In an otherwise pretty standard fare article about inequalities lies this observation about Birmingham's Race Equality Unit. And bear in mind this is an article telling us the we're just as unequal as we used to be:
For example, in 1984 Birmingham City Council set up a Race Equality Unit with the aim of addressing institutional racism and improving access to council services. By 1989 the Unit had 31 staff, including race relations advisers in housing, education, and social services. The Unit’s annual report for that year shows its activities included training, monitoring uptake of services, helping different departments devise race equality schemes, improving access to services (mainly by translating information), and organising outreach events. If you were to include something about community development (helping local community groups to support disadvantaged people) these activities would all be part of the Standard Six – the half a dozen key actions that have dominated equality strategies and policies over the decades.
Put simply we've spent over thirty years mithering on about race equality and levels of black unemployment in Birmingham remain three times higher that the City's overall unemployment rate. All that investment - much of it spent on 'monitoring', on counting minorities - hasn't achieved very much at all. Except provide a well-paid employment for all those equalities monitors, trainers and strategists.
....
1 comment:
As farmers always say, just because you weigh the pig every day doesn't mean it gets any fatter.
Post a Comment