Dear Virginia,
Thanks for your response and further request. I would like to commend the
fact that you are looking at Equality and Diversity issues for your
institution. This is a practice that I would advise all institutions to
adopt, though it is pertinent to point out that when we do this, we must
make sure that all the areas that constitute equality and diversity, are
being addressed, equally,fairly and squarely. This needs to be effectively
and consistently done otherwise we are in danger of making diversity into a
"comfortable" conscience assuaging way of still implementing some
institutional discriminatory practices. The only way of assuring true
diversity is by underpinning it with equality and from an explicit point of
view where we can actually show evidence of mainstreaming diversity within
institutional practice. This also takes it out of the idiosyncratic box of
"it's not my responsibility" to acknowledging that if it is a mainstream
institutional responsibility,then we all have to identify where our
responsibilities, accountabilities and liabilities are in being expected to
practically reflect this institutional commitment.
Religion and sexual orientation, though intended to be legislated for, by
December 2003, could be considered, with all the other areas of intended
legislation (Disability adjustments, by October 2004 and Age, by December
2006)as areas of working towards institutional best practice. I think it
would be much more comfortable and practical, for institutions to start
considering now, instead of waiting till the legislation demands it, how we
can embrace all these Equality and Diversity areas into our current
institutional practice. We certainly would not want to go through the same
experiences as we are, under the RRAA.
In order to effectively do this and to answer your query on religion, we
could use the RRAA template, as based on the CRE Statutory Code of Practice
and Guides. All we would need to do is substitute the word race for the word
religion and the rest is relative. I know there are some issues concerning
the official categories etc. which I think legislation will define, but we
could start thinking around the whys, whats, whens, and with whoms, around
religion. We could also start to monitor, in order to build up a picture of
what religions we have in our institutions, centring our thinking around the
RRAA template. After all equality and diversity is about establishing the
needs of our employees and learners so that we can effectively address them.
This is the spirit that the law is trying to promote through its letter. So
in the end, whether certain religions are defined as legal or not, it might
still be useful for us as institutions, to find out what religious beliefs
exist in our institutions, in order for us to be able to effectively address
any challenges that may arise.
I do accept that these are complex issues that will be very demanding and
taxing but I do not think that this is a good enough reason for us not to
"grasp this nettle" as some of us might see it. Also we have each other to
work with and I am sure with our sum total, we will "know a man/woman who
can"
Monitoring religion also raises issues of staff support and/or training that
can only be provided by appropriate trainers who are aware of the issues and
how they should be addressed effectively and sensitively, so as to benefit
and not alienate those of us who will need to implement the various
consultation, communication and monitoring strategies.
The other issues to consider of course are that certain religious groups
like Muslims, Jews and Sikhs are already covered by the RRAA, indirectly for
Muslims and directly for the other two, because they are also minority
ethnic groups.
A word of caution, can colleagues please desist from using the word "ethnic"
as a substitute for "black and minority ethnic groups." Not only can this be
offensive and insulting to some people but also we must remember that all
religions are either minority ethnic or majority ethnic since we all belong
to different ethnic backgrounds, it really depends where you happen to be,
geographically.
As far as religious practices and the curriculum are concerned, then my
advice would be for institutions to find out about practices and what
material is available, from the appropriate religious groups, contact
numbers and addresses can be made available, as Mohammed Dhalech from Oxford
has already done. When it comes to safeguarding the rights of those who have
no religious beliefs and dealing with beliefs that conflict with
legislation, then I would advocate that we are guided by best practice
intentions under what British equality law dictates. This way diversity will
indeed and truly be based on equality, fairness and justice, under British
law and not on what individuals think should happen.
Any comments are most welcome.
Regards
Mannie.
Mannie Kusemamuriwo
Policy Adviser: Ethnicity & Cultural Diversity
Equality Challenge Unit
3rd Floor, 4 Tavistock Place
London WC1H 9RA
Tel 020 7520 7063
Fax 020 7520 7069
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Virginia Wainwright [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 July 2002 13:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Religion
Dear Mannie
Thanks for this helpful response; however I would like to ask you
whether there is any good practice guidance available currently for
the HE Sector concerning religion as an equality and diversity issue.
I am trying to develop this section of our Equality and Diversity
Strategy at present and would appreciate guidance on the following in
particular:
how to monitor on religion - which categories to use, particular
sensitivities;
issues concerning ethnic and non-ethnic religious minorities;
issues concerning observance and the need to provide adjustments in
terms of working practices and the curriclum;
safeguarding the position of those with no religious belief;
issues concerning religious beliefs that conflict with equality and
diversity aims in other areas - eg, the position of women, gays,
lesbians and transsexuals.
Your advice would be appreciated.
Virginia
On Mon, 22 Jul 2002 13:20:02 +0100 Emmanuell Kusemamuriwo
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Please Sarah, do not forget that women in UK Plc. today are from diverse
> backgrounds. We only need to look at the social picture from an
> ethnicity,
> gender, religion, sexual orientation,disabilities and age point of view
> to
> see what disadvantages people are liable to suffer and how those
> disadvantages can overlap for everyone. To only acknowledge and address
> some
> disadvantages without others would be like addressing part of a person
> instead of the whole person.
>
> We therefore need to remind any trainer/s that we work with, of these
> equality and diversity dictates because they can be sometimes left out
> of
> the "holistic agenda" which we must adopt if we are to do our best to
> truly
> address the disadvantages that women face in the UK today, without
> condoning
> and indeed perpetrating some inequalities ourselves, directly or
> indirectly,
> either by commission or omission. We need to be explicit before we can
> be
> satisfied that what we think is implicit, is indeed.
>
> It is therefore very important for us to be satisfied (however we go
> about
> doing this) that the trainer/s we get to do the job, will be able to
> deliver
> on this holistic approach to the disadvantages being faced by ALL women,
> rather than by only some women.
>
> Mannie.
>
> Mannie Kusemamuriwo
> Policy Adviser: Ethnicity & Cultural Diversity
> Equality Challenge Unit
> 3rd Floor, 4 Tavistock Place
> London WC1H 9RA
>
> Tel 020 7520 7063
> Fax 020 7520 7069
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Felicity Hunt [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 18 July 2002 09:10
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Women into Leadership Training
>
>
> Sarah, and the list
>
> We have found that Anne Gold at the Institute of Education runs some
> very
> effective courses on women into management and leadership. They have
> been
> well
> received here. She is involved in similiar courses, run
> internationally, for
> the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
>
> Her contact details are:
> Anne Gold
> Management Development Centre
> School of Educational Foundations and Policy Studies
> Institute of Education, University of London
> 58 Gordon Square
> London WC1H ONU
> Phone: ++ (0)207 612 6422
> Fax: ++ (0)207 612 6919
>
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
> The Springboard Consultancy (personal and professional development for
> women)
> has also developed an interesting women and leadership/senior management
> course called Spring Forward. Their website is at
> http://www.springboardconsultancy.com/
>
>
> Felicity Hunt
>
>
>
>
> Sarah Lewis <[log in to unmask]> on 17/07/2002 14:09:03
>
> Please respond to HE Administrators equal opportunities list
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> cc: (bcc: Felicity Hunt/PER/Central-Admin)
>
> Subject: Women into Leadership Training
>
>
>
>
> I am planning to run one or two programmes of Women into Leadership
> training
> and development in the Autumn. (This will be positive action to
> try to redress the paucity of women in more senior posts.)
>
> Has anyone any information they can share on such programmes they have
> run
> i.e. content, method of selection, eligibility ...
>
> Can anyone reccomend trainers they have used for such work (gender
> equality,
> career progrssion, confidence boosting !)
>
> Many thanks
>
> Sarah
>
> Sarah Lewis
> Equal Opportunities Adviser
> Coventry University
> 024 7688 7148
>
>
>
>
> Dr M F Hunt
> Equal Opportunities Officer
>
> University of Cambridge
> Personnel Division
> The Old Schools
> Trinity Lane
> Cambridge CB2 1TT
>
> Tel: +44 (0) 1223 332268 (Direct line)
> Fax: +44 (0) 1223 336954
> Email: [log in to unmask]
----------------------
Virginia M Wainwright
Equal Opportunities Officer
King's College London
James Clerk Maxwell Building
57 Waterloo Road
London SE1 8WA
020 7848 3399
[log in to unmask]
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