Women leaders in social care discuss their work on SC-WRES this International Women’s Day
08 Mar 2024
3 min read
- Culture and diversity
- Good news story
- Skills for Care
This #GoodNewsFriday and in honour of International Women’s Day we hear from four women leaders in social care about their important and inspirational work on the SC-WRES.
The Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard (SC-WRES) is an improvement programme which has been designed for social care organisations to achieve anti-racist workplaces. It comprises of nine benchmarks which organisations can use to measure the experiences of people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds, and to make improvements.
We hear from Tricia Pereira, Co-chair of the Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard Advisory Group, Gerry McMurdie and Sophie Chester-Glyn - two members of the advisory group, and Liz Fergus who leads on equality, diversity and inclusion work at Hertfordshire Council, who has been involved with the SC-WRES since the pilot phase.
They each share their experiences working with the SC-WRES and what this means to them as Black women leaders in social care.
Tricia highlights that the theme for International Women’s Day has a synergy with SC-WRES, stating that International Women’s Day belongs to everyone and so does the SC-WRES.
She says:
Inclusion means everything for everybody, and it ensures that everybody’s valued and everybody feels that they belong and that they’re listened to and heard. Taking collective action and shared ownership for not only driving gender parity but also race equity and equality, that’s what makes International Women’s Day and SC-WRES so powerful.
Gerry says that the opportunity to work as part of the advisory group for SC-WRES was an opportunity to really address inequity in social care for people who draw on care, and people who work in or aspire to work in care.
She highlighted the importance of the SC-WRES in ensuring social care is an inclusive sector to work in, where everyone can feel they belong, and she added that she thinks the SC-WRES is already starting to have a positive impact on recruitment and retention for the sector.
Speaking of International Women’s Day, Sophie said that she feels there’s not enough recognition for the amazing work that all women working in social care do, and that International Women’s Day is a good opportunity to highlight the vital role of women working in care.
Turning her attention to the SC-WRES, Sophie says that for her it is inspiring. She says:
I’m able to think about how we’re supporting people within our own organisation in everything we do.
She adds that she feels lucky to be surrounded by women who inspire and support others, and that the SC-WRES is a key opportunity to support people and better understand people’s experiences.
Liz discusses her experience as one of the first local authorities to start utilising the SC-WRES. She says:
It was really positive that we’ve been able to use SC-WRES as a focal point for highlighting and establishing that challenges exist…and take some active work to address those challenges.
Watch the video ‘Inspiring change through the Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard’ – a conversation with Tricia Pereira, Gerry McMurdie, Sophie Chester-Glynn, and Liz Fergus’.
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