Equality and diversity news from last week – Tory MP David Jones criticised for commenting against gay couples raising children, how to get more women into technology, and an interesting article on what it means to be learning disabled.

Not long after the vote in Parliament on same-sex marriage, Tory MP David Jones has been criticised for asserting that gay couples cannot provide “a warm and safe environment for the upbringing of children”. He clarified that he had nothing against civil partnerships but believes that marriage should be reserved for opposite-sex partners.

Women make up only 17% of the technical workforce in the UK. Lack of women in STEM subjects in UK universities has also long been an equality and diversity issue. How can these issues be addressed? Getting women into technology is no easy feat but, as this blog post argues, “To stop girls being ‘scared’ of technology we need to change perceptions early.” Introducing toys and activities to encourage girls into technology, setting up programmes in schools to introduce girls to the opportunities of working in technology and inspiring women by talking about women role models in technology are some of the ways we can begin to tackle this issue.

And finally, not so much ‘news’, but we came across an interesting article on the experience of being learning disabled. Cathy Davidson writes about how she was branded ‘obstinate’ in school because despite being a ‘maths genius’, there were areas that she didn’t perform well enough in. Recognising that she is learning disabled helped Cathy develop workarounds for her ‘different brain’. One of the ways she negotiates this is by teaming up with people who can complement her.

Have anything to add? Write to us – Equality.and.Diversity@lse.ac.uk.