A new report, which focuses on the “class ceiling” working class people are facing in creative industries, is calling for reforms to tackle class discrimination.
The inquiry, led by Nazir Afzal OBE, Chancellor of the University of Manchester, and Avis Gilmore, former Deputy General Secretary of the National Education Union, found that class-based discrimination is commonplace, with 51% of respondents saying they had experienced differential treatment, bullying, harassment or bias based on social class or perceived social class.
The report calls for being from a working-class background to be recognised as a protected characteristic. Adding being working class into the existing legal structure of protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 would give someone an avenue for legal redress if they believed they had been discriminated against (eg not being offered a job, being overlooked for promotion, etc) because they are working class.
What is a protected characteristic?
The current nine protected characteristics have been introduced over time which demonstrates that the Government is willing to add in further areas of protection where it identifies a need. However, no new protected characteristics have been added for 20 years despite calls for new areas to be covered. For example, the Government recently declined to add menopause to the list. Looking further back, a campaign to add caste as a protected characteristic also failed.
Existing mechanisms may be able to address the issue without adding to the list of protected characteristics. This may include the expansion of the socio-economic duty to England which is already in place in Scotland and Wales. However, this duty only extends to specified public authorities, requiring them to assess how their decisions help to reduce inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage.
GLU e-learning: Ensuring Equality at Work
