Modest Workwear: the organisational impact of dress & appearance

该项目将由Lewis教授（UAL）和Aune教授（考文垂大学）领导的AHRC项目“英国女性工作生活中的适度时尚”的见解扩展到新的用户社区和非学术受众。该项目探讨了女性在宗教背景下谈判着装的经验：在英国为信仰组织（如礼拜场所、慈善机构）工作时，以及前往沙特阿拉伯工作时，她们必须穿阿拉伯长袍。这个为期12个月的项目有三个主要活动：1)在英国开发、交付和评估6-8次会议，在海湾地区为国际劳动力开发1-2次会议。目标参与者包括：-英国各组织的人力资源（HR）专业人员和多元化和包容性专家（包括员工网络主席）-在海湾地区运营的经理和人力资源专业人员，包括当地、区域和全球组织雇用的经理、人力资源专业人员、多元化从业者；以及为英国信仰和跨信仰组织工作的宗教和社区领袖-英国和国际上信仰和跨文化对话的政策制定者和专家2)与合作伙伴合作开发适合部门的持续专业发展（CPD） 3)与平面设计师合作开发35个信息图表并为视觉工具包选择媒体图像项目开发和测试培训材料，以便：1)帮助管理人员、人力资源专业人士和多元化从业者了解得体着装和行为的组织要求如何影响员工体验和组织绩效，达到英国和全球组织的参与者；2)帮助基于信仰、跨信仰和政策部门的管理者、政策制定者和跨文化合作伙伴评估适度着装文化和行为对其工作的利弊；3)帮助机构更好地回应与宗教有关的适度着装和行为守则，提高他们对不同情况下所遇到的适度要求的认识；4)展示如何通过认识到个人如何体验工作场所谦逊要求（积极或/和消极，无论个人宗教或世俗信仰或实践）对组织文化、功能和声誉的影响来提高组织绩效；5)通过探索如何提高对适度时尚的了解来支持不同信仰间、信仰-世俗和文化间对话的政策和社区工作：a)帮助避免过程中的陷阱；b)为对话活动产生丰富的内容。在对宗教的态度和以宗教名义提出的主张助长分裂和社会动荡之际，这些项目活动的新方向至关重要。随着雇主和组织寻求展示对反种族主义的承诺（也是对“黑人的命也是命”运动的回应），我们的培训计划使经理、人力资源和多元化从业者意识到着装和外表引发的不平等的交叉方面。我们帮助学员培养视觉技能，以理解着装在工作场所的作用，例如将非西方时尚视为商务着装，或在在线会议中管理性别不平等。对于宗教领袖来说，提高视觉素养将有助于解决职位持有者和雇员因外貌而受到歧视的问题。对于宗教间和文化间对话、社区团体和政策制定者来说，对宗教谦逊方式多样性的洞察将增加他们的信心，避免简单地服从最保守或最正统的声音。由于宗教社区对COVID-19措施的反应各不相同（从疫苗恐惧到礼拜或参加婚礼），政策制定者和政治家迫切需要指导，超越刻板印象（通常由服装/头发表示），纳入不同的声音和社区。

This project extends to new user communities and non-academic audiences the impact of insights from AHRC project Modest Fashion in UK Women's Working Life led by Prof. Lewis (UAL) and Prof. Aune (Coventry University). The project explored women's experience of negotiating dress in religious contexts: when working for faith-based organisations in the UK (e.g. places of worship, charities) and when travelling to work in Saudi Arabia where they had to wear an abaya. The 12 month project has 3 main activities: 1) Develop, deliver, and evaluate 6-8 sessions in the UK and 1-2 for international workforces in the Gulf region. Target participants include: - Human Resources (HR) professionals and diversity and inclusion specialists (including employee network chairs) in organisations in the UK - Managers and HR professionals operating in the Gulf, including those employed by local, regional and global organisations - Managers, HR professionals, diversity practitioners, and religious and community leaders working for UK faith-based and interfaith organisations - Policy makers and specialists in interfaith and intercultural dialogue in the UK and internationally 2) Work with partners to develop sector-appropriate Continuing Professional Development (CPD) 3) Work with graphic designer to develop 35 infographics and select media images for visual toolkit The project develops and tests training materials in order to: 1) help managers, HR professionals and diversity practitioners understand how organisational requirements for modest dress and behaviour affect staff experience and organisational performance, reaching participants in UK and global organisations; 2) help managers, policy makers and intercultural partners in faith-based, interfaith and policy sectors evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of modest dress cultures and behaviours for their work; 3) help organisations better respond to religiously related codes of modest dress and behaviour by improving awareness of the variety of circumstances in which modesty requirements are encountered; 4) show how organisational performance can be enhanced by recognising that organisational culture, functionality and reputation are affected by how individuals experience workplace modesty requirements (positively or/and negatively, and regardless of personal religious or secular beliefs or practices); 5) support policy and community work on interfaith, faith-secular and intercultural dialogue by exploring how improved knowledge about modest fashion can a) help avoid pitfalls in process and b) generate rich content for dialogue activities. These new directions for project activities are vital at a time when attitudes to religion and claims made in the name of religion fuel division and social unrest. As employers and organisations seek to demonstrate commitment to anti-racism (also in response to the Black Lives Matter movement), our training programme sensitises managers, HR and diversity practitioners to the intersectional aspects of inequalities triggered by dress and appearance. We help participants develop visual skills to understand the role of dress in the workplace, for instance regarding non-western fashion as businesswear or managing gender inequalities in online meetings. For religious leaders, enhanced visual literacy will help remedy problems of appearance-based discrimination for post-holders and employees. For interfaith and intercultural dialogue, community groups and policy makers, insights on the diversity of religious approaches to modesty will increase their confidence to avoid simply deferring to the most conservative or orthodox voices. As religious communities' responses to COVID-19 measures have varied widely (from vaccine fears to worship or wedding attendance), policy makers and politicians urgently require guidance on looking beyond stereotypes (often signalled by dress/hair) to include diverse voices and communities.