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Equality and Diversity

May 8th, 2012

The week that was…

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Equality and Diversity

May 8th, 2012

The week that was…

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

After the London Mayoral and Assembly elections and the long awaited bank holiday, we bring to you highlights from equality and diversity news last week – a trans teenager in Miss England semi finals, Amnesty International’s report on discrimination against Muslims and the lived experience of young migrants in London.

A transgender teenager has become the first transgender person to reach the semi-finals of the national beauty pageant Miss England. Jackie Green, now 18, had gender reassignment surgey at the age of 16. This is interesting news in the light of the recent controversy in Canada over disallowing a transgender contestant to stay in the Miss Universe Canada pageant.

Speaking of issues or discrimination transgender people may face, we came across this old, but still very relevant, blog post – That’s not my name. The blog author talks about the hassle she went through to get her name changed in various places after she underwent gender reassignment and argues that the system places an unnecessary burden on trans people.

Amnesty International has released a report on discrimination against Muslims in Europe. The report explores that such discrimination may not be based solely on religion or belief but may extend to ethnicity and gender. Restrictive dress codes, policies and legislation are enforced in various European states and lead to exclusion of Muslims in many ways. The report can be downloaded from the Amnesty website.

The discussion on discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or religion and belief in Europe often extends to questioning of immigration. In a very eloquent article on Open Democracy, Ben Gidley (Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, University of Oxford) writes about how young migrants in London are keen to start their lives in the metropolis, but find that they are blocked by the toxic migration debate that is producing policies that are ungenerous and unimaginative.

That’s all for this week. If you have anything to add, please write to Equality.and.Diversity@lse.ac.uk.

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Equality and Diversity

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