Making equality a reality

There's a difference, says Andy Rickell, between talking about creating equality and actually doing it

I want a world where every human being is incredibly and equally important, and is given every chance to show what they can achieve for themselves and society. Some call that idea “equality”, or “fairness”, or “human rights”, or “social justice”, or “equal opportunities”, or “justice”, or “freedom”, or “democracy”, even “righteousness”, and its opposite is “poverty”.

In reality, I live in a world where those words are frequently used but the power of that idea has been hollowed out of them so that they are pale distortions of the ideal. A case in point is so-called equality in the workplace, which is crucial when the best route out of poverty is well-paid work.

I have seen “equal opportunities” used to justify failing to support the very people most at risk of exclusion from employment. I have seen “person specifications” for jobs create the very barriers in the recruitment process they were supposed to overcome. I have seen the “guaranteed interview” scheme become a mechanism to ignore good candidates.

I have seen outright denial and opposition by managers and recruiters to policies and positive action which seek to correct systemic injustices. I have seen “health and safety” used to hound workers who acquire impairments out of their jobs. And all this done whilst the people involved talked about “fairness” and “equality”.

So when I heard there were attempts being made to create an equality “standard” or “kitemark” for employers to judge themselves and be judged by others, I was very clear about what I wanted to see. I wanted a standard that makes equality fundamental and beneficial to doing the day job, not a “special” add-on. I wanted a standard based on measuring equality in reality, not theoretical policies and bits of paper. I wanted a standard that is externally assessed, not a “mark your own”. The standard had to cover not only disability but all diverse identities – it’s not equality unless everyone is included whoever they are. It had to be about learning to improve in making equality real – it’s an ongoing process and complacency must never be tolerated. And it had to be led by people like me who experience the current inequalities and failures in the system – it must be credible.

Only one such “standard” or “kitemark” hits that spot so far – the UK Council of Access and Equality’s Pathway. I have now become the Chair of the Council of Reference, the group which informs the development of the Pathway to ensure it’s credible. I am particularly keen for organisations of all shades to join UKCAE and commit to measuring and developing their commitment to equality using the Pathway. If you want to see equality in reality, then encourage your organisation to be judged on what it does, not what it says it does.

• For information visit ukcae.com