The Politics of Equality: The Evolving Nature of Equality Agendas at Work in the UK and Europe in a Context of Political Uncertainty

许多欧洲国家在工作中的平等问题上取得了重大进展。就英国而言，20世纪70年代的立法，以及此后对工作中与平等有关的权利的持续发展和监管，都是广泛的。就如何支持不同群体在工作中的权利而言，存在一系列问题，但例如，在性别、种族和残疾问题上对个人权利的参与意义重大。欧洲联盟也对确保在成员国颁布平等立法和政策的问题作出了重大承诺。雇主和相关组织，如工会，看到了朝着新形式的平等和多样性战略的推动。该项目旨在发现，从广义上讲，这种对工作中平等问题的参与是如何变化的。从广义上讲，这个“项目”有何不同？平等利益的焦点是什么，变革的必要性是什么？因此，该项目旨在了解英国、荷兰、法国和西班牙是如何在语言、实践和制度可持续性方面与工作中平等的概念接触的。在某些情况下，重点是性别平等；在另一些情况下，它侧重于更广泛的群体。利用带有强烈传记元素的采访，我们的目标是建立对平等是如何理解和构建的详细洞察。有没有什么共同的参照点或变革的必然性？此外，该项目力求在所研究的四个国家内概述和解释--一般而言，可以称之为“良好做法”的例子--在维持平等承诺方面出现的挑战。在英国，人们普遍担心群体内部和群体之间的平等和紧张关系的复杂性--例如，性别和一些LGTB问题。在西班牙，在经历了一段相对有效的社会包容措施后，移民已成为仇外政治话语中的一个问题。在法国和荷兰，伊斯兰恐惧症的问题一直在扰乱人们对职场平等的具体理解。我们需要知道对平等问题的承诺的性质如何有助于正在出现的问题--或者这些问题是更深层次的结构性挑战的结果，还是广泛的政治事态发展的结果。工作中的平等问题一直是颠覆性政治话语的焦点：这些变化是如何影响的，为什么？我们还需要了解与这些问题有关的管理人员、工会和社会组织如何应对这些挑战，并维持普遍的--尽管是多种多样和参差不齐的--承诺，不仅在其组织内，而且在更广泛的范围内扩大工作中的平等。该项目旨在采访所研究的四个国家的一系列经理、工会成员和政策参与者。它还旨在通过其出版物和活动，就如何在2008年全球金融危机以来的政治和经济动荡的情况下，如何维持甚至深化平等议程这一问题进行对话。工作中的平等政策和制度的未来--在不同角度与其他欧盟案件挂钩--需要放在面临类似挑战和发展的国家背景的参照系中。该项目的政策和实践者层面是我们在与我们的学术目标和出版物一起工作时目标的一个重要特征。

There has been significant progress in a range of European countries on the question of equality at work. In the case of the UK, the legislation of the 1970s, and the ongoing development and regulation of equality-related rights at work since then, have been extensive. A range of issues exists in terms of how different groups have been supported in relation to their rights at work, but the engagement with individual rights on questions of gender, race and disability, for example, has been significant. The European Union has also seen a major commitment to the question of ensuring that equality legislation and policies are enacted in member states. Employers and related organizations, such as trade unions, have seen a push towards new forms of equality and diversity strategies. The project aims to discover how this engagement with the question of equality at work, broadly speaking, has varied. In broad terms, how has that 'project' varied? What is the focus of the interest in equality, and what have been the imperatives for change? The project, therefore, aims to understand how the UK, the Netherlands, France and Spain have engaged with the notion of equality within work in terms of its language, practice and institutional sustainability. In some cases, the emphasis has been on gender equality; in others, it has focused on a wider range of groups. Using interviews with a strong biographical element, we aim to build a detailed insight into how equality is understood and constructed. Are there any common reference points or imperatives for change? In addition, the project seeks to outline and explain within the four countries studied - as examples of what could be called 'good practice', generally speaking - the challenges that have emerged in terms of sustaining the commitment to equality. In the UK, there has been a general concern with the complexity of equality and tensions within and between groups - gender and some LGTB issues, for example. In Spain, migration has emerged as an issue within xenophobic political discourse after a period of relatively effective social inclusion measures. In France and the Netherlands, the question of Islamophobia has been unsettling specific understandings of equality at work. We need to know how the nature of commitment to the question of equality contributes to the issues that have been emerging - or are such issues the outcome of deeper structural challenges, or extensive political developments. The question of equality at work has been a focus for disruptive political discourse: how are these changes are impacting, and why? We also need to understand how managers, trade unions, and social organizations related to these issues have responded to these challenges and sustained the general - albeit varied and uneven - commitment to expanding equality at work not only in their organizations, but also more generally. The project aims to interview a range of managers, trade unionists, and policy actors within the four countries studied. It also aims to create a dialogue through its publications and events linked to the question regarding how the equality agenda can be sustained, or even deepened, in the face of the political and economic disruption since the 2008 global financial crisis. The future of equality policies and institutions at work - which have been tied to other EU cases in various perspectives - needs to put in the frame of reference of national contexts that face similar challenges and developments. This policy and practitioner dimension of the project is an important feature of what we aim to do as we work alongside our academic objectives and publications.