Highlights from last week’s equality and diversity news: LGBT History Month posts on the blog and LSE Library Archives, the most effective actions to improve gender parity in workplaces, and the challenges of networking for jobs for disabled people.

February is LGBT History Month and we’ve been publishing a series of articles discussing various related issues. John Peart, the LSESU LGBT Officer, wrote a particularly interesting overview of the history of the LGBT rights movement. LSE Library Archives have also been publishing fascinating blog posts on their blog, Out of the box, on the LGBT related collections they hold, including the well known Hall-Carpenter archives and the Mary McIntosh collection.

Business in the Community (BITC) have published a Benchmark Trends report, identifying actions which have the most impact on improving gender parity in the workplace. Two key areas are recruitment and senior leadership or management. Rachael Saunders of Opportunity Now, writing for the Guardian, says unconscious bias in recruitment is a major factor. 67% of organisations that conducted unconscious bias training in recruitment showed no significant difference in the rates of conversion from shortlist to hire for men and women.

Another interesting article in the Guardian discusses the challenges of networking for disabled people. Networking offers opportunities to find jobs and make useful contacts. However, disabled people may find networking quite daunting, especially as there’s an increased focus on appearances, particularly in industries such as PR and advertising. Neil McClanahan, an HR manager and a leg amputee, says disabled people shouldn’t feel obliged to tell people about their disability. But he’s found disclosing your disability can sometimes be an advantage when networking – “…being candid about my disability and how it has developed me as a person can be a real ice-breaker.”

Came across something interesting? Email us at Equality.and.Diversity@lse.ac.uk.