British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Unequal Britain: 60 years of equalities policy
Thursday 25 March 2010: 7.00pm - 8:30pm, followed by a drinks reception
British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1
For the first time, the Government is proposing legislation that bans discrimination on socio-economic grounds.
The Equality Bill is now before Parliament. It proposes that public authorities take account of the inequalities experienced both by members of their workforce, and the communities that they serve. The Bill also bans discrimination on the grounds of these inequalities.
Why is it now possible for a government to credibly propose such a statutory duty? How and why have these changes happened? Why are they still incomplete? What are the continuing obstacles to change? Can history help us to understand how further change can come about?
To mark the publication of Unequal Britain: Equalities in Great Britain since 1945, edited by Pat Thane, a panel of high profile speakers will come together to explore equalities in Great Britain in current and historical contexts. The panel will seek to discover what the most important driver for change may be.
Chair: Rob Berkeley, Director of the Runnymede Trust and Chair of Naz Project London
Speakers:
Pat Thane FBA, Professor of Contemporary British History & Co-founder of History & Policy
Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Peter Tatchell, coordinator of the LGBT rights group OutRage! and Green Party human rights spokesperson
Baroness Greengross, Equality and Human Rights Commissioner and Chief Executive of the International Longevity Centre
Judith Okely, Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology, Hull University and Deputy Director, International Gender Studies Centre, Oxford University
Registration is essential, please RSVP to historyandpolicy@sas.ac.uk or phone 0207 862 8768
Unequal Britain: Equalities in Great Britain since 1945 edited by Pat Thane
Contents:
• Older People,
• Race,
• Religion and Belief,
• Gypsies and Travellers,
• Gender,
• Gender Identity and
• Sexual Orientation and Disability.
The book developed from a project led by Professor Thane and colleagues in the Centre for Contemporary British History and History & Policy.
The Equalities Review, chaired by Trevor Phillips, wanted to explore what had changed and why, for disadvantaged groups in Britain since World War II, and to understand what the obstacles were to change.
The resulting report, Equalities in Great Britain, 1946-2006 (838kb pdf), informed the establishment of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2007 and the single Equalities Bill, now going through Parliament.
Lecture audio
Pat Thane - how the project came about
Judith Okely - the position of Travellers and Gypsies
Peter Tatchell - lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender equality
Sally Greengross - age and inequality
Trevor Phillips - what makes change?