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Current approach to tackling inequality and discrimination needs radical re-thinking, says ippr report

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28 January 2010

In the week when a major government-commissioned study on inequality is published, a report by the leading independent think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research argues that the current approach to tackling the issue is out of date, alienates many people and is often counterproductive.

The report’s authors, two leading figures on race and equality issues, Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, the Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society and Simon Fanshawe, the gay rights campaigner, argue that people in the UK have complex and multiple personal identities, meaning that the current ‘tick box’ approach to identifying problems gives a simplistic and sometimes false picture of disadvantage, exclusion and inequality.

They argue that many equalities and public bodies have an outmoded mindset which views everyone as fitting into equalities’ ‘strands’.

In an extensive set of interviews carried out for the report, the authors found increasing resentment among people at the way they feel forced to categorize themselves. One expert interviewee said:

“On the one hand I still say ‘I am disabled’ as a sort of political identifying statement to the world, in other words – you’d better treat me equally, with respect and have my needs accessed in an equal and fair way – but on the other hand that’s awful and I just want to be a person with a diverse experience of the world.”

Another interviewee said:

“Around 16-17 I had a problem with identity.. that ‘black’ was talking a certain way and dressing a certain way and listening to certain music. And when I realized that wasn’t me because I like jazz… and I like to wear belts so you won’t see my boxer shorts! It was like I was fighting a war.”

The report authors contend that the tick-box approach has become a dead end in the fight against discrimination and so alienates people that it risks providing ammunition to those hostile to tackling inequality. At its worst it can contributes towards pushing people to vote for the BNP and other extremist groups.

Danny Sriskandarajah said:

"We have to stop reducing the complexity of people's lives to simplistic tick boxes. They tell us less than ever about who people are, what lives they lead, or what services they need. Equality campaigners need to realise that mobilising around fixed group identities is alien to a new generation more used to facebook groups and flash mobs. We need new ways of thinking and talking about equalities in the 21st century.”

Simon Fanshawe added:

“Not only do these broad groups not tell us much about the way people actually live. As long as we continue to talk about equalities always in terms of minorities, those in the broader sweep of the population who feel they're not listened to will feel further excluded. It's not hard to join the dots from that to one of the reasons why people vote for the BNP.”

Lisa Harker, Co-director of ippr said:

“The ippr has consistently called for more attention to be paid to inequality and discrimination in the UK and while progress has been made to tackle these issues, it is clear that more needs to be done. So it is really important that policy responses evolve over time, adjust to changing circumstances and fit with the reality of people’s lives. This report is a useful wake-up call to those working in the equalities field that they may be fighting old battles with blunt instruments.”

The report calls for a new approach to monitoring and tackling inequality and discrimination. Through:

More sophisticated data capture
Including using the next Census in 2011 to ‘self-define’ their ethnicity or religion rather than ticking pre-determined boxes
More open minded analysis
Including approaches that avoid ascribing problems to broad group identities when the real cause could be other factors (such as skills, social class, deprivation and exclusion)
More nuanced, smarter interventions
Including individualised approach to meet individual needs by equipping professionals to respond more flexibly rather than making assumptions about groups

Notes to editors

ippr’s report by ‘You can’t put me Box’: Super-diversity and the end of identity politics in Britain is avaiable to download..

Contacts

Tim Finch, Director of Strategic Communications, 020 7470 6106 / 07595 920 899 / t.finch@ippr.org

Kelly O’Sullivan, Media Officer, 020 7470 6125 / 07753 719 289 / k.osullivan@ippr.org