What is Equality and Diversity?
Equality is the current term for 'Equal Opportunities'. It is based on the legal obligation to comply with anti-discrimination legislation. Equality protects people from being discriminated against on the grounds of group membership i.e. sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief or age.
Diversity implies a wide range of conditions and characteristics. In terms of businesses and their workforces, it is about valuing and reaping the benefits of a varied workforce that makes the best of people's talents whatever their backgrounds. Diversity encompasses visible and non-visible individual differences. It can be seen in the makeup of your workforce in terms of gender, ethnic minorities, disabled people etc., about where those people are in terms of management positions, job opportunities, terms and conditions in the workplace.
Diversity is about respecting individual differences, and people's differences can be varied:
- Race
- Culture
- National origin
- Region
- Gender
- Sexual orientation
- Age
- Marital status
- Politics
- Religion
- Ethnicity
- Disability
- Socio-economic
- Family
- Health
- Values
- And much more.