 |
 |
EHRC RESEARCH DATABASE NEWSLETTER, JUNE 2012
Dear Research Database Member
Welcome to the EHRC Research Database Newsletter. We hope that you found our most recent newsletter (March 2012) useful. If you did not receive this and would like to do so, please contact [log in to unmask]
Unless stated, all EHRC research reports can be downloaded from: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/our-job/our-research/
If you experience any difficulty in downloading these, please contact us and we will send you the relevant PDFs. We also have a limited number of printed copies of some (though not all) of our reports. Please contact [log in to unmask] to request a copy if they are in stock.
EHRC research on employment
The theme of this newsletter is employment, with a particular focus on gender diversity in senior management/Boards of Directors. A reading list on this topic is attached. This includes a new research report summarised below and the 2011 publication, Sex and Power, which was summarised in our September 2011 newsletter. Previous EHRC research on employment is available on our website (for full details, see the attached Publications List), and has included:
· Flexible working policies: a comparative review (2009)
· Employment and earnings in the finance sector: a gender analysis (2009)
· Race discrimination in the construction industry: a thematic review (2009)
· Integration in the workplace: emerging employment practice on age, sexual orientation and religion or belief (2009)
· Older workers: employment preferences, barriers and solutions (2009)
· The equality impacts of the current recession (2009)
· Disability, skills and employment: a review of recent statistics and literature on policy and initiatives (2010)
· Gender pay reporting survey (2010)
· How fair is Britain: equality, human rights and good relations in 2010 (2010 - see especially Chapter 11)
Gender Diversity on Boards: The Appointment Process and the Role of Executive Search Firms by Elena Doldor, Susan Vinnicombe, Mary Gaughan and Ruth Sealy (Cranfield University) (Research Report no. 85)
This report examines the corporate Board appointment process, focusing on the role played by executive search firms (ESFs) and what is being done to make Boards more gender balanced in the light of the 2011 Davies Review. Through a literature review and interviews with leading ESFs, the research shows that, despite evidence of some good practice and recent improvements, the appointment process remains opaque and subjective, being driven by male-dominated corporate elites who tend to favour those with similar characteristics to themselves. The report contains recommendations on how ESFs and other stakeholders could make the board appointment process more inclusive.
Opening up work: the views of disabled people and people with long-term health conditions by Lorna Adams and Katie Oldfield (IFF Research) (Research Report no. 77)
Using focus groups and in-depth interviews with disabled people and employers, this report explores disabled people's experiences and aspirations in relation to paid employment. It focuses on changes that employers can make to break down the barriers experienced by disabled people to meet their needs more appropriately. It indicates that there is still a long way to go in most workplaces to open them up completely to disabled people and to enable disabled staff to participate to their full ability. Suggested ways forward include:
• tackling attitudinal and practical barriers in the workplace;
• developing a climate of trust, in which people feel free to discuss their needs; and
• flexible working arrangements.
This report was commissioned to support our policy work on Working Better. The latest report in the series, Working Better: the perfect partnership - workplace solutions for disabled people and business, presents a reality check - a fresh look at the work aspirations and experiences of disabled people today in order to identify new solutions. It presents newly published evidence on the impact of current disability and work 'remedies' - what is working well for individuals and businesses and what might work better to make the most of the abilities and potential of disabled employees. The report explores barriers created by traditional ways of working, and the potential of flexibility and re-configured work to support innovative workplace delivery of the social model of disability.
The Working Better report is available at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/Employers/wb_approved_lo.pdf
Other new EHRC research
The UK and the European Court of Human Rights by Alice Donald, Jane Gordon, and Philip Leach (London Metropolitan University) (Research Report no. 83)
This report examines the impact of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the UK. Through a review of selected cases and interviews with key stakeholders, the report demonstrates that criticisms of the ECtHR by some politicians and parts of the media are ill-founded. The UK 'loses' only a very small proportion of cases brought against it and has an exemplary record in implementing judgments at the domestic level. ECtHR judgments have added significant protections to the rights and freedoms of individuals in the UK and the European human rights framework is of great value not only to the UK, but to all member states of the Council of Europe.
Technical report: Measuring gender identity (note to Research Report no. 75)
This reports covers the final stage of work on developing gender identity questions. This programme of work aimed to identify a suite of questions on gender identity which would be acceptable and understood by a wide range of people. The cognitive testing stage produced recommendations for a suite of questions covering birth sex, gender identity, gender reassignment (two questions) and trans identity. This second stage reports results from testing the questions quantitatively. The recommended suite includes four questions, which provides a more inclusive way of collecting gender data as well as data on gender reassignment and gender identity more broadly.
Available at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/publications/our-research/research-reports/research-reports-71-80/#75
Information from the EHRC Scotland
Improving local equality data project
We have published the final report of our project to support four Scottish councils to meet the challenge of developing the equality evidence base to use within their outcomes approach.
The final report sets out the project’s key findings, learning, and recommendations to improve the availability and use of equality evidence in Scotland. It also makes links to published papers, workshop material and other relevant, practical information that may be useful to those developing and implementing an outcomes approach in the public sector.
The four participating councils shared their learning with 100 public bodies at an event on Gathering and Using Evidence in Support of the Public Sector Equality Duty on 11 June. The event was hosted by the Scottish Government.
Available at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/scotland/key-projects-in-scotland/improving-local-equality-data/
Scottish Government Equality Evidence Website
The Scottish Government have developed a welcome new resource to make Scottish equality evidence easier to find and use. The Scottish Government Equality Evidence website features a new evidence finder tool which allows users to find information for the 7 protected equality characteristics across 15 of the key policy areas of Scottish Government.
Available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/Equalities/DataGrid
Other Inquiry reports
Race disproportionality in stops and searches under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Briefing paper 5
Under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, police forces may authorise stops and searches for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments within a specified area and time period (up to 24 hours). This briefing reports on data provided by the police forces on where, when and why authorisations are given, as well as on analysis of published data on stops and searches by ethnic group. Issues affecting the measurement of race disproportionality are also discussed and suggestions are made for further analysis.
Available at:
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/research/bp_5_final.pdf
Making fair decisions: An assessment of HM Treasury’s 2010 Spending Review conducted under Section 31 of the 2006 Equality Act
Using its unique powers, the Commission conducted a section 31 Assessment of the extent to which HM Treasury met its legal obligations to consider the impact of Spending Review decisions on protected groups. The final report sets out the main findings from this work, which concludes that overall, there was a serious effort by ministers and officials to meet their obligations. It also highlights where the Commission's detailed examination was unable to establish whether or not the decisions were in full accord with the requirements of the equality duty.
Available at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/legal-and-policy/inquiries-and-assessments/section-31-assessment-of-hm-treasury/
Ongoing research projects
An updated list of all ongoing EHRC research projects and their summaries is attached.
Equality reading lists
Since September 2009, each of these newsletters has included a reading list prepared by the EHRC's Librarian on a particular equality theme. A selection of these reading lists are now available on our website, alongside this edition’s theme on gender diversity in senior management and on boards, at:
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/publications/our-research/reading-lists/
The reading lists that are currently available cover age, disability, equal pay/pay gaps, good relations/social cohesion, human rights, religion or belief, sexual orientation, trans and the Equality Act 2010. This is attached and will soon be added to the website. Updated reading lists on gender and race are planned for later in 2012.
In order to help us keep the reading lists up to date, it would be helpful if you could send information about relevant additional journal articles/book titles on these topics to [log in to unmask]
Expansion of the database
Due to very limited staff resources within the Research Team, we are now only very occasionally able to carry out direct large-scale attempts to recruit new members to the research database. In view of this, and if you find our newsletters useful, we would therefore be extremely grateful if you could help us by circulating this issue to your departmental/faculty/organisational colleagues, or to other groups or networks to which you belong.
Please ask anyone who is interested in coming on to the database to receive our newsletters in the future to contact [log in to unmask]. We are always delighted to recruit new database members!
But if you no longer wish to receive our newsletters, please let us know and we will delete you from the database.
With best wishes
Ben Shannon
On behalf of the EHRC Research and Information Team