What does equality mean in Britain today

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What does equality mean in Britain today?

• Rebecca Eligon20th April 2006

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Objectives

• To explore the concept of equality
• What it means
• How important it is
• How things have changed
• What are the future priorities
• What is the social minimum of equality
• To get reactions to the idea of having to give
  something up for others to become more equal

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Who we spoke to

• Eight focus groups with members of the general
  public.
• Fieldwork conducted between 28 February and 8
  March 2006

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What does equality mean and how important is it?
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What does equality mean?

• Being treated fairly and being given the same
  opportunities regardless of personal
  characteristics
• Respondents stress that it is important for
  equality to mean everyone being treated the same,
  not that everyone should be the same

Equality means friends, peer group treat you the
same People being treated as the same is
equality.
Male, black, London
Everybody treated the same, no matter race,
colour or creed. Male, white, Bradford
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Equality less important than other quality of
life issues
I think equality of opportunitys very, very
important. A black man would say that. But from a
personal point of view, Ive got other issues
that Ive placed ahead of that I dont believe
that every single black person in this country is
worrying and worrying about equal
opportunity. Male, black, London
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Not a top-of-mind issue
Q To what extent do you agree or disagree that it
is a good thing that Britain is a multi-racial
society .?
Disagree
NHS Race relations/ immigration Defence/terrorism
Education/schools Crime/law
order Pensions/social security Economy Environment
Poverty/inequality Taxation
Education, crime and health mentioned most in
groups. Immigration and defence more common in
white groups
Base c. 1,000 British adults 18
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Important to consider the context of changing
concerns
Q What do you see as the most/other important
issues facing Britain today?
NHS (37)
Race relations/ immigration (30)
Education (28)
Defence (29)
Crime/law order (26)
Base c. 1,000 British adults 18
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Who experiences inequality?
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Who do we think is treated unfairly?

• Everyone (because of gender)
• Age (both older and younger people)
• Religious minorities (Muslims)
• Ethnic minorities
• People with disabilities
• People in particular geographic locations
  (postcode lottery)
• People with lower social status/social class
• Sexual minorities
• The following groups were only mentioned in one
  or two groups
• Unemployed employed people
• Asylum seekers/refugees
• Drug addicts
• Homeless people

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National picture presents similar story
Q Which two or three of these, if any, do you
think are the most likely to experience prejudice
and discrimination in England?
Base 1,693 interviewers with adults across
England, May 2001 Source MORI/Stonewall
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As does the personal picture
Q Which of these groups, if any, would you say
you personally feel less positive towards?
Base 1,183 questionnaires returned to MORI
May-June 2001 Source MORI/Stonewall
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Differences by ethnicity, age, gender and social
class

• All groups have similar lists of unequal groups
• There do not appear to be variations by age,
  gender or class
• However, ethnic and religious minority groups are
  much more likely to mention race and religion
  first
• White groups are more likely to mention gender
  and disability first

I feel we are the most unequal group herewe are
called Paki and twin towers. Female Pakistani,
Bradford
You get your real old stick in the mud idea of
women being inferior to men being in the house
all day and all that sort of thing. And that
still exists to a certain extent, although to be
honest its in the older generation now I would
say. White, Scotland
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Manifestations of inequality
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Where does inequality manifest itself?

• Education
• Employment
• Social class / wealth
• Housing
• Health
• Criminal Justice System
• Political arena

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How does education inequality manifest itself?

• Poor outcomes for key minorities groups, partly
  due to cultural issues

What the individual teachers thinking about the
black children shes got to be, act all PC, but
she cant think, I cant deal with these black
children, I dont know how to deal with them
They white teachers still cant understand what
its like Our cultures different. Female,
black, London

• Lack of awareness of inequity among some white
  respondents. They were more likely to attribute
  poor outcomes to other factors like poverty,
  family structure not race per se

I dont think that if you put two people through
the same system and one was white and one was
black that the reason the black guy does less
well is because hes black. Male, white, London
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How does employment inequality manifest itself?

• The term equal opportunities is strongly linked
  in peoples minds with employment
• Many note instances where they do not feel the
  workforce is representative of minority groups

I work in electronics and engineering and you
still very rarely find women in that sphere of
working. Theres ... students who are more than
capable but once they come into the environment I
dont know if they dont feel comfortable but
they certainly dont seem to progress in it Male,
white, Scotland
For example, the West Yorkshire Police, they say
theyre equal opportunities ... Theres not many
Asian coppers working at all.
Male, Pakistani, Bradford
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Concerns about positive discrimination as a
solution
I dont believe in positive discrimination.
When you look at that then why should one person
with the same qualifications get a job ahead of
another person just because of their gender or
whatever. White, Rural Scotland

• And there is some confusion relating to this
  about how ethnic monitoring forms are used

In a lot of jobs, council jobs, if you have to,
you fill in a form and then it says, please mark
your ethnicity Whats that for? I refuse to
fill those in, because they should recruit me on
my experience, not what colour I am. Not what
race I am, not what religion I am. Female,
Asian, Birmingham
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Has inequality changed over time?
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Groups feel discrimination has been reduced
I think theres been a shift and the country as
a whole has moved on, in leaps and bounds Female,
black, London
Its much easier or better than it used to be.
Theres been a great improvement. Although we
still have a way to go Female,
white, Bradford
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What has changed?
Youre more protected Female, black, London
The role of the woman has changed quite a bit and
thats within every race group. Female, Asian,
Birmingham
People are, conscious of their rights, and
certain laws are there to protect them as well
Male, black, London
Some 20 years ago there was nothing like equal
opportunities, no, and now everywhere you go this
has to be equal opportunity there Female, black,
London
For women, in particular, its definitely more
equal Female, white, Bradford
I think its pretty staggering to see whats
happened like in the last 30 years because if we
carry on at this speed itll be incredible, like
in 30 years time Ill feel very lucky that
theres my children having the world that theyre
going to be in that kind of society. Female,
white, London
In the 70s and 80s, there used to be a group of
people used to come and beat Asians and all this
and that. They used to call themselves National
Front. Now its nothing like that Male,
Bangladeshi, London
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Groups see education and legislation as key
drivers of change

• I think a lot of its to do with education, so
  you start in education at a very young age in
  schools and a lot of it to be positive and the
  majority of skills are there, inclusion skills.
• Female, Asian, Birmingham
• I think people have more access to information as
  well and are learning more about race and
  ethnicity whereas in the past people were worried
  and nervous because they just werent aware of
  other cultures.
• Female, white, London
• They say it starts from the schools, education.
  It all comes from the Government saying this is
  what youre supposed to educate the kids.
• Female, black, Birmingham

The legislation is the answer to the change in
peoples attitudes. And then it creates more
change. Male, white London Its all really been
implemented through legislation matters as well
as the change in social attitude of course in
various groups. Male, white, London
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Conceptualising change
Legislation
Cultural norms
Education
Changing social attitudes
Social policy
Media
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However, some feel that attitudes have not changed
As a result, racism in particular, still exists
implicitly
I think its the point that, its not that
theyve changed, its just that the people who
were around 15 years ago, who have got those
feelings strongly, they dont say it as openly as
they would have 15 years ago People still hold
those stigmas and ideas about specific races but
because the world were living in now, they dont
come out and say it openly, because other people,
the younger generation, will look at them funny
and say something. Male, black, Birmingham
If I walked up the road at 3 oclock in the
morning, ten police cars go past me and nothing
would happen. If its Asians, theyll get stopped
every two minutes. Male, white, Bradford
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The social minimum of equality
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What do we mean by social minimum?

• Groups were presented with a series of areas of
  day-to-day life and were asked to think about
  equality as it relates to them
• They were asked to prioritise them into
• Vital/essential that everyone should have the
  social minimum
• Ideal - what everyone would have in an ideal
  world
• Luxury what would be nice to have but would not
  always be practical or possible
• Groups found it very difficult to grasp the
  concept of a social minimum

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Groups tend to have the same priorities for
equality

• VITAL
• Good health
• Clean water and food
• The right to justice and a fair trial
• Political choice
• IDEAL
• Adequate housing
• A safe and happy childhood
• Good education leading to qualifications
• NICE TO HAVE
• Access to leisure activities
• Access to transport
• Freedom for parents to choose whether to work or
  not

• Basic literacy and numeracy
• Religious freedom
• Feeling safe and happy in ones community
• Working conditions
• Being treated with dignity

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There are some differences between groups

• Muslim groups tended to value religious freedom
  more highly
• Ethnic minority groups tended to want a larger
  number of the rights discussed as being a social
  minimum
• But sexuality freedom was not even considered by
  the two Muslim groups (they refused to discuss it)

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Comparing minimum against uniform

• Public services such as schools, GPs, street
  sweeping and policing are run locally, but
  central government is involved in setting the
  standards they must meet. There are two ways in
  which central government can set these standards
  for public services.
• A Uniform standards (the government can set
  uniform standards that have to be met by all
  public services across the country. This would
  mean that people would be guaranteed exactly the
  same standard of public services everywhere in
  the country, so that there are no differences).
• OR
• B Minimum standards (the government can set
  minimum standards across the country. All public
  services would be guaranteed to meet this minimum
  standard. However, local people would be able to
  choose to pay more in council tax if they wanted
  public services in their area to meet higher
  standards.)

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Strong support for uniform/national standards
Tend to prefer uniform
Tend to prefer minimum
Strongly prefer minimum
Strongly prefer uniform
Public services in general
GPs
Schools
Number of police patrols
Street sweeping
Parks and open spaces
Base All with short question wording (915) Dec
02
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However we know that people do not want to be
treated differently
Disagree strongly
Agree slightly
Agree strongly
Disagree slightly
It doesnt matter
if local level of serviceare not the same in
different areas of the country
if local councils providedifferent levels of
service if they change differentlevels of
council tax
Unweighted sample base 1058.
Source Research for the Lyons Enquiry
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The concept of losing out

• Participants were also asked to discuss how they
  felt about personally losing out locally or
  giving up privileges or public services so that a
  national social minimum of equality could be
  achieved
• The concept of losing out was difficult for
  respondents to grasp and they did not feel it was
  particularly useful

When you say that someones losing out it seems
contradictory to it being equality, it doesnt
seem helpful
Female, White, London
You dont have to give anything up, because
when you dont give anything up, youve got
equality Male, White, Bradford
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Feelings about losing out

• Once respondents understood what was meant by
  losing out their opinions are mixed
• Some (particularly female respondents) say they
  would be happy to give up something for the
  greater good
• However, others are more wary No specific group
  trends variations on an individual level related
  to whether people see equality as an individual
  responsibility (in which case they are happy to
  give up), or a collective/state responsibility
  (in which case they tend not to be happy to lose
  out)

Yeah, I personally would be OK with that, if
another school needed it more than the school
that my child was attending, I would be OK with
that them getting resources at my
expense. Female, Black, London
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But some evidence to support
Observer Poll
Q Do you support or oppose taxes being used to
narrow the gap between the rich and the poor?
Dont know
Strongly oppose
Strongly support
Tend to oppose
Neither support nor oppose
Tend to support
Base 1,004 British adults 18, 7-9 April 2005
Source MORI/Observer
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Looking to the future
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Priority areas for improvement

• Most progress on gender and disability equality
• Age, ethnicity and religious equalities are seen
  as priority areas for the future

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Looking to the future

• Until now, groups feel that legislation has
  dictated behaviour. Changing peoples attitudes
  seen as vital for the future
• The main thing as well is trying to change
  peoples attitudes, getting them to change their
  mindset up there, to accept the equality
  
  Rural Scotland
• There is always going to be an underlying
  racist attitude
• 
  
  Black, London
• However, some feel it is not human nature to
  achieve complete equality
• Its not actually human nature to get actually
  get everybody on the same level, get them
  working, because human nature is Ive got to be
  better, Ive got to strive, Ive got to stay in
  my position
• 
  Female, Black, Birmingham
• Everyones different so inequality is going to
  be inevitable,it is not as if everyone started
  off as an identical being.
• 
  White, London

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Summary

• There is a common understanding of equality
• The equality agenda has progressed, concerns
  about more subtle forms of inequity
• Gender and disability inequality
• Ethnic and religious-based inequality
• Drivers education, legislation and social norms
• Employment and education to a lesser extent
  health, and social welfare
• Terminology relating to social minimum and
  losing out needs to be re-thinked

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Summarising group differences
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London Groups

• London Bangladeshi
• Equality is not a big issue, and they do not feel
  they are currently treated inequitably
• However, they do recognise inequity within their
  community (gender in particular, but also age)
• London Black
• Ethnic inequalities are the biggest concern,
  particularly relating to education
• Respondents arent optimistic about the future
  and feel that things will always be unequal
• London White
• Inequalities on the basis of disability,
  ethnicity and religion are seen to be most
  pervasive, particularly relating to employment
• Think that gender inequalities will take care of
  themselves given time and think that things will
  continue to get better
• They recognise that as educated, white
  professionals in London they are best treated
  however, most say they are happy with the idea of
  losing out for the greater good

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Bradford Groups

• The white and Pakistani groups conducted in
  Bradford hold very similar opinions
• Both feel that they are the worst treated (in
  terms of local resourcing like street repairs,
  housing etc)
• Both recognised that Muslim groups in the area
  are being inequitably treated by the police (they
  are more likely to be stopped and searched)
• Both feel that it is governments responsibility
  to redress inequalities
• Neither are willing to give up anything for the
  benefit of the other!
• However, both recognise that better relations
  between the two communities are needed

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Scotland Birmingham groups

• Scotland
• Concerns are greatest regarding gender
  inequalities in the workplace
• There is little mention of ethnicity and
  religion (which may be because these are outside
  the experience of respondents)
• Birmingham Black
• Ethnic inequalities are the biggest spontaneous
  issue
• There is some feeling that inequality is to some
  extent unavoidable
• Birmingham Hindu/Sikh
• Ethnic and gender inequalities are felt to be the
  biggest issue

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Thank you
For further information contactrebecca.eligon_at_mor
i.comor on 020 7347 3363