Last week I attended the launch of the LJMU Race Charter – Keeping Race Equality on the Agenda at the Holiday Inn Hotel. A powerful event with some excellent speakers;
Professor David Gillborn – Director of Research, University of Birmingham talked of the lack of race equality within Higher Education among students and the teaching staff, exposing some alarming data.
Professor Heidi Safia Mirza – Professor Emeritus of Equality Studies in Education, one of the first female professors of colour in the UK, talks of the myth of the post-race society and the gatekeepers at the point of entry to universities are exercising cultural capital making it more difficult for black African/Caribbean students to enter higher status universities. How those students of colour who do enter are like freshwater fish swimming in sea water in the ‘world of whiteness’.
Dr Winston Morgan – Reader in Toxicology and Clinical Biochemistry, talks of the ‘Missing 300 Professors’ from BME backgrounds which is the shortfall in achieving representation amongst university teaching staff.
Professor Jacqueline Stevenson – Head of Research, Sheffield Institute of Education, talks of ‘Institutional Delusion’ whereby because organisations have equality policies, they must be inclusive. Wrong! She states that in 2008 not a single University was aware they had an attainment gap between white and BME students. Now they do, there has been little or no progress to address the gap.
Sadly, these facts don’t just apply to universities, they are echoed in our public and private sector organisations. In my 30 years working in these fields, very little progress has been made and that progress is painfully slow. Why? One of the reasons is that the senior leadership teams are predominantly white. White people, and many of them good people, don’t have to think about race because everything is based on their ‘norms’. So what incentive is there for them to change to make access, the culture and environment equitable for ALL people?
There is a strong business and moral case for diversity within organisations and institutions but the barriers still remain. My mission is to continue to chip away these barriers through education, action and support to organisations and senior leadership teams. Let’s work together.
