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15 months IEDP membership for the price of 12!
If you join the IEDP now you are eligible for a bargain offer of just over 15 months' membership for the price of 12. This is because our usual membership subscription runs from 1 January each year. However at this time of year we offer potential new members a special deal whereby they can pay their 2016 subscription now, become members straight away and so get the rest of 2015 free. For further details contact the IEDP office or ring us on 0844 482 7263.
IEDP accreditation dates
If you join the IEDP, or are already a member, you can apply for our accreditation programme. The closing date for expressions of interest for the final round of IEDP accreditation for this year is 30 September. Your application would need to be confirmed (and the fee paid) by 16 October and the deadline for the submission of your portfolio would be 27 November. Further details on the accreditation page of our website
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Labour leadership race – who will give the highest priority to equality and diversity?
By Ruth Wilson
 All the candidates for the labour leadership make general statements about being committed to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) – but how can we tell who will give our area of work the highest priority? This article is not an in depth study of their policies – if you want more detail The Guardian produced quite an in-depth comparison.
 This is just a quick look at the short statements each candidate is allowed to make on the Labour Party
website, on the assumption that in a limited amount of space they will have focused on their key message.
First of all I tried making word clouds out of the candidates’ statements. Can you match the person to the word cloud? A couple of them are written in the third person so their names give a bit of a clue. You can see some key EDI words coming out in some of the clouds – inequality, injustice, maternity, fairer, everyone, social – which is encouraging, but none of them really stands out as talking a lot more about EDI than the others.
Next I tried looking at the first paragraph of each person’s statement – again on the grounds that one would expect their key message to come first. This seemed a bit limiting, so I looked at the key message of the first paragraph (or the first few sentences).
Finally I looked through the statements and tried to find the clearest quote I could that related to EDI or human rights.
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First sentence |
Key message of first paragraph |
Clearest EDI quote |
| Andy Burnham |
My vision for Labour is simple: we must be the Party that helps everyone get on in life. |
Social justice: the job of the Labour party is to give everyone a fair chance |
I will lead a Party that helps every person, every family and every business - whoever they are, wherever they come from - get on in life. |
Yvette
Cooper |
No one is in any doubt about the importance of this Leadership Election for Labour to win again in 2020. |
Importance of rebuilding the Labour party and winning the next election |
We must win for the sake of the fairer, stronger and less divided society we are all fighting for |
| Jeremy Corbyn |
Our timeless task in the Labour Party is to stand up against injustice wherever we find it. |
Tackling injustice: the job of the Labour party is to stand up for people who are disadvantaged and be their voice |
Protecting our environment, celebrating diversity and tackling inequality are integral to my work, and I have a longstanding commitment to peace and human rights. |
| Liz Kendall |
We need a fresh start for our party and our country. |
Importance of education, working hard and taking responsibility for oneself and others |
We must confront the inequalities in power, wealth and opportunity that scar our country and hold us all back. |
Also, here are some quotes from the candidates for the deputy leadership:
| Ben Bradshaw |
Stella Creasy |
Angela Eagle |
Caroline Flint |
Tom Watson |
| I will be a Deputy who stands for a broad and inclusive politics. |
We’ve developed projects to tackle violence against women. We’ve forced Tory governments to act – and it’s made a real difference to the lives of people in our communities. |
I’m proud to have been one of the first to fight for All Women Shortlists and I’m proud to be Britain’s first openly lesbian MP. I will never stop fighting for equality. |
Our Labour Party exists to win elections to improve lives and make the world a better place. To do so, we need support from all classes, all backgrounds, all corners of the country. |
We should never forget that Labour is strongest when it stands up against injustice. |
For the full texts see the Labour Party website.
The answers to the word cloud puzzle are as follows:
| Most prominent words |
Candidate |
| Andy, health, labour, party, people, secretary. |
Andy Burnham |
| labour, secretary, support, tories, voters, win. |
Yvette Cooper |
| injustice, labour, movement, people, stand, work. |
Jeremy Corbyn |
| country, labour, party, people, responsibility, worked. |
Liz Kendall |
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Equality guides from ACAS
Elaine Bolton and several people on the IEDP LinkedIn page have recently recommended a set of resources issued by ACAS. Published in August 2015, they consist of a set of guides to to help employers and managers identify, tackle and prevent discrimination in the workplace.
#works for me campaign
The EHRC launched its #works for me campaign in July, on managing pregnancy and maternity in the workplace. Their latest research - highlighted in our Sound Statistics feature below - shows that while many employers are supportive of women who are pregnant or on maternity leave, many women report discrimination, harassment and unfair dismissal. Sadly not all businesses realise the benefits of recruiting and retaining working mums as this research has found. The #worksforme campaign will be showcasing useful guidance aimed at making pregnancy and maternity work for everyone, whether you are an employer or a first time mum. It includes useful advice for employers and video case studies.
Compassionate Schools
Practitioners working in education might be interested in a new book being published this summer by the Institute of Education and Trentham Books. It is edited by Maurice Irfan Coles and entitled 'Towards the Compassionate School: from golden rule to golden thread'.
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Caroline Jones
 We are very sorry to hear of the death of Caroline Jones on 6 September after a long illness. Caroline was a founder member of IEDP, a member of the original Steering Group that set up the organisation in 2008 and then a Board member until 2010 when her deteriorating health made this impossible. In spite of this she continued to manage the IEDP LinkedIn page until only last year, overseeing its growth to more than 1,700 members. For more details about Caroline's work and involvement with the IEDP see Kate Hinton's article on page 3 of Newsletter number 32.
Everyone at the IEDP would like to express our sympathy and send good wishes to Linda Bellos and both her and Caroline's family.
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Sound statistics
This is our new feature giving up-to-date statistics that Equality and Diversity practitioners may find useful in their work, particularly in training. This issue's statistics were suggested by Elaine Bolton, a lot of them coming from the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (enei) newsletter.
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Gender pay gap in management and professional jobs
- women in management and professional positions are earning 22% less than their male counterparts
- this research is based on men and women in comparable roles and cannot be explained by women working in sectors which are traditionally lower paid
- this is equivalent to women working 1 hour and 40 minutes for free every day
Age and gender pay gap
- the pay gap becomes wider as women grow older. Women aged 26-35 are paid 6% less than their male colleagues, rising to 20 per cent for women aged 36-45.
- The gap increases to 35 percent for women aged 46-60, equivalent to working 681 hours for free compared to their male colleagues.
- For women and men in their 60s the pay gap expands to 38 per cent.
Pregnancy and maternity in the workplace
- around 1 in 9 mothers (11%) said they were dismissed, made redundant or treated so poorly they had to leave work
- 1 in 5 mothers had experienced harassment or negative comments related to pregnancy or flexible working from managers and / or colleagues
- 10% had been discouraged by employers from attending ante-natal appointments
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One to know about:
Bullying and harassment in the workplace
- In a survey of more than 2,000 British workers, 37 per cent said they felt they had been bullied themselves, while 21 per cent admitted witnessing colleagues being subjected to abuse.
- More than two thirds of witnesses said their colleague was a victim of a sustained period of abuse, which included being deliberately humiliated, receiving racist insults or inappropriate sexual remarks.
- Despite escalating instances of abuse, the bullying was disguised as ‘workplace banter’ in 56 per cent of cases, and just 48 per cent of victims and witnesses acted on the evidence.
One to think about:
- The majority of more than 3000 employers surveyed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission reported that it was in their interests to support pregnant women and those on maternity leave, and they agreed that statutory rights relating to pregnancy and maternity are reasonable and easy to implement.
- 8 out of 10 employers agree that pregnant women and working mums commit to their work as much as anyone else
Sources
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Managing mental health issues in the workplace
 By Natasha Broomfield-Reid, Senior Manager for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Victim Support
Several research studies still show that many employers are not supporting their staff with mental health issues effectively. Bupa’s ‘Breaking the Silence’ research found that 94% of UK leaders admit that mental health prejudice is still an issue in their business. MIND research also confirms that a culture of fear and silence around mental health is costly to employers and that 56% of employers say they would like to do more to improve staff well-being but don't feel they have the right training or guidance.
We are failing our staff and colleagues if we do not take steps to address this very serious issue. There is a strong business case for putting the health and well-being of employees at the forefront of an organisation's plans, so why does it seem that employers aren’t doing this? Or is it a case of implementing any initiative taking time to embed and get right? Is it difficult to develop a working process to ensure staff are supported with regard to their mental health and well-being?
At Victim Support, we are working to address this; we are not there yet but have implemented the following:
- Developed guidance for line managers on ‘Managing mental health in the workplace’ to support them to address issues of mental health in their teams
- Developed a reasonable adjustment process so that any adjustments can be implemented to support staff with mental health issues in a timely manner. The process ensures that both the line manager and employee are clear regarding the support that is put in place, which is agreed by both parties.
- Developed mental health awareness training available for all staff
- Implemented a range of well-being guides as well as having an online Health Matters resource
- Created ‘stress at work’ support tools and resources
- Promoted mental health awareness week which encouraged teams to talk about mental health
- Carried out an initiative to encourage staff to come forward if they require any support or adjustments
- Provided mental health factsheets and awareness materials on our intranet
- Engaged a senior leadership member as the disability and mental health champion
- Signed up as a member of the Business Disability Forum who offer support on where we can access specialist advice on recruiting and retaining disabled employees and serving disabled customers, which includes mental health
As with many organisations of our size, we also have an Employee Assistance Helpline, Occupational Health process and benefits including a cycle to work scheme and a discounted gym scheme as well as access to a Bupa Healthline. However, we know we could do more, we are not there yet. Some of our staff are still resistant to informing us if they have mental health issues. There is still a lot of stigma attached to mental health and because of this some employees do not want talk to their colleagues and managers if they have mental health issues. They may think this could impact on their working life in terms of promotion, reputation and working relationships.
It would be great if all companies (if they haven’t already) could make a start on planning how they can address this issue. If we don’t we will be failing our employees.
There is a wealth of information and support out there to help us, so let’s do it! A happy and supported workforce = better outputs and greater success for the company!
Useful resources:
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Diversity Calendar
November and December 2015
 Here is the final instalment of this year's diversity calendar feature, which has been compiled by Yasmin Damree-Ralph.
November is:
8 November Remembrance Sunday; 11 November Remembrance Day
Remembrance Sunday is also known as Poppy Day. Since the First World War, this is a day observed in Commonwealth nations to remember those in the armed forces who have died in the line of duty. Some people choose to wear a white poppy instead of a red one, to signify that their opposition to war. Read more here.
11 November is a commemoration of the end of hostilities of the World War 1, which formally ended at 11am (the eleventh hour) on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. This is why a two minute silence is observed at that time on that day.
13 November – World Kindness Day
Introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, this day is observed by many countries. This day is about the act of kindness, the little gestures of helping others that can restore a sense of humanity. Read more about World Kindness Day here
14 November – World Diabetes Day
World Diabetes Day is a global awareness campaign, introduced in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organisation. The awareness of this day is to highlight the rise in diabetes around the world. Read more here
19 November – International Men’s Day
An annual celebration focussing on men and boys' health, improving gender relations and promoting gender equality. The celebration also highlights and promotes positive male role models, celebrating achievements and contributions to the community, family, marriage and childcare and ultimately to promote basic humanitarian values. Read more here
20 November – Universal Children’s day
This day is observed to promote the objectives outlined in the Charter and for the welfare of children. On November 20, 1958 the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989.
25 November – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).
The intention of the day is highlight violence against women is a human rights violation, the consequence of discrimination against women bot in law and in practice and the persisting inequalities between men and women. Read more here
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December is
1 December – World AIDS Day
 World Aids Day is an opportunity to unite people worldwide to fight against HIV and provide support for those living with HIV as well as commemorate those who have died. There are around 100,000 people currently in the UK living with HIV and an estimated 34 million globally. More than 35 million people have died from the virus, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.
2 December – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
 The focus of this day is on eradicating contemporary forms of slavery, such as trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, the worst forms of child labour, forced marriage, and the forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
Today, 21 million women, men and children are trapped in slavery all over the world. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has teamed up with prominent artists, athletes and advocates in its new campaign to End Slavery Now.
3 December – International Day of Persons with Disabilities
 There are an estimated one billion disabled people worldwide, 80% of whom are living in developing countries – the world's largest minority.
This international observance aims to promote an understanding of disability issues, support for the dignity, rights and well-being of disabled people, and seeks to increase awareness in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. Read more here
10 December – Human Rights Day
This day is marked to honour the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Read more here
24 December – Christmas Eve; 25 December – Christmas Day
An observance around the world in western Christianity, but also widely celebrated as a secular festival. Read more about Christmas as a secular festival here. Many celebrate Christmas Eve with family and friends, the singing of carols, the illumination of lights as well as gift shopping, Midnight Mass and preparing for Christmas Day. Many countries observe their own traditional Christmas Eve with different customs, including Christmas Eve meals.
31 December – New Year's Eve / Hogmanay
New Year's Eve, or Hogmanay in Scotland, celebrations start on 31 December but usually carry on into 1 January, with the focus being the start of the new year at midnight. One common tradition in Scotland is 'First Footing', which centres around the first person to cross the threshold after midnight, usually bearing gifts so as to bring good luck into the household.
22 November to 22 December is Disability History Month
We will be focusing on Disability History Month with an article in our next newsletter - watch this space! Read more about Disability History Month here
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Terrific TED talks
This issue's TED talks have been selected by Denise Rabor and Ruth Wilson
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A Warrior’s Cry Against Child Marriage by Memory Banda
Watch this talk about Memory's campaign to end child marriage in her community.
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Confessions of a bad feminist by Roxane Gay
Having just read Roxane's book 'Bad Feminist' I was interested to hear her TED talk on the same subject. I particularly like the bit where she talks about how she can't help liking some music that has appalling lyrics...
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Account of the last IEDP board meeting
By Ruth Wilson
As usual, here is a brief account of the most recent IEDP board meeting. This was held on 18 August at the Victim Support offices in London.
Finance and re-branding
Management accounts for the period up to 31 July 2015 were briefly discussed. It was agreed that we should explore ways of maintaining and improving the website without spending a lot of money on it at the moment. The Board also looked at some designs for a new logo. The designer is being asked to make some minor changes and a final decision will be made via email.
Autumn seminar
It was agreed to hold a seminar in October / November with a mental health theme. Denise is exploring various possible venues in London. There was a discussion about possible speakers. Further events are likely to include a Christmas social event and a further seminar in the spring.
Marketing strategy
Board members not at the meeting had already circulated some comments on the marketing strategy. It was briefly discussed and then everyone agreed to add their suggestions via email as soon as possible so that the document could be finalised by the end of August.
Accreditation
Kate Hinton has been in communication with a university about linking IEDP accreditation with their Masters’ Programme so that successful applicants receive credits at Masters level. She expects to be meeting with university staff in September or October to discuss this.
Functioning of the Board
Various documents relating to the functioning of the Board were discussed and a few additions agreed. It was decided that this year we would meet every two months, alternating between online and face-to-face meetings.
Next meeting
The next Board meeting will be on 27 October from 2.00 to 4.00pm and will be an online meeting.
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Contact us
The Institute of Equality and
Diversity Practitioners
2 Old College Court, 29 Priory Street, Ware, Hertfordshire, SG12 0DE
tel: 0844 482 7263
fax: 0844 8225 215
email: info@iedp.org.uk
web: www.iedp.org.uk
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And finally...
We hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter and would welcome any feedback or suggestions about how we could improve it for the benefit of our members. If you have any ideas for future editions or would be interested in writing an item for the next issue please contact Ruth Wilson on:
ruth@equalitiesineducation.co.uk
The deadline for contributions to the next issue is 6 November 2015. Please circulate this newsletter to anyone who may be interested in our work or who may wish to join the Institute.
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