Introduction
Traditionally social justice policies rarely focus on
equality issues other than economic or income
inequalities, and equalities policies rarely
include economic inequality. The
infrastructures for dealing with the two are
quite different. Yet social justice and
equalities are closely interwoven. For
example, people living in poverty are more
likely than others to be disabled, and
disabled people are more likely than
able-bodied people to be poor - ie disability
may be implicated in both the causes and
effects of poverty. By ‘unpacking the
equalities dimension’ of social justice, we
mean understanding the interrelatedness of
social justice and equalities issues - why in
social justice considerations we need to
include equalities issues, and why social
disadvantage needs to be recognised as another
form of inequality.
Social Justice
Social exclusion describes a lack of or exclusion from full
citizenship. (Citizenship includes civil,
political and social rights). Factors usually
considered include low income, poor housing,
poor health, etc. Social justice and social
inclusion describe changing systems and
shaping culture to guarantee full citizenship.
The idea of social justice is founded on the
principles of equal worth of all; entitlement
of all to income, shelter and other basic
necessities; opportunities and life chances
for all; and reducing/ eliminating unjust
inequalities.
Equalities/ Inequality
Conventionally, the main focus of the equalities agenda has
been to protect specific groups (‘equality
groups’) from discrimination, victimisation
or exploitation, and the main concern has been
about groups with inherent qualities such as
race, age, gender, disability and sexual
orientation. But increasingly the approach has
broadened to include religious affiliation,
social origin, language and political beliefs
and opinions - and to focus on celebrating
diversity and understanding how inequalities
arise and how they can be dealt with.
Key
Questions
Are equality groups socially excluded?
Restricted access to employment, goods and services are
aspects of inequality, as are
under-representation in political, economic
and community decision making; marginalisation
in society; segregation – eg through
restricted employment opportunities; direct
discrimination; stigmatisation/ labelling (eg
‘bogus asylum seekers’); and harassment,
intimidation and violence. Often people in
equality groups do not benefit from full
citizenship – they are socially excluded.
Discrimination is another process that excludes people from
full citizenship. Social justice can be best
achieved by considering the different needs of
different equalities groups. For example, the
needs of Gypsy Traveller children in accessing
education may sometimes differ to those of
other children. The needs of women using
public transport, given personal safety
concerns, may differ to the needs of men.
Disabled people can be excluded by being
unable to gain physical access to social
spaces and experiences. Lesbian, gay and
bisexual people can be excluded by being
unable to share with a same-sex partner,
social spaces and experiences where there is
discrimination against same-sex couples.
Are people experiencing poverty another
equality group?
While people are excluded in many complex ways, poverty and
low income are primary factors. Poverty
organisations see the most significant
inequality as that which exists between the
richest and poorest people in our society.
People living with poverty form another equality group, as
they experience reduced access to services,
and discrimination - eg on the grounds that
they live in a ‘poor area’. They often
describe being treated as
‘second class citizens.’ There is
no legislative framework or commission to
protect people from discrimination because of
their social or economic status. Authorities
have shown a reluctance to include people
experiencing poverty in identifying solutions
to poverty. This itself can be seen as
discrimination.
Why do we need an integrated approach?
Mainstreaming equality (integrating equality principles and
strategies into all areas) tackles the
structures in society that sustain
discrimination and disadvantage, and
challenges institutional discrimination. By
integrating equality issues into mainstream
policy making, and broadening work on social
inclusion to incorporate equality issues,
mainstreaming can help promote social justice.
The combination of poverty with other factors that bring
about social exclusion can be powerful. Women
as lone parents and single pensioners, ethnic
minority families, refugees and asylum
seekers, Gypsy Travellers and disabled people
form a disproportionate number of people
living in poverty in Scotland. An approach
that didn’t take equalities into account
would fail to take the different measures
needed for different groups in the community
to achieve social justice. An equalities focus
helps us to see the connections between
economic inequality and inequality based on
social divisions such as age, disability,
race, gender, sexual orientation, religious
affiliation, social origin, language and
political belief.
How
Public Bodies link Social Justice and
Equalities
The Scottish Executive
Social justice and equality have been the twin themes of
Scottish Executive policy. It favours a broad
and inclusive use of the term ‘social
justice’, as in the strategy document ‘A
Scotland Where Everyone Matters’. The
separate equalities and social inclusion
divisions share a common minister, currently
Margaret Curran, Minister for Communities.
Equalities issues are considered in some milestones in the
Social Justice Strategy. The Executives first
Social Justice Annual Report speaks of groups
that ‘experience exclusion by discrimination
on the grounds of, for example, race,
religion, gender, ability, age or sexual
orientation...’ and ‘Better Communities in
Scotland: Closing the Gap’ (2002), states
the need to ‘tackle the inequalities between
communities by narrowing the gap between the
disadvantaged and everyone else.’
However, in general Executive strategies for social justice
and equalities are not linked. Economic
equality does not come into equalities
considerations, which focus on equality of
opportunity. (The term ‘social origin’
that appears in the Scotland Act as a category
not to be discriminated against, does not
appear in Executive equality statements).
Social justice tends to focus on individuals
or geographical areas, rather than equality
groups. There is no direct measure, in the
Social Justice milestones, of income
inequality or of progress made to diminish it.
It might be expected though, that if the
strategies work, they would benefit each
other.
SIPs
Social Inclusion Partnerships contribute towards social
justice targets. Yet research found that SIPs
had not been issued with the National Equality
Strategy, and there are no requirements for
gender or equality disaggregation in their
Core Performance Indicators. However, some
individual SIPs have produced equality
strategies and attempted to identify
equalities groups within their statistics, and
there are a number of thematic SIPs, which
have a focus on different excluded groups.
The Scottish Social Inclusion Network, set up to help
develop and co-ordinate social inclusion
strategies, recommends a ‘joined up’
approach to address gaps, including an
equality audit of social justice milestones,
and that equalities perspectives should be
integrated into all social inclusion and anti
poverty work, community planning, local
economic forums and related programmes.
The Scottish Parliament
Equal opportunities legislation is reserved to Westminster,
but the encouragement of equal
opportunities, other than by prohibition or
regulation, is devolved. The Scottish
Parliament may legislate to impose duties on
bodies to encourage equal opportunities, and
has done so - eg the Local Government in
Scotland Act 2003. Social justice is devolved
to Scotland, but some crucial areas relating
to social justice, such as benefits and tax
credits, are reserved to Westminster.
While there are separate Social Justice and Equal
Opportunities Committees in the Scottish
Parliament, it goes further than the Scottish
Executive in integrating social justice and
equalities: The definition of equal
opportunities used in the Equal Opportunities
Committee remit includes the category
‘social origin’, and the Social Justice
Committee include equality issues in their
remit. Equalities is being mainstreamed across all Scottish
Parliament committees, and the Procedures
Committee report (March 2003) into the
application of the CSG principles recommends
having an ‘equal opportunities champion’
on each committee.
Westminster
The power to legislate to prohibit discrimination and to
regulate equal opportunities is reserved. The
institutional framework for addressing income
poverty in the UK is located in the Treasury
and the Department of Work and Pensions and
its satellites. The Home Office has
responsibilities for the Race Relations Act,
disability issues still reside with the
Department of Work and Pensions and the
Department of Trade and Industry has
responsibility for legislation on gender,
sexual orientation and religion. Tony Blair
has used a broad definition of social
exclusion, which included the linked problems
of unemployment, poor health, poor housing
etc. but did not include equalities.
The Commissions
There is no equivalent to the Commission for Racial
Equality, Equal Opportunities Commission or
Disability Rights Commission to provide advice
and support to people experiencing
discrimination on the grounds of their
poverty. It is hoped that a single equalities
body might help towards a deeper understanding
of how inequalities arise and how they can be
countered, and in researching the impact of
government policies on the social and economic
divisions in society.
Local Authorities
The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 requires local
authorities and all involved bodies to observe
equal opportunity requirements and promote
equal opportunities across Community Planning
and Best Value and to report on their
activities.
Social
Justice, Equalities and the Voluntary Sector
The voluntary sector has long provided a voice for
different disadvantaged groups within our
society, and community groups have long worked
to tackle social inclusion in their
neighbourhoods. However we need to guard
against the view that one equalities group
benefits at the expense of others and do all
we can to encourage diversity in the
membership of community and other groups.
People who experience a lower quality of life
than the majority - between a third and a
quarter of the population - include
disproportionate numbers of people in
‘equalities groups’.
There is increasing recognition among equalities
organisations and poverty organisations of
their common ground and the relationships
between equalities and poverty. The power
relations between the richer and poorer in
society are important to equalities policy, as
are the power relations between men and women,
black people and white people etc.
It is important to work together to
tackle social exclusion and inequality and
discrimination in whatever forms they take,
whether they arise from income inequality, or
prejudice, or from a combination of factors.
Resources
Scottish Executive website -
www.scotland.gov.uk
Scottish Executive Social Justice Publications
www.scotland.gov.uk/socialjustice/publications/index.htm
Scottish Parliament Committee pages - www.scottish.parliament.uk/cttee.htm
Communities Scotland – see Regeneration Division -
www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk
Regeneration Portal -
www.renewal.net
Poverty Alliance -
www.povertyalliance.org
Oxfam (UK Poverty Programme) -
www.oxfamgb.org/ukpp/index.htm
Social Exclusion Network -
www.socialexclusionunit.gov.uk
Scottish Poverty Information Unit -
www.spiu.gcal.ac.uk
Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice -
www.scrsj.ac.uk
Centre for Research into Socially Inclusive Services
-
www.crsis.hw.ac.uk
Joseph Rowntree Foundation - www.jrf.org.uk
Addendum
Some
Pointers from Workshops held at the SCVO
Equalities Forum -
‘Social Justice – Unpacking the
Equality Dimension’
Some useful ideas for Integrating Equalities into Social
Inclusion Work were discussed during the
afternoon workshops at the SCVO Forum –
‘Social Justice – Unpacking the Equality
Dimension’ on the 29th April
2003. These are given in brief below:
Implementation and Monitoring of Policies
Monitoring of equality mainstreaming, and
the Social Justice and Equalities frameworks,
needs to be transparent, with suitable
indicators, so that it is made clear whether
they are having an impact and this needs to be
demonstrated to the people who are supposed to
benefit from the policies.
Some social justice targets, if not chosen
carefully using an equalities
perspective/analysis to underpin them, may
widen inequality.
It would be helpful for the Social Justice and Equalities
policy frameworks to clarify what they
actually mean by terms such as
‘Equalities’ – often this isn’t
explicit. The frameworks will need to be able
to respond to the dynamic aspects of discrimination/oppression (ie
changing types and levels of discrimination)
Sustainability
Sustainability was seen as an issue – eg there is too
much short-termism in planning and funding.
Ideally social justice organisations should
not be dependent on a single source of
funding. There should be some requirement to
demonstrate Equalities implementation in order
that organisations can access public funding -
e.g buying power of local authority contracts,
Fairtrade etc, this could link to the Best
Value component of the Local Government Bill (
this provides some scope already in that it
makes specific reference to equalities issues)
The importance of support mechanisms was discussed. An
example given was the high drop out rates of
women undertaking modern apprenticeship
schemes. People need support to engage in
social justice programmes –eg mentoring,
role models, and peer support.
It needs to be recognised that equality mainstreaming
requires resources.
The ‘grass roots’ need to feel ownership of programmes,
and this involvement requires resourcing.
Changing Attitudes
Attitudes in society need to change. The use of language is
important here. Language can create barriers -
eg the word ‘apprenticeships’ can convey
unintended gender messages. The language we
use needs to be accessible and inclusive.
The influence of the media is also crucial in changing/
forming attitudes.
The buying power of eg local authorities should be used as
a lever for equality mainstreaming. Also other
powers such as licensing.
Useful Legislation
The equality mainstreaming requirements of the Local
Government in Scotland Act 2003 should prove
helpful, with its equality encouragement
requirements for best value, community
planning, and power of community well-being.
The Race Relations (Amendment) Act is a good framework for
(race) equality mainstreaming work – can it
be extrapolated to other equality areas? - It
could provide a useful template for
legislation in other areas e.g. the
understanding of power differentials and the
development of proactive approaches.
Leadership
Focussed, consistent political leadership is needed.
There was a perceived problem of inconsistent and
contradictory messages from Government and the
tension between the short-term, quick-win
dependent political process and the long-term
approach needed
