EQUITY
DIVERSITY IN THE BRITISH X
One of the BMC’s specialist committees, the BMC’s Equity Steering Group was set up in 2007 to help remove the barriers that prevent under-represented groups from participating in climbing, hill walking and mountaineering. Cressida Allwood is the chair and James McHaffie became the secretary in 2018. The ESG is composed of five sub-groups with members and experts on disability, mental health, BAME participation, women’s participation and the LGBTQ community.
Some examples of BMC Equity Steering Group initiatives:
• Paraclimbing series competitions, started in 2011 with 11 participants, with a general increase each year to 76 participants in 2017, with Fran Brown becoming International Paraclimbing champion in 2012.
• Climbing For All disability awareness in rock climbing courses developed by Graeme Hill et al have had more than 700 people attending a course over the last decade.
• Climbing For All and Hill Walking For All publications offer guidance to people with a variety of disabilities on accessing climbing and walking.
• Climbing For All charity fundraisers were set up in March 2018 and 2019 to raise money and awareness for some charities that work through a medium of climbing and the outdoors.
• Helping to increase the percentage of women who are BMC members from 20% to 28% over a decade or so, helped by representation in media channels, embracing the Thisgirlcan campaign and
“It was evident from the assessment presentation that the commitment to equality and diversity runs through all levels of the [BMC]”
58 | CLIMB. WALK. JOIN. Find out more:
www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-black-dog-outdoor-guided-walks-2020 www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-para-climbing-series www.thebmc.co.uk/women-in-adventure-film-competition-2020 www.thebmc.co.uk/climbing-4-all-charity-fundraiser
supporting things like the Women’s Trad Festival, plus the Women in Adventure film competition.
• Run three equity symposiums, with 50-80 people at each, aiming to help develop outdoor leaders from BAME backgrounds, leading onto hill skills course bursaries for attendants keen to develop navigation and mountain skills, in partnership with Mountain Training.
• Supported Black Dog Outdoor events in 2019 for both walking and climbing, offering guided walks with a qualified mountain leader and with mental health first aiders in the group. These walks host between 15 and 40 people and the plan for 2020 was to run at least one walking event per month and potentially five climbing events in partnership with Trail magazine’s Mountains of the Mind campaign, Climbing alongside mental health (CAMH) and Mountain Training.
• Feedback and support on safeguarding and welfare plans.
• LGBTQ has recently been set up with the idea of increasing visibility in media channels, articles, and has given feedback on the GB Climbing Transgender policy.
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