouns-sook, Korea Women's Hot Line, Park Bong Jeong-Sook, Womenlink, Young Ju, and Seoul Women Workers' Association (SWWA) participated.

DOSW staff Ann Lehman gave info and technical assistance to Professor Isabella Bakker from Canada who is working with the UN on gender analysis of budgets.

The following items concern the Work-Life Project.

  • Maria Guillen reported that a meeting has been set up with Local 790 and other unions to discuss the employee needs assessment.
  • DOSW staff Ann Lehman sent information on the work-life report to a variety of policy groups. A press release was sent to both DOSW's list of neighborhood and ethnic newspapers. The Mayor's office also sent it to the press fax list.
  • DOSW staff Ann Lehman attended a seminar by One Small Step on making the business case for work-life options. Handed out at the conference was a report on their study of the work-life practices of San Clara workers, including the private and public sectors, called The Bay Area Work/Life Inventory.
  • DOSW staff Ann Lehman and intern Jennifer Mitchell gave a presentation for a graduate class at SFSU (Sonia Melara's) on work-life options.
  • Article on the Work-Life Report appeared in the SF Independent newspaper in November, 2001.

There were two requests for presentations regarding the adopting of CEDAW locally: one from the Commission on the Status of Women in Santa Clara and the other from the YWCA of Palo Alto.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Included above.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Cosette Thompson gave an update on the national work being done on adopting CEDAW in the U.S. For the short time between a change in the majority of the U.S. Senate leadership (from Republicans to Democrats) and 9/11 there was a move to bring the adoption of the U.N. CEDAW treaty up for hearings. This has taken a back seat to the events of 9/11 but will be an issue again in the spring of 2002.

 

ADJOURN

Meeting Adjourned at 4:55 p.m.