Equality and diversity news from last week: Church of England rejects introduction of women bishops, David Cameron announces axing equality impact assessments, 21 November marked as Transgender Day of Remembrance, Atos work test centres lack disabled access, and discussion on the issue of domestic violence against disabled women.
Last week, the Church of England rejected the introduction of women bishops, a decision PM David Cameron said he is “very sad” about. The proposed legislation paving the way for women bishops needed to gain two-thirds majority support in each of the synod’s three houses – bishops, clergy and laity – but fell short by six votes in the House of Laity. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, also expressed disappointment and told the ruling general synod that the Church could be seen as “wilfully blind” to modern trends and priorities.
There was much noise over announcement by David Cameron about clamping down on equality impact assessments. Speaking at the CBI conference, Cameron branded equality impact assessments and three month long consultations on policies as “bureaucratic nonsense”. He said, “We have smart people in Whitehall who consider equalities issues while they’re making the policy. We don’t need all this extra tick-box stuff.”
21 November was Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to remember those who have been victims of anti-transgender violence. The Trans Murder Monitoring project reports that from 1 January, 2008 to 31 December, 2011, there have been 816 reports of people who died from anti-transgender violence in 55 countries. The Huffington Post published a list of 50 Transgender Icons to mark the day.
It’s been reported that a number of work test centres being used by the firm Atos to carry out fitness-for-work assessments lack disabled access. Employment minister Mark Hoban said 31 of 123 centres used by Atos lacked ground-floor access for wheelchairs. Six centres in particular have “terrible” problems, he said, causing almost three-quarters of case backlogs by failing to inform applicants.
Yesterday, 25 November, was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. A must-read article on the Guardian discusses the issue of domestic violence against disabled women. According to research by Women’s Aid, one in four women experience domestic violence. For women with a disability, this figure doubles, that is, almost one in two disabled women are abused in their lifetime.
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