Equality Legislation Research Articles

Personality and political representation—How personality traits shape MPs' attitudes toward gender equality

AbstractThis study analyzes whether the personality traits of Members of Parliament (MPs) affect their attitudes toward the representation of gender equality issues. Based on the Big Five personality traits, we argue that Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness shape MPs' positions toward gender equality policies through two different pathways. The first pathway proposes a direct connection. While Openness is expected to positively affect MPs' support for gender equality, Conscientiousness is assumed to have a negative impact. The second pathway runs indirectly, linking Openness and Conscientiousness to preferences toward gender equality through the effect of these personality traits on MPs' general ideological positions. Using data from a survey of elite politicians in Germany and Switzerland, the results of a causal mediation analysis show a positive direct effect of Openness that holds independent of a mediating influence of political ideology. The analysis deepens our understanding of gender equality legislation and the MPs engaging in it.

The Role of Women in Political Participation in Cambodia: A Case Study of Svay Rieng Province

The government considers women as the backbone of Cambodia's economy and society. Despite a good sign, the female parliamentary representation in Svay Rieng fluctuated in the last three mandates (60% in 2008 and 2013, 80% in 2018, and 60% in 2023). The study aims to investigate the “socioeconomic”, “traditional-cultural”, “family”, and “personal” factors affecting gender roles in political involvement in Svay Rieng province, to assess perceptions and attitudes regarding women's political engagement. A mixed-methods approach was utilized, administering surveys to 119 participants and semi-structured interviews with 8 women actively participating in politics and leadership roles, using snowball sampling. The findings emphasize 1) Family-factors (domestic responsibilities, violence, and lack of support) hinder women's political participation the most, 2) Personal factors: limited education and self-confidence, 3) Socio-economic obstacles (the social devaluation of women, violence against women, limited outreach initiatives, and the impact of economic crises), and 4) Traditional customs, cultural norms including prescribed gender roles further contribute to the challenges faced by women in politics. Despite these obstacles, the study identifies positive perceptions and attitudes towards women's political participation. Participants underlined the need to empower women at both the national and sub-national levels, as well as fostering capacity development and extending possibilities. The recommendations include adopting gender equality legislation, increasing awareness, improving capacity-building programs, providing supportive infrastructure, engaging male allies, promoting cooperation, and assuring long-term commitment. A future study should look at additional elements that may impact women's political engagement, as well as evaluate the efficiency of existing policies for empowering women in Svay Rieng.

Breathing space amidst the permanence of racism in the academy

ABSTRACT This paper presents evidence that sheds light on both the limitations and the possibilities of race-focused staff forums that have formed across UK higher education as part of a response to equality legislation. Based on interviews conducted with 13 staff of color across two universities, this paper foregrounds critical race theory presenting evidence that these staff forums are often performative and fail to address needed structural changes. Despite this, there is also evidence of agency among members to struggle for an anti-racist university. This paper reveals varying perceptions and meanings to these forums, highlighting a tension. On the one hand, staff recognize the performativity of these initiatives. On the other, they also often value them as spaces of respite. The paper concludes that further examination of the perspectives and situated knowledge of members of these forums can offer valuable insights that can impact the creation and implementation of such spaces.

The health, safety, wellbeing and discrimination: Is there a place for young people to work in digital forensics?

Digital forensic investigators (DFI) are involved in examining computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices containing images and text related to child abuse, violence, terrorist activities and other distressing activities. Identifying, classifying and preparing evidence for courts is time-consuming and may delay cases coming to court. Police forces are under pressure to reduce a backlog of electronic devices requiring investigation (Forensic Capability Network, 2023) and the need to recruit more skilled DFIs. In response to the shortage in DFIs, the national police Forensic Capability Network (FCN) is developing digital forensic apprenticeships for young people based on a College of Policing (2023) role profile aimed at people aged 18 and over. Concerns were raised with the FCN on the potential harm that could be caused to young forensic investigators employed in a role that exposes them to distressing images. This paper describes the examination of evidence from neurobiology and psychological surveillance to provide advice to the FCN on the organisational duty of care to DFI apprentices under Health & Safety and Discrimination & Equality legislation.

Licensing of SEVs and the Raising Objections in the Courts: Human Rights Act, and Equality Legislation and Reversing Decisions by Local Authorities

Licensing of SEVs and the Raising Objections in the Courts: Human Rights Act, and Equality Legislation and Reversing Decisions by Local Authorities

Young people with LGB identity and their sense of belonging: Evidence from Northern Ireland – A society emerging from violent social conflict

In 2023 Northern Ireland celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement (GFA) which is regarded as a milestone of the Northern Ireland peace process. Via the 1998 Northern Ireland Act, the peace process saw equality and anti-discrimination legislation being implemented in Northern Ireland that legislates that public authorities must carry out their duties with due regard to equality of opportunity, including between persons of different sexual orientations and gender identities. Using time series data from 2013 to 2023 taken from the annual Young Life and Times (YLT) survey conducted among a randomized sample of 16-year olds in Northern Ireland (N = 15,162), this article explores the extent to which same-sex attracted young women and men express a sense of belonging to, and influence in, their local neighborhoods and Northern Ireland. We argue that the sense of belonging and influence can be used as suitable policy indicators to assess how same-sex attracted young people fare in Northern Ireland, a society emerging from significant violent conflict. The YLT dataset allows us to track, if any change in attitudes can be detected over the last decade. Our analysis shows that there was an increase in the proportion of young people, especially among young women, expressing same-sex attraction. However, our study also indicates that, regardless of gender, LGB 16-year olds consistently felt a lesser sense of belonging and influence than their non-LGB individuals. We found no LGB-specific differences among respondents with different religious affiliations. LGB respondents disproportionately rejected both Protestant and Catholic faiths and community affiliations, unlike their non-LGB counterparts. Our findings are a strong indicator that religion still plays a major part in the relationship between ethno-national communities in Northern Ireland and that there still is a long way to go until LGB young people feel valued and feel that they belong.

Separate But Equal: Is Segregated Schooling (Still) Good for Girls?

AbstractThe UK’s Equality legislation prohibits formal segregation with limited exemptions. Single-sex schools are one such exemption. No rationale for this was provided at the time of the legislation, and it was not until 2017 in the case of Al Hijrah that the question arose of whether and when sex-segregation in schools is lawful. We take up this question, reviewing the equality costs and benefits of sex-segregated schools conceptually and empirically. We highlight the incoherence of equality law regarding schools, and the limited evidence of their benefits. Drawing on feminist theory, we recommend improvements that may be useful in future cases where sex-segregation is contested in the context of faith-based schools. Lastly, we note that these legal questions may one day be challenged by a deeper source of instability if there is a breakdown in the binary sex categories on which sex-segregation in schools currently depends.

The whiteness of ‘sex discrimination’: theorising white feminist ideology in politics

The year 2025 will mark 50 years since the prohibition of gender discrimination in employment in Europe. Feminist narratives of this time have often been ones of progress, despite Black feminist critique of how such legislation effaced racially minoritised women’s experiences. Why was gender equality legislation designed to mainly benefit white privileged women? What discourses were involved? Meanwhile, while the term ‘white feminism’ has recently been popularised, there has been relatively little investigation of what it comprises in politics in Europe. Drawing on cross-disciplinary empirical research on UK gender equality legislation involving analysis of parliamentary debate, archival research and oral history, this article contributes to theorisation of the tenets of white feminism, namely, as a political ideology wherein gender is constructed as the most important marker of social inequality and, specifically, as being more important than racial inequality. Ultimately, such specification aims to make white feminism in politics impossible to render neutral.

Twenty-two recommendations for inclusive teaching and their implementation challenges.

Abstract
 Higher Education institutions across the world hold a moral and, in many cases, legal responsibility to make their educational offerings accessible and inclusive. Typically, universities may rely solely on checklists of recommendations, which although a key component of developing equitable and inclusive teaching, often fall short of accounting for the multifaceted range of attributes a holistic definition of inclusivity entails. This paper posits that there is a need for better understanding of potential implementation barriers, coupled with guidance and support for both practitioners as well as policy makers. Research reported in this paper presents an analysis of UK equality legislation as it relates to Higher Education and a range of institutional support documentation. This documentary analysis is used to explore, with practitioners, the opportunities for and barriers to implementing recommendations for inclusive learning at a highly selective, science focussed institution. The paper concludes in twenty-two recommendations for inclusive practice and offers them as a tool for others to use in the pursuit of developing more inclusive education, while giving readers the opportunity to learn from the experiences of the those from the research institution.

Intersectionality contesting privilege; fostering inclusion

ABSTRACT Identity categories have the potential to become salient factors for unequal treatment within a public school setting in Ethiopia. Public school teachers can experience administrative procedures and processes differently based on the identity categories they belong. Hence, this situation can become a condition for the problem of horizontal inequality within public schools with teachers of diverse social identities. Horizontal inequality was investigated at the state level using unitary identity category difference. However, horizontal inequality within school diversity using an intersectional perspective is ignored, particularly in the Ethiopian public school context. Accordingly, this study investigated horizontal inequality within school diversity using an intersectionality lens. We investigated out-group member teachers’ horizontal inequality experience within a public school setting through ideas conceived of equal treatment for public school teachers. Using qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology design the data were collected from 10 former teachers sampled with both snowball and maximum variation techniques. Content analysis of the data not only revealed that the intersection of ethnic, race, religion and political affiliation identity categories determine teachers’ access to privileged space within public school diversity but also the manner of horizontal inequality establishment and othering instruments. Horizontal inequality within public schools’ diversity may be eliminated by first admitting it exists and then taking additional measures to ensure equality policies and legislation are implemented to serve their intended purposes.

Resurgent prejudice: Responses to marriage equality in Australia

AbstractThis article explores the concept of resurgent prejudice in response to marriage equality in Australia. We are using the term “resurgent prejudice” to refer to examples of reactionary collective action directed towards the rainbow community in Australia, with a specific focus on efforts to undermine progressive developments in sexual citizenship. We argue that Australia is currently seeing forms of resurgent prejudice in response to the passage of marriage equality legislation in 2017 by the federal Parliament and use the highly controversial Religious Discrimination Bill of 2022 as an example to illustrate this process. By making use of interviews with members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (rainbow) community, we highlight the concerns members of the rainbow community have regarding their rights, sexual citizenship and social participation. We conclude the article by arguing that vigilance is vital in the face of resurgent prejudice to preserve social and civil rights, and that an awareness of the concept of resurgent prejudice can be used by advocates to strengthen their social movements.

Implementation of an effective system for monitoring the application of gender equality policy: Experience from European Union countries

The European Union has been pursuing the policy aimed at achieving equality between women and men for a long time. The adoption of the Law "On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men" is an important step forward. However, the aspects of the control of compliance with the legislation in the field of gender policy remain poorly advanced and need to be adapted following the experience of developed European countries. The aim of this article was to outline the legislative mechanism for ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, and to compare it with European legislative experience and practice. During the research, the methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction and comparative analysis were used. As a result of the research, the mechanism for ensuring equal rights and opportunities in Ukraine was determined; the bodies, institutions and organizations empowered in the specified area were described along with the main aspects of gender equality legislation in Ukraine. It is concluded that government officials can use the results obtained during the research to improve some legislative aspects of control over gender policy implementation.

Pregnancy-related discrimination and expectant workers' psychological well-being and work engagement: understanding the moderating role of job resources

PurposeIn this paper, the authors apply the Job Demand-Resource Model to investigate the association between pregnancy-related discrimination (conceptualised as a job demand) and expectant workers' psychological well-being and work engagement, and the moderating role of workplace support (co-worker and supervisor social support and perceived organisational family support (POFS); conceptualised as job resources).Design/methodology/approachThe paper conducted a cross-sectional online survey of vocationally active British workers in their second and third trimesters of pregnancy using purposive sampling techniques. Participants were recruited through online forums and social media platforms. A sample of 186 was used to conduct multiple regression and moderation analysis (SPSS v28 and STATA v17).FindingsThe authors observed that higher levels of pregnancy-related discrimination were associated with poorer psychological well-being and work engagement among surveyed expectant workers. Perceived co-worker social support moderated both these relationships for psychological well-being (demonstrating a buffering effect) and work engagement (an antagonist effect). POFS and supervisor support did not moderate this association.Practical implicationsThis paper highlights the importance of pregnancy-related discrimination at work as a work stressor, necessitating its reduction as part of organisations' strategies to manage and prevent work-related stress above and beyond their legal requirements to do so under national-level equality legislation. It also sheds light on the potential value of resource-based interventions.Originality/valueThis is the first study to investigate pregnancy-related discrimination and work-related health outcomes within a British sample, and to explore the potential protective health and motivational value of job resources there within.

Dutch disability discrimination law and further and higher education: A case study based on the Opinions of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights

Dutch legislation has prohibited disability discrimination with regard to post-secondary education since 2003, when the Equal Treatment of Disabled and Chronically Ill People Act came into force. The Act prohibits disability discrimination with regard to, inter alia, further and higher education. The Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (NIHR) plays an important role in interpreting and applying all Dutch equality legislation. It has a quasi-judicial task and, in this capacity, hears individual complaints and issues Opinions. The NIHR, and its predecessor, the Equal Treatment Commission, have issued numerous Opinions in the context of post-secondary education and (alleged) disability discrimination. For this reason, the Netherlands has been selected for a case study on disability discrimination in post-secondary education. This article examines 70 Opinions in this area and explores: whether individuals with particular forms of disabilities or chronic illnesses are over-represented in the cases brought; the main areas in which cases (alleging) disability discrimination in the context of post- secondary education have arisen; and the types of (alleged) discrimination which are at issue.

Amelioration, inclusion, and legal recognition: On sex, gender, and the UK's Gender Recognition Act

Amelioration, inclusion, and legal recognition: On sex, gender, and the <scp>UK</scp>'s Gender Recognition Act

Equality Frameworks on the Island of Ireland

ABSTRACT: This paper explores the frameworks of equality legislation, institutions and policy mechanisms that underpin the equality agenda in Northern Ireland and in Ireland. These are statutory frameworks that hold potential to progress social change for greater equality and the elimination of discrimination. They set down the norms and standards to be reflected in individual practice, institutional functions and societal culture. The paper looks first at points of origin for these equality frameworks, examining how they have emerged and evolved in each jurisdiction. This enables a comparative perspective to be explored on the equality legislation, institutions and statutory duties in both jurisdictions. Connections developed, at the institutional level, between these two frameworks are examined as sources of learning and solidarity. Emerging pressures on these equality frameworks and their effective operation are also discussed. The paper concludes by setting out steps to strengthen these equality frameworks in Ireland and in Northern Ireland.

The normative basis of the principle of gender equality legislation of Ukraine on labor and employment

The purpose of the article is to clarify the system of acts of the current legislation of Ukraine on labor and employment, which contains norms that reflect the complex essence of the principle of gender equality in the field of labor and employment. The position is substantiated, according to which the normative basis of the principle of gender equality consists of international legal acts (in force on the territory of Ukraine due to their universal mandatory nature or as a result of their ratification by the Ukrainian Parliament), as well as acts of national legislation that contain, in particular, general the idea of legal equality between men and women and/or the idea of equality between men and women in the field of work and employment. The author notes that the international legal level of the normative basis of the principle of gender equality in the field of labor and employment includes: international legal acts in the field of international legal order, human rights, relating to gender equality in the field of labor and employment; international legal acts in the field of labor and employment, which declare gender equality of people in the relevant field (conventions of the International Labor Organization). The national level of the normative basis of the principle of gender equality in the field of labor and employment is connected with separate norms of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men”. women who are pregnant, have given birth to a child, are nursing babies, are in an extremely vulnerable state (in the context of the general labor law regime). Therefore, such women are objectively less competitive in the labor market and need positive discrimination (in fact, the expansion of the non-gender approach to determining the legal status of an employee), measures for the implementation of which are provided for by the labor legislation of Ukraine, given that our state is a social and legal . Taking this into account, women who perform the social role of mother, and motherhood reduces their competitiveness in the labor market, possessing a non-gender legal status of an employee, are additionally granted the status of a female worker, which is not a violation of the principle of gender equality in the field of work and employment, but on the contrary - an important condition for its proper (socially safe) implementation.

No longer free to be Deaf: Cultural, medical and social understandings of d/Deafness in prison

Culturally and linguistically Deaf people experience disproportionate suffering and deprivation in prison settings globally (Zidenberg 2021). This article uses the medical and social models of disability to highlight some of the underlying reasons for this. Deaf people view their Deafness through a cultural lens and usually disassociate from views which align with these models (Lane 1995). However, they are prominent across society and in relevant equality legislation, and thus impact the Deaf Community significantly (Obasi 2008). This article explores how the nature of the prison environment – a hostile, disempowering place, designed for similarity, changes and heightens the impact of perspectives which align with the medical and social models. Throughout, findings are presented from qualitative research involving interviews with Deaf prisoners and hearing staff members in England, showing that there is little room for a cultural model of Deafness in prison, and in consequence, prison becomes medically deafening for Deaf prisoners.

Female homicides, laws, and women's empowerment: An early warning of retaliation effect

This paper studies whether the toughening of the laws to regulate violence against women can adversely generate a retaliation effect that temporary increases female homicides. Using a panel of 2167 solved female homicides in Ecuador from 2010 to 2020, I first analyze the characteristics and trends of female gender-violence victims and I compare them with the evolution of other-violence victims. Second, I analyze the effects of a reform of the penal code introduced in 2014 that modified the consideration of gender violence and increased the penalty for femicides. I exploit the fact that women empowerment and the enforcement of the law was not homogeneous across municipalities to test whether these policies were associated with a backlash effect that temporarily increased female homicide rates. My analysis finds an increment in the gender-violence rates in municipalities that enforced the introduction of the new femicide penalty type, and in municipalities exhibiting an increased level of women empowerment. Specifically, I obtain that in municipalities that introduced the new femicide type and with an increased level of women empowerment, there was an increase of gender-violence rates of 1.49 points, relative to those that experienced gender-violence but not enforced the new femicide type. These results suggest evidence for an early formation of the retaliation effect hypothesis that consider that gender equality policies and legislation reforms to toughening the penalties for femicides can generate (at least temporarily) an increase of gender violence.

A cross-national study of female police officers’ perception of gender equality policies

Abstract This article sets out to explore how gender equality legislation and policies are perceived by police officers and particularly the reasons for any negative reception among female officers. The findings presented in this article are drawn from a cross-national study on female police officers’ reception and perception of gender equality policies in Austria and England and Wales. Although the specific implementation of legal equality measures and frameworks differ between the two legal systems, the same rhetorical tools are used against them, with Austrian respondents often following these narratives while respondents from England and Wales tend to neutralise them. Based on the presented results, the article argues that comprehensive inclusion of all people into the police service must not only be built on individual legal measures but must also address the issue of police culture and its ideas in a holistic way, thus breaking old patterns and rethinking them in a sustainable way.