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Don't forget to book your place for our spring seminar - click on the flyer to go to the Eventbrite page.
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The mystery that is trans history
 By Christine Burns MBE
Where have trans people ‘suddenly’ come from?
I’m willing to bet that’s a question asked increasingly often, with trans people suddenly on the television, or standing for Parliament and local government, and even on the fashion catwalks from Paris to Mumbai. It’s a very reasonable question too. If you knew nothing previously about transgender people — apart from the latest shock opinion piece in the broadsheets, or the latest faux news hit piece in some tabloids — then you could be forgiven for wondering whether trans people’s relatively recent public appearance was a fad. Y’know, just part of the zeitgeist — like the gypsy look of the seventies or the gangster look that some young people affect to look tough.
 The stock answer is that people have been crossing gender boundaries for millennia and in every kind of civilisation around the globe. They weren’t called ‘trans’ at the time, and in truth ‘trans’ is a really wide category for gender non-conformity, as we are belatedly rediscovering in 21st Century Western Society. People will refer to historical examples, like the Chevalier d’Eon, or more recent stories of people like Lili Elbe ('The Danish Girl’), Michael Dillon or Roberta Cowell. They may also refer to anthropological studies of communities like the Inuits (who have seven gender categories), the Indian Hijra caste or the Samoan Fa’afafine. There are many of these and this isn’t an exhaustive list. Google is your friend if you’re interested to learn more.
 But Google isn’t your friend if you want to understand what happened between isolated cases of people transitioning — like Roberta Cowell in 1954 — and what you see today. The reason for that is that people who hit headlines get archived. People who are living on the margins of society — marked as unacceptable by the law or seen as ‘sick’ by the media — don’t get written about very often, or very accurately, so the ability to research even relatively modern history is severely constrained.
That’s a problem I first set out to solve four years ago when I wrote a two part history of the period when trans people formed a campaign called 'Press for Change'. The 25th anniversary of that campaign being set up will occur on 27th February 2017 — this year. ‘Pressing Matters’ was partly a memoir about being  on the inside of that campaign, and partly a detailed historical account of how it was formed and made progress. I was only able to write that two volume history because I have well-preserved archives of internal correspondence, minutes and documents. Pressing Matters was self-published as an eBook (Kindle and ePub) because it’s not the sort of book that a publisher would be likely to take a risk on. I had no misconceptions about how niche it was to write even just four years ago.
Even as I wrote Pressing Matters, I was very conscious of the amount of history I couldn’t include. It was my view of what happened, and it was restricted to looking at a particular period in time: specifically the activism taking place in the 13 years between 1992 and 2004.
Trans history in the UK really has two phases though. The first phase started in the sixties. Before that time, the trans people we know about had all individually had to find their own salvation. They found a doctor, they got fixed, and then they mostly tried to settle down. Indeed, settling down and disappearing was very much a precondition of being treated.
During the sixties that changed for the first time. That was when a few trans people began to set up organisations and safe meeting places for people to meet others of the same mind. It began with the formation of the Beaumont Society. Then there were concealed meeting places in back rooms in some of our larger cities — hidden unless you got lucky and managed to find them.
The seventies began with a huge setback. The April Ashley divorce case (1969-70) resulted in a disastrous ruling about the legal status of people with a transsexual history. It meant that documents that could previously be altered to enable people to maintain their privacy and even marry could no longer be changed by officials. There were grace-and-favour exceptions for driving licenses and (in some cases) passports, but there was no actual right to these. This led to a period of almost 20 years where trans people were administratively marginalised in society. It’s a dark age, although as we will hopefully be showing soon, it wasn’t a complete blank space.
The second phase of trans development really starts with the emergence of people using the law to try and restore their lost rights to privacy and having families. It’s not just about Press for Change. The example which activists and newly invigorated community groups created, coupled with the emergence of the World Wide Web, means that the nineties saw an explosion of activity and major milestones in the establishment of rights.
Everything you see about the trans community today has its roots in those two periods of development and the turning points within them. Sometimes one advance enabled another. Sometimes decisions taken far back in this history have had effects which ripple through the present day and add to the unintelligibility of trans affairs by newcomers. How did Gender Clinics come to be the way they are? How did the negative stuff in second wave feminism come about (it wasn’t there to begin with).
Until now, none of this huge fifty year socio-political history has been fully explored and explained in context. And that’s why I’m setting out to fix that.
'Trans: A British History' is an ambitious attempt to tell the whole story, via the best experts available: the people who were at the centre of the action at every stage. I have brought together 25 eye-witness experts to tell the story in their own words — from the sixties to the present day.
It will be a unique book. It will be an authoritative book. And it will be a book full of human interest, as this whole struggle is really about people striving to come in from the cold against the most fearful opposition — against doctors; against the state; against the media; and against general all-round ill-informed prejudice. It’s not just a book for trans people. It’s a book for everyone. Each of the contributors will be under instructions to keep it accessible.
To bring this book to the shops I have agreed to work with a very special kind of publisher. Unbound has a unique model. Most publishers want a lot of control over a book’s contents. They demand that because they are taking all the financial risk. They’ll say to trans authors 'can you change this?' or 'can you sex that bit up'. It’s why so many trans books have tended to focus on transitions and on sexualising subjects. Our history is too important for that.
Unbound’s approach is to enable authors and editors to produce the books they want to write. In turn they enable readers to also control the books they want to read. It’s a crowd funding approach — like Kickstarter, but for books. Unbound is primarily a publisher of great books that other publishers might never consider. The flip side of that is that we writers have to devote a bit of time to persuading people to pledge support for our project.
The campaign to enable 'Trans: A British History' to be published got underway on 24 January and it has been so successful that — 10 days later — it had already reached about 40% of the target necessary to produce it. That’s an amazing response and it shows just how much people value the idea of a unique authoritative book like this.
 Pledging to support the book has a number of great advantages. The biggest benefit is that you’ll be the first to receive the book when it is published (up to three months before the trade edition goes to the shops). Supporters can get a specially printed extra-high-quality first edition hardback. All supporters also get their name in a section of the book, as the people who allowed it to happen. As the editor I will also be writing about the progress of the book — exclusive insider information about the contributors and design process — and almost all of that will be for supporters only.
The basic pledge options are about a first edition of the book, a mention in the back and access to the ‘Shed’, where I’ll be blogging for you. However, for a small additional contribution you can make your copy a true collectible, with my signature (and some of the contributors if I can get them all to stand still in one place). There are then many more great options for individuals and groups with deeper pockets. For a sum your organisation can even be mentioned in the book’s frontispiece as a major benefactor.
I must stress, however, that none of this can take place until the support campaign reaches 100%. By pledging support for this project you really do determine whether it can happen. I really want to get there as soon as possible, so that I can set 25 amazing people with unique eye-witness memories on a job that has never been attempted before.
To borrow from Donald Trump (God help me): 'It’ll be great. Just great. I’ve got the best writers. The very best. And we’ll make trans history great'
To support the crowd funding for this book go to https://unbound.com/books/trans-a-british-history
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Don't forget to renew your membership!
Just checking - your IEDP membership fee was due on 1 January 2017 - have you renewed it? As mentioned in our last newsletter, we are keeping the cost of membership the same again for this year. Our individual associate membership is £110+VAT, with a reduced rate of £55+VAT for students, retired and volunteers. Don't forget there is also our team membership which is excellent value at just £550+VAT for a team of 6 to 30 people working for the same organisation. Full details of membership fees and benefits are on our website here.
IEDP accreditation dates
If you join the IEDP, or are already a member, you can apply for our accreditation process. To apply for the next round, the closing date for expressions of interest is 28 April 2017. Your application would need to be confirmed (and the fee paid) by 12 May 2017 and the deadline for the submission of your portfolio would be 30 June 2017. Or if you would prefer to work on it over the summer, expressions of interest for the following round are due by 28 July for submission at the end of September. Further details on the accreditation page of our website
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1001 inventions
 Equitable Education recommended this website, which belongs to an organisation which aims to raise awareness of Muslim civilisation throughout history. There is a lot of material on the site, including photos, video and teaching resources. For example there is a downloadable teaching pack with suggestions of how to link the resources to the science curriculum. Click on the photo to go to the website..
24 things people don't realise you're doing because of your social anxiety
 This article and video by Sarah Schuster for The Mighty was recommended by Upworthy Click on the photo to read the article - the video version is at the end of it.
Timeline
 Ruth Wilson found this website interesting, and there is also an associated app. Timeline features history that doesn't often get into the school curriculum, e.g. Black history, LGBT history and feminist history. Click on the photo to go to the website
10 books to help children understand mental illness
 Ruth Wilson found this list of books by Crystal Ponti on the parent.co website, recommended for sharing with children to open discussions about mental health Click on the photo to see the list
Faith to faithless support
 The British Humanist Association (BHA) recently announced on its website that the organisation 'Faith to Faithless', has now become part of the BHA. Faith to Faithless was founded in 2015 by Aliyah Shaleem and Imtiaz Shams, provides support for people who may feel isolated or experience discrimination on leaving their religion. Click on the photo to go to the website
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Challenging the media
 By Drew Wilkins
We rely on the media to tell us what is happening in the world. Most people assume that on the whole reporting in the local press is genuine and accurate. However, accuracy can be compromised by not reporting all of the facts. In 2012 a Cambridgeshire newspaper’s online edition carried the following article about crime in the county:
'Travellers committed 119 crimes in Cambridgeshire last year, police records show
Almost 120 crimes were committed by travellers in Cambridgeshire last year, according to police figures. However, Cambridgeshire Police say they are only able to record the ethnicity if the offender or suspect 'chooses to give us this information'.
They add that the 'accuracy of the information must not be relied upon for comparison purposes'.
The figures that are available, which were released under the Freedom of Information Act, show that 119 offences were committed by 'Gypsy, Roma or traveller”'people in 2011. There were 121 in 2010 and 91 in 2009.
More than a third of the recorded offences committed by travellers last year were theft. There were 10 common assaults and seven recorded instances of actual bodily harm. Police had recorded 13 offences involving travellers possessing controlled drugs, nine criminal damage cases and six burglaries.
There were no recorded offences - where ethnicity had been declared as traveller - for attempted murder or possessing firearms in 2011.
 We at Cambridgeshire Race Equality and Diversity Service thought there was something lacking in the reportage and complained about it to the Council’s press office. We were able to use official police data to establish that, in the period April 2011 to March 2012 there were 47,731 crimes in Cambridgeshire.
In our view, the article was a clear case of discrimination. It identified one community and implied that they were responsible for a major crime wave. In doing so it neglected to provide information about any other ethnic group. We asked some basic questions. If Travellers committed 119 crimes, amounting to 0.002% of the almost 48000 crimes, who committed the rest of the crimes? It is estimated that 6000 Travellers live in Cambridgeshire. A rough calculation of crimes per head of population gives a figure of 0.019%, meaning that Travellers were considerably under-represented in terms of number of crimes committed. Why was there no reporting of other groups?
The newspaper at first saw nothing wrong with the article. Perhaps they thought they were reporting on something of topical interest to their readers. It took a few days and a lot of emailing back and forth, but eventually they were persuaded to remove it from their website.
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Sound statistics
This issue's statistics are about race and employment and have been compiled by Ruth WIlson
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Experiences of employees
- In a 2015 survey of 24,457 employees, 32% of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) employees have witnessed or experienced racial harassment or bullying from colleagues in the last 5 years
- Within that 32%, nearly a third reported it happening in the past year alone
Difference in attitudes
- BAME employees tend to be more ambitious, with 84% of BAME employees and 63% of white employees saying it is important to progress.
- 40% of BAME employees expressed an interest in taking part in a fast track programme, which is significantly higher than white employees (18%).
Access to employment and promotion
- A recent experiment carried out by the BBC's Inside Out London found that an applicant called Adam Henton was three times as likely to get an interview than an applicant called Mohamed Allam with equivalent experience and qualifications
- There is a lower proportion of British Muslims in the managerial and professional occupations (16%) than any other religious group (30%), and are also more likely to be unemployed and economically inactive
One to know about:
Benefits of diversity
- Organisations with greater racial diversity on senior teams experience 35% greater financial returns (58% having financial returns above the national industry median, as opposed to 43% with less racial diversity)
One to think about:
Ethnic diversity and senior management
- The ethnic composition of the UK labour force is about 10% BAME, up from 6% in 1991, but only just over 20% of UK companies have 10% or more BAME staff on their top management teams
Sources
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'You're (not) hired!' - discrimination in recruitment
 By Simon Langley
This is a shortened version of a precis of a recent paper presented by Chris Milsom of Cloisters Chambers, London, to the Discrimination Law Association. For Simon's more detailed account see the members' area of the IEDP website
Recruitment is generally accepted as the gateway towards a diverse workforce. However, it is also the textbook scenario for discrimination to creep into the decision-making process. This paper addresses three specific pitfalls: pre-employment health questions, immigration checks and the fluency duty.
While many employers state that they are committed to diversity, there remains evidence which points in the opposite direction. For example:
- ethnic minority workers are a third more likely that white workers to be underemployed
- just 8.7% of ‘quality roles’ attracting salaries greater than £20k declared an offer of flexible working
- those who make recruitment and interviewing decisions are more than twice as likely (16%) as the overall population (7%) to be against equality of opportunity for the sexes
- according to a 2012 Europe-wide survey, 58% of respondents suggested that age (in all its guises) was a barrier to recruitment, more so than any other protected characteristic.
With this context in mind, the EHRC’s strategic focus in the employment arena this year on ‘discrimination in recruitment and career progression with a focus on age and intergenerational fairness, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief and the use of positive action’ is to be welcomed.
The explanation
 We should consider what makes recruitment so susceptible to discriminatory practices. That requires candour. There is consensus amongst psychologists and scientists that we are all culpable of unconscious bias. E.g. research suggests that older women are typically viewed by respondents as warm but lacking in competence; north eastern Asians or Jewish people are considered to be highly competent but lacking in warmth. Thus, when a member of an interview panel explains a decision on the basis of ‘just not warming’ to a candidate that will often require some unpacking. A moment’s reflection makes it clear why recruitment practices are so vulnerable. The process is inherently subjective: ‘is this someone I can work with’?
Pre-employment Health Questions: The Tightrope Between Adjustments and Assumptions
A prospective employer has a duty to make adjustments for disabled persons from the application stage onwards. The duty to make reasonable adjustments is a duty positively to act and to treat a disabled applicant in some cases more favourably.
Section 60 of the Equality Act says that, other than in specified circumstances, an employer must not ask a job applicant a question about his or her health before offering work to the applicant. ‘Offering work’ includes both conditional and unconditional offers. A question as to whether a person has a disability is to be regarded as an aspect of that person’s health.
The Act provides exceptions to this general rule, namely:
- To understand any adjustments that need to be made at the assessment or interview stage;
- For diversity monitoring purposes;
- Because the employer has a specific policy to encourage diversity e.g. a guaranteed interview scheme;
- Because it relates to an essential part of the job;
- Because there is a legal requirement e.g. where a valid medical certificate is required by law to do the job.
However, EHRC research published in 2013 revealed that half of job applicants both with or without impairments were asked whether they had a disability or health condition during a recruitment process.
The Immigration Act 2016: Immigration Checks
Government rhetoric is not warm towards the engagement of migrant workers. The Immigration Act 2016 is in keeping with that rhetoric, sending a clear message that the engagement of illegal migrants is to be met with the full force of legal sanctions. Sadly, this is not coupled with a recognition that those working illegally are often in a position of vulnerability: punishment is the order of the day.
The Changes Introduced by the Act
 The Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 rendered it unlawful knowingly to employ illegal workers. The 2016 Act extends the scope of the 2006 offence considerably.
A person commits an offence if the person
- employs another person (the employee) who is disqualified from employment by reason of the employee’s immigration status; and
- has reasonable cause to believe that the employee is disqualified from employment by reason of the employee’s immigration status.
The Consequences
On the one hand, there is clear need for awareness amongst employers of the need for immigration checks. The EHRC’s October 2016 Report Recruitment in Britain: Examining employers’ practices and attitudes to employing UK-born and foreign-born workers found that less than half of workplaces (45%) knew that employers must check that all job applicants have a right to work in the UK before employing them irrespective of place of work, and that only 39% of workplaces understood that it is illegal for an employer to advertise jobs in Britain exclusively in a foreign language.
Nevertheless, much of that report paints a positive picture. The overwhelming majority (78%) of workplaces did not see nationality as a key driver of success and only 13% of employers had targeted foreign-born workers. The undercurrent of the Immigration Act 2016 does little to build on that trajectory. Moreover, the scope for hyper-scrutiny of non-British nationals is considerable.
For those employers seeking to manage the requirements the IA 2016 imposes sensitively, the UK Border Agency statutory Code of Practice of May 2014 Avoiding Unlawful Discrimination While Preventing Illegal Working is an invaluable starting point. It recommends migrant checks on all applicants: ‘It is important to remember that the population of the UK is ethnically diverse. Many people from ethnic minorities in this country are British citizens and many non-British citizens from black and minority ethnic communities are entitled to work here. You must not therefore assume that someone from an ethnic minority is an immigrant, or that someone born abroad or who speaks with a particular accent is not allowed to work in the UK.’
The Fluency Duty: Speaking in Tongues?
In its 2015 manifesto the present Government pledged the safe and high quality delivery of public services by ensuring that they are provided to an appropriate standard of fluency in English, or in Wales, English or Welsh. The Immigration Act 2016 (Part 7: Language Requirements for Public Sector Workers) establishes the requirement that ‘a public authority must ensure that each person who works for the public authority in a customer facing role speaks fluent English’. The Code of Practice on the English Language Requirements for Public Sector Workers came into effect on 29 November 2016.
The Code
The Code professes that compliance is a mere matter of common sense ‘without creating more red tape…the aim is to bring standards up to the best.’ It is subdivided into five sections:
- Scope
The Public Workers Code first attempts to grapple with how to identify a ‘customer-facing’ employee i.e. one who ‘as a regular and intrinsic part of their role is required to speak to members of the public’.
- Setting a Standard
The Code envisages a flexible standard on what standard of fluency is required ‘to enable effective performance’ depending on a number of factors such as frequency of spoken interaction, topic, need for technical/specialist vocabulary, availability of supplementary written material etc. fluency
- Remedial Action
Suggested remedial action includes training, although it is not clear whether additional funding is to made available to achieve this objective. Alternative action might include redeployment to a non-public facing role, although it is recognised that there may be some instances where redeployment is not possible. Thus the Code proposes dismissal as a last resort.
- Complaints Procedure
The Code requires public authorities to devise a procedure which can redress alleged breaches of the fluency duty from members of the public. The public must be notified of such a procedure: the procedure should also explain that complaints as to ‘accent, dialect, manner or tone of communication, origin or nationality’ are not legitimate complaints. A record must be kept of all complaints although this data need not be published.
- Compliance with other Legal Obligations
Here the Code is light on specifics. Public authorities are helpfully reminded of their obligations in general terms as to race discrimination, disability discrimination and PSED which includes the requirement to ‘foster good relations between persons who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it.’
The Equality Consequences
Uncertainty is an unhappy bedfellow where, as the Impact Assessment recognises, certain protected classes are more likely to be affected than others. The potential impact on those with disabilities or those who are non-British is obvious.
Neither the Code nor the Impact Assessment adequately address the argument that the legislation itself falls foul of the PSED and in particular the requirement to foster good relations.
In the context of race discrimination, the Impact Assessment accepts ‘the additional risk that, as a result of the fluency duty, some public authorities would be minded to favour applicants of British origin in recruitment, as more likely to have the requisite level of fluency in spoken English (or Welsh in Wales) for the role. The Code will make clear that this would be discriminatory and unlawful under the Equality Act 2010!
Conclusion
Pursuing a claim of discriminatory recruitment is not without its pitfalls. Recent legislative measures are in their execution perhaps best regarded as wasted opportunities or retrogressive steps. But if the goals of participation in the labour market and a diverse workforce are to be achieved, they must be used to the best advantage of applicants. Unthinking barriers to recruitment are susceptible to challenge: it is hoped that this paper provides some ideas as to how such a challenge may succeed.
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Tories vote to block compulsory LGBT inclusive sex education but promise reform
 Elly Barnes pointed out this article by Nick Duffy in Pink News after an amendment by Stella Creasy to the Children and Social Work bill was voted down Click photo to read
The importance of recognising the murder of women as a hate crime
 This article by Zoe Holman on Broadly was recommended by Cara Donald. Click photo to read
The pocket money gap - and 10 other ways girls are taught they're worth less
 Liz Skelcher drew our attention to this article by Laura Bates in The Guardian Click photo to read
Is it easier to get a job if you're Adam or Mohamed?
 The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recently shared this article by Zack Adesina and Oana Marocico from the BBC website on Twitter Click photo to read
Why isn't anyone talking about the radicalisation of whites?
 Katrice Horsley recommended this article by Johnny Silvercloud on his blog about the radicalisation of White Americans Click photo to read
Thousands of gay men pardoned for past convictions
 Roisin Tooley pointed out this article from the BBC news website about the long overdue pardon for gay men convicted in the past under former indecency laws, following Alan Turing's pardon in 2013. Click photo to read
I fought racism and misogyny to become an MP.The fight is getting harder.
 Ruth Wilson pointed out this moving article by Dianne Abbott in The Guardian about the abuse and threats she is subjected to. Click photo to read
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Workplace racism increasingly being 'normalised' analysis suggests
 Juliette Brown and Denise Rabor both recommended this article by Marrianne Colman in the CIPD magazine. Click photo to read.
Muslim parents must send their children to mixed swimming lessons, European court rules
 The British Humanist Association shared this article by James Rothwell in The Telegraph about a recent ruling in the ECHR based on a case in Switzerland. Click photo to read.
World's 8 richest people have the same wealth as poorest 50%
 Sarah Dolman shared this article about increasing economic inequality by Larry Elliot in The Guardian. It is based on a recent study by Oxfam. Click photo to read.
Research says there are ways to reduce racial bias. Calling people racist isn't one of them.
 This article by Getman Lupez on vox.com was recommended by the Birmingham-based equality organisation Brap. Click photo to read.
How the art world airbrushed female artists from history
 Adrian Bailey highlighted this interesting article about female artists, by Hannah Ellis-Peterson in The Guardian. Click photo to read.
Batman confirms he's a transgender ally
 This unusual article by Andrew Dyce on Screenrant.com was drawn to our attention by Wipe Out Transphobia. Click photo to read.
Hate crimes rise by up to 100 per cent across England and Wales, figures reveal
 Ruth Wilson saw this article by Jon Sharman and Ian Jones in The Independent. Click photo to read.
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Fab films
This issue's videos have been recommended by Ruth Wilson and Sarah Hayes.
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Lizzy Howell, a young American dancer, is challenging stereotypes about who can dance. recommended by Sarah Hayes.
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TED talk by Tiq Milan and Kim Katrin Milan on 'A queer vision of love and marriage.'
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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 31 January 2017 and was a Skype meeting
Finance
Financial statements for the year ending 31 December were briefly discussed.
Publicity and marketing
We continued the discussion about how to move forward with the IEDP's Linked In group. A new Linked In group has been set up with the new name of the organisation (i.e. Institute of Equality and Diversity Professionals instead of Practitioners). Some people have started to move across to the new group but this still needs more promotion.
Accreditation update
Kate had circulated a list of people who had recently expressed and interest in the accreditation before the meeting which was briefly discussed.
Events
The majority of the meeting focused on planning the forthcoming spring seminar on the theme of Hate Crime. We now have a confirmed date (2 March) and the third speaker was agreed. There was a discussion about possible venues and practical arrangements.
Next meeting
The next Board meeting will be on Thursday 2 March before the spring seminar and will be a face-to-face meeting.
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Contact us
The Institute of Equality and
Diversity Professionals
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 17 March 2017. 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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