Gender

The gender proposal arose from group discussions at Shared Planet

The gender proposal received 66 votes in favour, 5 votes against and 12 abstentions.The strong agreement of this proposal indicates how many in the P&P network view gender equality as a crucial issue in fighting global poverty and injustice.

The proposal states that People & Planet should explicitly promote gender equality in all its work. This entails the creation of a policy on the promotion of gender equality, which would include a statement of People & Planet’s position on gender equality and agreed action for the promotion of gender issues within the network and externally.

It was agreed that a working group of P&P student members, office staff and Management Committee members would be set up to promote gender equality in People & Planet campaigns. The working group will also be responsible for creating an official policy on gender equality in People & Planet, and it will include training for staff members on how to promote gender issues.

The Management Committee feel the creation of a new policy for the promotion of gender equality is a good step forward for the People & Planet network.

Scotland

Activism in Edinburgh

The proposal to have a dedicated member of the Management Committee in Scotland received 39 votes in favour, 27 votes against and 15 abstentions. There was agreement at all of the SAWs that this position should remain flexible, so as not to restrict Scottish students running for the MC and not to restrict anyone taking the Scotland position if no-one in Scotland should run.

The Management Committee meeting decided that the proposal would be implemented using an NUS style voting system for the MC - under this system the Scottish seat is elected first, but any transfers from that competition go into the general race, and the losing candidate from Scotland (if there is one) competes on an even playing field with everyone else. If the Scotland member moves away from Scotland within two years, they should automatically have one of the other 5 places on the MC and the Scotland place should be opened to new Scotland based candidates.

Individual Membership

Image © Rich Lott

The proposal to introduce a People & Planet individual membership scheme received 36 votes in favour, 33 votes against and 9 abstentions .

The Management Committee decided that, although there were more votes in favour than against, the margin was not large enough to show consensus and overall support. Staff capacity at the People & Planet office would also not make it feasible to implement a membership scheme at this moment. Further the financial viability of a membership scheme is also unclear. Therefore, the introduction of membership is being reconsidered and postponed.

There were various reasons why people within the network opposed the proposal. However, the votes in favour, although it was very close, show that the network feel the issues hoped to be tackled through the proposed membership scheme are important and need to be addressed.