3 - Equality and inclusion

Summary

Introduction

Community work is, at its core, about addressing inequalities to enable the full and meaningful participation of communities and individuals in any and all aspects of their lives. While we should look to address all forms of inequality in our work, in this chapter we will explore work with people with protected characteristics covered by national and international equality or human rights legislation, including discrimination against Indigenous peoples, migrants, minorities, women, people with disabilities, racial and religious discrimination and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (United Nations, 2022). Work which seeks to address other forms of injustice, such as poverty, for example, will be discussed in other chapters.

Context

Changes to migration patterns arising from climate change; foreign conflict, or national policies such as Brexit in the UK; shrinking economies; and cuts to welfare and public services; the impact of digitisation; the role of social media in all our lives; and the impact of pandemics have meant that the profile and needs of individuals and communities continue to change and we must adapt our services in response to the resulting inequalities and divisions. Work to broker understanding and trust within communities has never been more important, as illustrated in the following quotation.

Changes to the welfare system since 2010 have made life harder for those in poverty, and this disproportionately affects a large number of disabled people, women, and people from ethnic minorities. Spikes in hate crime and worrying levels of sexual violence and domestic abuse also give cause for concern in relation to the safety of our citizens in their personal lives and on the streets. Women are still not benefitting from equality in practice and there are increasingly large gaps between the experiences and outcomes of disabled people and some ethnic minorities and the population as a whole. The persistent disadvantages faced by certain groups raise significant concerns that some people are being forgotten or left behind. (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2019)

It is a sad fact that many children are bullied because of their protected characteristics. Girls are more likely to be bullied than boys, disabled people more than non-disabled people, and those who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual more so than straight people (Ditch the Label, 2020).