EQUALITIES LEGISLATION Today’s focus on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) has its roots in equalities legislation. In the UK, for example, discrimination on grounds of sex and race took effect in the mid-1970s. In the USA, civil rights legislation was introduced in the 1960s. The Equalities Act 2010
in the UK lists nine protected characteristics: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. In essence, the legislation prohibits direct and indirect discrimination on grounds of these protected characteristics. The Equality and Human
Rights Commission* defines direct discrimination as: “when you are treated worse than another person or other people because: you have a protected characteristic; someone thinks you have that protected characteristic (known as discrimination by perception); you are connected to someone with that protected characteristic (known as discrimination by association)”. It defines indirect discrimination as “when there is a policy that applies in the same way for everybody but disadvantages a group of people who share a protected characteristic, and you are disadvantaged as part of this group.”
EQUAL CHANCE Equalities legislation sets the legal framework for providing the same to everyone – everyone has an equal chance of success. Just like throwing a dice, there is an equal chance of any of the faces coming up on top. With respect to employment this means that anyone holding any of these protected characteristics should have an equal chance or opportunity to access and progress within the workforce.
The key problem though with
the equal chance agenda is that individuals do not start from a level playing field. In other words the dice is weighted in favour of the majority group. In employment, this group usually comprises white, heterosexual, males. This means that equal opportunity to gain employment and career progression is hampered by individuals’ protected characteristics (and others not covered by legislation) as well as individuals’ social backgrounds and other personal circumstances.
EQUITY VERSUS EQUALITY: EQUAL ACCESS & EQUAL SHARE This is where the notion of equity comes in as this goes beyond the notion of equal chance to encompass both equal access and equal share. Equity refers to fairness and justice and thus differs from equality. If the equity agenda is to be pursued, over and above the baseline equality agenda, organisations must recognise that individuals all start from different places and adjustments will be needed to address these imbalances. For example, if women are to
have equal access to – and an equal share of – leadership positions, and when those positions are awarded based on global experience, women’s under-representation in expatriation can act as a barrier to entering senior management and gaining their fair share of leadership roles. To help to facilitate equal
access of minority groups to leadership roles, positive action may be required such as ensuring that minorities are made aware of positions that are available and are encouraged to apply. Open and transparent
recruitment and selection procedures can also help to widen access for minority groups. These
include advertising all positions and adopting structured interviews using diverse panels. By contrast, closed and opaque processes might, for example, rely on word of mouth and unstructured one-on-one interviews. Minority groups have fewer
networks and role models than the white, heterosexual male majority. Organisational support for networks and role models for minorities can help to widen leadership access and other career opportunities. Equal access goes only part
way towards achieving equity. The question then becomes equal access to what? If minority groups cannot achieve an equal share of leadership positions despite accessing them, then true equity has not been achieved. This is where interventions become paramount to ensure there is a culture of true equity. Allies can support progression of minorities. Coaches, mentors and sponsors can also play a valuable role here. Top management support is critical to fostering a culture of equity that pervades the whole organisation.
POSITIVE ACTION Positive action is not the same as positive discrimination. Positive action concerns taking steps to enable or encourage those sharing protected
characteristics to
minimise the disadvantage linked to that characteristic. An example
“ ORGANISATIONAL SUPPORT FOR NETWORKS AND ROLE MODELS FOR MINORITIES CAN HELP TO WIDEN LEADERSHIP ACCESS AND OTHER CAREER OPPORTUNITIES.”
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GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUPPLEMENT
EDI
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