The GELLM research programme was funded through a core European Social Fund grant supplemented with ‘match funding’ from the Equal Opportunities Commission, the TUC and 12 English local authorities. It was conceived in 2002, and developed in close cooperation with the project partners, who provided advice, research access and information throughout, and organised and participated in a range of specially arranged events and activities at which the GELLM local research findings were presented. These events were designed to raise local awareness of gender and local labour market issues, to advise practitioners, policy makers and other interested parties on local issues and their significance for local priorities, and to consider how the research findings could be fed into local policies and developments.

The GELLM research programme produced a substantial body of evidence about women's and men's positions in the labour market in England, drawing on extensive analysis of official statistics and other documentation, and evidence collected in six new research studies. In addition to 12 Gender Profiles of local labour markets (Buckner et al, 2004a–i, 2005a, 2005b, 2006), the GELLM policy-focused output comprised six new Local Research Studies (LRS) focused on:

• • Women's part-time employment (LRS1 Working below potential: women and parttime work, Grant et al, 2005, 2006g–l, carried out in six local authorities); based on 333 women who provided personal information (89 of whom were also interviewed face-to-face), interviews with 22 senior managers, and discussion meetings with 29 trade union representatives from nine different unions, plus additional statistical analysis.

• • The difficulty some women face in accessing paid work (LRS2 Connecting women with the labour market, Grant et al, 2006a–f, carried out in five local authorities); this study involved further statistical work, mainly using the 2001 Census, face-to-face discussions with 101 local women, and interviews with 51 representatives of local organisations.

• • The experiences of women from different ethnic groups in accessing the labour market and progressing within it (LRS3 Ethnic minority women and access to the labour market, Stiell and Tang, 2006a–e; Yeandle et al, 2006j, carried out in six local authorities); based on extensive statistical work at the local level, workshop-based research with 93 local women in the areas studied, and secondary analysis of local documentation.