Inaugural lectures
Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 5.30pm - Lecture Theatre CC011, James France Building
The Evolution of the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Project through a Gendered Lens
Professor Barbara Bagilhole,
Department of Social Sciences
There is a need to continue and develop the social justice agenda of equal opportunities and diversity. However, in doing this we have to cope with two relatively recent major challenges. The first being the theoretical challenge, and the second being the political challenge of the recognition of the concept of diversity.
The lecture will begin by setting the historical context of women’s disadvantage and contemporaneous authoritative views expressed to justify and reinforce their position. Then it will move from an analysis of the early dawnings of equal opportunities in the UK in the 1950s, through the piecemeal development of policies and legislation over the decades from the 1960s to the 1990s, to the present day challenges to the very core of the equal opportunities and diversity project and potential solutions highlighted above.