What does equality mean in Britain today?

Rebecca Eligon 20 th April 2006

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 2

Who we spoke to…

Eight focus groups with members of the general public.

Fieldwork conducted between 28 February and 8 March 2006

SCOTLAND -

White -C2DEs -mixed gender -18-35 years -Rural location

BIRMINGHAM

-Black -C2DE -mixed gender -18-35 years

BIRMINGHAM

-Asian (Hindu/Sikh) -ABC1 -mixed gender -36+ years

LONDON

-Black -ABC1 -mixed gender -36+ years

LONDON

-White -ABC1 -mixed gender -18-35 years

BRADFORD

-White -C2DE -mixed gender -36+ years

BRADFORD

-Asian Pakistani (Muslim) -C2DE -mixed gender -18-35 years

LONDON

-Asian Bengali (Muslim) -C2DE -mixed gender -36+ years 3

What does equality mean and how important is it?

4

What does equality mean?

Being treated fairly and being given the same opportunities regardless of personal characteristics

‘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 Respondents stress that it is important for equality to mean everyone being treated the same, not that everyone should be the same 5

Equality less important than other quality of life issues

I think equality of opportunity’s very, very important. A black man would say that. But from a personal point of view, I’ve got other issues that I’ve placed ahead of that… I don’t believe that every single black person in this country is worrying and worrying about equal opportunity.

Male, black, London 6

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 37% Race relations/ immigration 30% Defence/terrorism 29% Education/schools 28% Crime/law & order 26% Pensions/social security 13% Economy Environment Poverty/inequality Taxation 9% 9% 8% 8% Education, crime and health mentioned most in groups. Immigration and defence more common in white groups

Base: c. 1,000 British adults 18+ 7

Q

Important to consider the context of changing concerns

What do you see as the most/other important issues facing Britain today?

80 70 60 50 Education (28%) NHS (37%) Race relations/ immigration (30%) 40 30 20 10 0 May 1997 May 1999

Base: c. 1,000 British adults 18+

May 2001 Defence (29%) Crime/law & order (26%) May 2003 May 2005

8

Who experiences inequality?

9

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 10

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?

Refugees/asylum seekers People from ethnic minorities Travellers/gypsies Gay or lesbian people Physically disabled people People with learning disabilities People who are obese/overweight Older people Religious minorities Welsh or Scottish people 1% 19% 24% 13% 10% 19% 38% 37% 50% 49%

Base: 1,693 interviewers with adults across England, May 2001 Source: MORI/Stonewall 11

As does the ‘personal’ picture

Q Which of these groups, if any, would you say you personally feel less positive towards?

Travellers/gypsies Refugees/asylum seekers Gay/lesbian people Asian people Black/Afro-Caribbeans Obese/overweight people Religious minorities People with learning disabilities Older people White people Physically disabled people Welsh/Scottish Any ethnic minority Any minority group None of these 5% 5% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2% 17% 13% 9% 18% 35% 34% 36% 64%

Base: 1,183 questionnaires returned to MORI May-June 2001 Source: MORI/Stonewall 12

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

‘I feel we are the most unequal group here…we are called Paki …and twin towers.’

Female Pakistani, Bradford White groups are more likely to mention gender and disability first

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 it’s in the older generation now I would say.

White, Scotland 13

Manifestations of inequality

14

Where does inequality manifest itself?

 Education  Employment  Social class / wealth  Housing  Health  Criminal Justice System  Political arena 15

How does education inequality manifest itself?

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

What the individual teacher’s thinking about the black children she’s got to be, act all PC, but she can’t think, ‘I can’t deal with these black children, I don’t know how to deal with them’… They [white teachers] still can’t understand what it’s like… Our culture’s 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 don’t 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 he’s black.

Male, white, London 16

How does employment inequality manifest itself?

The term “equal opportunities” is strongly linked in people’s 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. There’s ... students who are more than capable but once they come into the environment I don’t know if they don’t feel comfortable but they certainly don’t seem to progress in it

Male, white, Scotland

For example, the West Yorkshire Police, they say they’re equal opportunities ... There’s not many Asian coppers working at all.

Male, Pakistani, Bradford 17

Concerns about positive discrimination as a solution

I don’t 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… What’s 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 18

Has inequality changed over time?

19

Groups feel discrimination has been reduced

I think there’s been a shift… and the country as a whole has moved on, in leaps and bounds

Female, black, London

It’s much easier or better than it used to be. There’s been a great improvement. [Although] we still have a way to go

Female, white, Bradford

20

What has changed?

The role of the woman has changed quite a bit and that’s within every race group.

Female, Asian, Birmingham

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

You’re more protected

Female, black, London

People are, conscious of their rights, and certain laws are there to protect them as well

Male, black, London

I think it’s pretty staggering to see what’s happened like in the last 30 years because if we carry on at this speed it’ll be incredible, like in 30 years time I’ll feel very lucky that there’s my children having the world that they’re 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 it’s nothing like that

Male, Bangladeshi, London

For women, in particular, it’s definitely more equal

Female, white, Bradford 21

Groups see education and legislation as key drivers of change

I think a lot of it’s 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 weren’t 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 you’re supposed to educate the kids

. Female, black, Birmingham

The legislation is the answer to the change in people’s attitudes…. And then it creates more change.

Male, white London

It’s all really been implemented through legislation matters as well as the change in social attitude of course in various groups.

Male, white, London 22

Conceptualising change

Legislation Cultural norms Changing social attitudes Social policy Media Education

23

However, some feel that attitudes have not changed

As a result, racism in particular, still exists implicitly

I think it’s the point that, it’s not that they’ve changed, it’s just that the people who were around 15 years ago, who have got those feelings strongly, they don’t 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 we’re living in now, they don’t 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 morning, ten police cars go past me and nothing would happen. If it’s Asians, they’ll get stopped every two minutes.

o’clock in the

Male, white, Bradford

24

The social minimum of equality

25

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 26

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 Basic literacy and numeracy Religious freedom Feeling safe and happy in one’s community Working conditions Being treated with dignity

NICE TO HAVE

Access to leisure activities Access to transport Freedom for parents to choose whether to work or not

27

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)

28

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.)

29

Strong support for uniform/national standards % Strongly prefer minimum Public services in general GPs % Tend to prefer minimum 6 16 5 13 Schools 3 14 Number of police patrols 5 16 Street sweeping 5 18 Parks and open spaces 5 18

Base: All with ‘short’ question wording (915) Dec 02

% Tend to prefer uniform 30 31 28 30 32 32 % Strongly prefer uniform 35 40 40 35 31 29

30

However we know that people do not want to be treated differently

It doesn’t matter…

…if local level of service are not the same in different areas of the country … if local councils provide different levels of service if they change different levels of council tax % Disagree strongly % Disagree slightly

23 29 19 28

% Agree slightly

22

% Agree strongly

17 4 8

Unweighted sample base 1058.

Source: Research for the Lyons Enquiry 31

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 someone’s losing out it seems contradictory to it being equality, it doesn’t seem helpful

Female, White, London

You don’t have to give anything [up], because when you don’t give anything up, you’ve got equality

Male, White, Bradford

32

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

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

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) 33

Q

But some evidence to support

Observer Poll

Do you support or oppose taxes being used to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor?

Strongly oppose Don’t know 5% 12% 30% Strongly support Tend to oppose 13% Neither support nor oppose 11%

Base: 1,004 British adults 18+, 7-9 April 2005

29% Tend to support

Source: MORI/Observer 34

Looking to the future

35

Priority areas for improvement

Most progress on gender and disability equality Age, ethnicity and religious equalities are seen as priority areas for the future 36

Looking to the future

Until now, groups feel that legislation has dictated behaviour. Changing people’s attitudes seen as vital for the future

The main thing as well is trying to change people’s 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

It’s not actually human nature to get actually get everybody on the same level, get them working, because human nature is ‘I’ve got to be better, I’ve got to strive, I’ve got to stay in my position’

Female, Black, Birmingham

Everyone’s different so inequality is going to be inevitable, [it is not as] if everyone started off as an identical being.

White, London

37

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 38

Summarising group differences

39

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 aren’t 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 40

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 government’s 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 41

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 42

Thank you

For further information contact [email protected]

or on 020 7347 3363 43