Equal Opportunity Policies Specifically Related

¶ … equal opportunity policies specifically related to ethnicity, gender or disability under the current british governmental educational policy or proposal

The objective of this work is to critically examine EEO policies specifically related to ethnicity, gender, or disability under the current British Governmental Educational policy or proposed policy.

While laws, policies and regulations have been enacted in Britain to ensure that Equal Employment Opportunities exist for all individuals regardless of ethnicity, gender or disability at the same time other more inherent problems exist that must be addressed such as lacks in education and training within the British workforce.

KEY TERMS of the STUDY

Key terms of this study include those as follows:

Contract compliance: a program administered by public authorities, which specifies social criteria that a contractor who wants to obtain government contracts must meet.

Discrimination: any practice or standard that, intentionally or not, has the effect of limiting the opportunities available to certain individuals or groups, identified on the basis of shared personal characteristics such as race or color, in a way that perpetuates the view that they are less capable, or are less worthy of recognition or value.

Disparities: refers to inequality in outcomes across race/ethnic/gender groups regardless of their cause, as distinct from 'discrimination', which refers to disparity that remains after controlling for skills.

Diversity management: a process intended to create and maintain a positive work environment where the differences of individuals are valued so that all can reach their potential and maximize their contributions to the organizations strategic goals.

Equality of opportunity: requires that positions and posts that confer advantages should be open to all applicants and that policies are required to attract non-traditional applicants and to be fair to them. Applications, however, are assessed on their merits, and the applicant deemed most qualified according to appropriate criteria is offered the position.

Equality of outcome: seeks to reduce or eliminate differences between individuals or groups defined for example by race or ethnicity in a society, usually differences of income and occupational status.

Equal treatment: defined in European Union (EU) 1976 Equal Treatment Directive (ETD) as entailing that there is no discrimination whatsoever on grounds of sex either directly or indirectly by reference in particular to marital or family status.

Ethnic minority: a group that shares, or believes it shares, a common history, tradition, language, ancestry or religion, and is usually marked by 'visible' or phenotypical characteristics.

Institutional racism: a term used in the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report to convey the everyday nature of racism in an institutional context. Defined as: 'the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their color, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behavior which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racial stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people.'

Positive action (UK): when employers and others provide encouragement and do recruitment outreach in relation to people of a particular racial group, if they are under-represented in particular work; and training, including preemployment training as allowed, in certain limited circumstances, by the Race Relations Act 1976.

Preferential hiring: where preference is given to one or more designated groups in a job competition.

Racism: attitudes, practices and other factors that disadvantage and/or oppress one person or a group of people because of their race, color or ethnicity.

Victimization: treating people less favorably because of something they have done under, or in connection with, Equality Regulations, e.g. made a formal complaint of discrimination or given evidence in a tribunal case.

I. BRITISH RACE EQUALITY POLICIES

Policies existing in Britain which address racial equalities are inclusive of the 'Race Relations Act (1976) which makes it unlawful "to discriminate against a person, directly or indirectly, on racial grounds in the fields of employment, education, training, housing and in the provision of goods, facilities and services." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) the 'Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000' is an amendment to the 1976 Act and "fulfilled recommendation 11 of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report and went further in prohibiting race discrimination in all public functions..." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) although there are a few "limited exceptions." This Act has a focus toward improving equal opportunity in employment. The 'Race Relations Act 1976 (Amendment) Regulations 2003 work to "implement the EC Article 13 Race Directive which institute regulations" enhancing the Race Relations Act. In addition to these policies are a series of new regulations relating to equality, which include 'the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and the 'Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. The following are outlawed under these two 'Employment Equality Regulations 2003' laws:

Direct discrimination - treating individuals less favorably than other individuals on the grounds of sexual orientation religion or belief;

Indirect discrimination - application of a provision, criterion, or practice which places those of a particular sexual orientation or religion belief at a disadvantage "which is not justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate claim;

Harassment - unwanted conduct in violation of individual's dignity or creation of intimidation, hostility, degradation, humiliation or offensiveness in the environment;

Victimization - treating individuals less favorably because of something, they have done or in connection with the Regulations made a formal complaint of discrimination or for having given evidence in a tribunal case. (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006; paraphrased)

The work of Dr. Ravinder Singh Dhami, Professor Judith Squires and Professor Tariq Modood entitled: "Developing Positive Action Policies: Learning from the Experiences of Europe and North America" published by the Department for Work and Pensions reports a study was conducted for the purpose of reviewing positive action labor market policies in Europe and North America; exploring how these policies were implemented and identify which organizations were involved in the development and implementation of these policies; to establish whether and in what respect these policies have been deemed successful in improving ethnic minority employment rates and social mobility; and to reflect on the lessons to be learnt from these experiences..." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006; paraphrased) the report states that four central issues are under examination which are:

1) Context - Background and policy development;

2) Policies - Adoption and Implementation;

3) Evaluation - Impact, success and risks; and 4) Lessons - policy recommendations. (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006)

According to the work of Dhami, Squires and Modood (2006) "It has been suggested that political policy-makers and theorists operate on an 'egalitarian plateau' in which everyone accepts that citizens should be treated as equals. However, there is profound disagreement to what 'treating people as equals' requires." Dhami, Squires and Modood state that previous generations have entered a debate surrounding the "relative merits of equality of opportunity vs. equality of outcome" and that it is now held by only a few that the political ideal is 'equality of outcome'. (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) it is stated as well that a 'minimal concept of equality of opportunity' equates with disallowing an individual's race, gender or religion "to affect their chances of being selected for a job, of getting a good education...." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) and the like however it is held within the 'conventional conception' that in addition to this that "one should also be concerned to ensure that everyone has an equal chance to acquire the relevant competencies, skills and qualifications." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) in contrast, the 'radical conception' or equality of opportunity is stated by Dhami, Squires and Modood to challenge "the assumption...that inequality is acceptable as long as it is based on talent alone, rather than social or cultural factors." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) This radical conception holds that both those who are talented and those who are untalented "should be equally entitled to rewards, given that talent is a product of luck rather than choice." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) Stated to be a "significant trend within recent theoretical writings on equality" is the emerging theory of 'difference' which holds that "liberal egalitarianism has privatized culture, religious and other differences failing to focus on the importance of the diversity of ways of thought, of life, tastes, and moral perspectives." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) Human resource professionals have used the 'difference' theory as the basis for their support of 'diversity management'. (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006; paraphrased)

The study states findings including those as follows:

1) Political will: The introduction of proactive equality instruments accompanied by the political will to bring about social change can have an observable impact on employment equity. But political will is needed to implement positive action policies effectively.

2) Liberal democratic rationale. The rationale for the policies should appeal to an over-arching liberal democratic culture and respect for diversity and should be able to win broad support both amongst the targeted groups and their co-citizens rather than to specific arguments based on group privilege.

3) Economic rationale. The rationale for these policies should also embrace the business case for employment equity.

4) Public relations. Both the liberal democratic and the business rationale need to be clearly articulated in a coherent communications strategy.

5) Statistical data. Detailed statistical data is needed to pinpoint which groups require positive action and to evaluate the impact of programs that incorporate targets or timetables for such groups in quantitative terms.

6) Contract compliance. The experience from the U.S.A. (and to a lesser extent Canada) suggests that contract compliance is an effective positive action policy, changing key employers' practices with minimum pain and resistance and resulting in improved employment and retention rates amongst large corporations.

7) Covenants. The experience of the Netherlands suggests that the small-scale direct approach adopted for the Covenants that facilitate co-ordination between employers with vacancies and labor exchanges with access to ethnic minority jobseekers can increase ethnic minority employment rates.

8) Enforcement mechanisms. In addition to being clearly and coherently explained and defended, positive action policies need to be backed up by robust enforcement mechanisms if employers are to comply. These should entail mandatory goal-setting and vigorous enforcement, including sanctions (such as debarment), by government.

9) Availability index. The experience from the U.S.A. suggests that the creation of availability indices is an important mechanism for establishing who is qualified and potentially available for work.

10) Overseer. The experiences of the U.S.A. And Canada suggest that the creation of an institution responsible for overseeing contract compliance programs is crucial for the effective implementation of the policy.

11) Resources. The implementation of a contract compliance program needs to be well resourced.

12) Bureaucracy-light. The policies also need to be bureaucracy-light if employers are to embrace the scheme with any degree of enthusiasm. Too much red-tape places a particular burden on small employers, and may risk alienating employers generally.

13) Review. Positive action programs should be regularly reviewed in relation to effectiveness, business efficiency and fairness.

14) Supply-side. Ethnic minority education and job skills levels need to be addressed.

15) Religion. Positive action programs should consider both religious and ethnic minority equality measures. (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006)

The work of Cheung and Heath was recently focused on ethnic minority labor market participation and examined the extent to which ethnic penalties is applicable to members of minority groups. Ethnic penalties are defined by Cheung and Heath as "estimates of the extent to which ethnic minorities are disadvantaged in comparison with people belonging to the charter population who have the same age, educational qualifications and marital status." (in Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) Cheung and Heath worked with data form the 1991-2001 General Household Surveys and state findings that "first-generation visible minority men (African, Caribbean, Indian and Pakistani/Bangladeshi) had poorer chances of avoiding unemployment that did men of British ancestry of the same age and marital status and with similar educational qualifications." (Cheung and Heath; in Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) Cheung and Heath also stated findings that no significant difference in ethnic penalties experiences by first and second generation and that "at all levels of education the visible minorities had much higher probabilities of being unemployed than the charter population." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) However, findings are much different fro the second education in relation to access to salary, routine non-manual work and skilled manual work in that "where none of the visible minorities, male or female "experience a significant ethnic penalty in access to the higher classes. Cheung and Heath concludes "that second generation ethnic minorities appear to have similar chances of gaining access to the higher classes as do the charter population." (Dhami, Squires and Modood, 2006) Cheung and Heath's research findings suggest that "discrimination is a likely explanation for the ethnic penalties experienced by second-generation visible minorities in unemployment" in that while they have the same access to salary as do their peers they are less likely to get a job than their peers in the charter population.

II. REPORT of the EUROPEAN EMPLOYMENT OBSERVATORY

The work of Eleanor Breen entitled: "Contribution to the EEO Autumn Review 2006 'Flexicurity'" states that the term "flexicurity is rarely heard in UK policy debates." (Breen, 2006) the UK is stated to have "over a long period, fostered a dynamic and competitive economy based on flexible labor markets, flexible working arrangement and active labor market policies (ALMPs)." (Breen, 2006) Breen reports that the UK has in place "reliable and responsive learning systems to ensure the continuous adaptability and employability of workers" and states that there has been a rise of 4.5% of GDP to 5.5% in 2005/6 in total spending on education which is reflective of "the major increase in education as a priority in the UK, but also the longstanding under-investment by previous UK governments." (Breen, 2006) There still is much room for improvement evidenced by the Leitch Review of Skills which states findings that: "more than one third of adults do not hold the equivalent of basic school-leaving qualification. Almost half of adults are not functionally numerate and one sixth are not functionally literate." (Breen, 2006; p. 8) the problem presented is that more than 70% of the workforce in the UK for 2020 has already finished their educational requirements. Therefore, in order to eliminate any type of discrimination in the workforce for racial and gender minorities is to somehow even up the ante' within the present workforce. This presents quite a challenge however, the work of Breen (2006) relates that the Further Education White Paper (March 2006) "...underpins the ongoing reform of education and training structures in the UK." (Breen, 2006) There are stated to be 'six central themes' within this education and training structures ongoing reform which include: