Gender

MS 1579/2/16

Gender

1988 - 2009

Copyright: Barrow Cadbury Trust and others

Partially Closed (Data Protection Act)

Organisations involved: Barrow Cadbury Trust, Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd., Gender Programme.

Previous titles and/or title variations: n/a.

Related grant categories: equal opportunities, Northern Ireland; inclusive communities.

Dates of use: 1993/1994 to 2002/2003.

Cadbury Trusts grant subject filing reference number(s): n/a.

The gender grant category emerged primarily from equal opportunities work carried out in the early 1990s by the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust. Prior to the merger of the trusts in 1994 equal opportunities grants were made in three key areas: race, gender and disability. Dipali Chandra was influential in raising the profile of this second category within the Trust. The new gender heading incorporated ongoing gender themed grants from the defunct equal opportunities and Northern Ireland categories. The Gender Programme was created to supervise grant making in this area under Relevant Trustees Ruth Cadbury, Anna Southall and Catherine Hickinbotham.

Trustees were initially undecided as to the remit of the gender category. Following a policy review it was agreed to concentrate grant making in this area on, 1) women led initiatives which enable women to take a full part in the creation of a more equal, just and democratic society with priority given to West Midlands applicants, 2) applications which can effect change at a national level in policy, practice, attitudes and opinions on gender equality and women's rights, and, 3) Northern Ireland grants focusing on women-led, rural-based projects and to raising the profile of gender inequality on the public and political agenda. These aims remained consistent throughout the operation of the Gender Programme.

During its first year the Gender Programme approved grants totalling £246,400 to thirty-five grantees, including £68,400 for Northern Ireland women's projects. By 1997/1998 expenditure had increased to £328,856.69 distributed among thirty-eight recipients. In its final year, 2002/2003, the Gender Programme committed £457,950 to twenty-one grantees. Until 2001/2002 the Trust recorded women's Northern Ireland grants as a subheading of the Gender Programme. Relative to other programme expenditure gender spending remained consistent and moderate. For 2002/2003 Gender Programme expenditure exceeded that spent on community organising and penal affairs but amounted to less than the allocations for asylum, immigration and resettlement, justice and peace or disability. The Fund was rarely called upon to support gender grants.

Gender grant files first appear in the early 1990s with the preponderance of grants administered by Dipali Chandra. The preponderance of Chandra's grant files are labelled with a simple alphanumeric code, for instance, 'B/7' denotes the letter 'B'/the seventh grant from an organisation beginning with 'B' (in this case Birmingham for People). A number of filing variations will be encountered among these files. Copy minutes from the Gender Programme may appear in grant files in addition to relevant Trust or Fund minutes.

In 2003/2004 the gender category was deleted as part of a further reorganisation of grant categories. Most grants made under this heading, together with those from other defunct programmes including disability and racial justice, were transferred to the new Inclusive Communities Programme.