Equal Opportunities and Public Policy: An Agenda for Change
| Author | Linda McKie,Julia Edwards |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679300800205 |
| Published date | 01 June 1993 |
| Date | 01 June 1993 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
54
Equal
Opportunities
and
Public
Policy:
An
Agenda
for
Change
Julia
Edwards
Dept.
of
Politics,
University
of Hull
Linda
McKie
Dept.
of
Management
and
Social
Sciences,
Queen
Margaret
College,
Edinburgh
ABSTRACT
This
paper
will
critically
review
the
competing
definitions
of
the
concept
of
equality
as
epitomised
in
UK
and
EC
equalities
legislation.
Attempts
to
formulate
childcare
policies
by
organisations
like
the
Equal
Opportunities
Commission
(EOC)
and
some
local
government
women’s
committees
(LGWCs)
in
the
UK
and
the
Equal
Opportunities
Bureau
(DG5)
of
the
European
Community
(EC)
are
fundamentally
affected
by
these
definitions.
Our
exploration
of
the
differing
principles
which
underpin
UK
and
EC
legislation
within
the
context
of
EC
political
relations
lead
us
to
conclude
that
without
a
radical
change
in
UK
government
thinking,
the
potential
of
the
EC
as
a
vehicle
for
promoting
equal
opportunities
in
Britain
will
be
lost.
Introduction
As
Forbes
notes,
&dquo;equality
principles
...
have
remained
an
essential
element
in
continuing
attempts
to
organise,
institute
and
achieve
change’in
society&dquo;.
[Forbes
1991:
p.
17].
Such
principles
continue
to
be
keenly
debated
with
a
specific
focus
on
policies
and
practice
of
equal
opportunities
for
women.
In
the
mid-1980s,
Jewson
and
Mason
[1986]
made
a
distinction
between
liberal
and
radical
approaches
to
equal
opportunities
policies
in
the
workplace,
in
which
the
former
emphasises
fairness
of
rules -
&dquo;a
procedural
clean-up
operation&dquo;
in
Celia
Davies’
terms
[Davies
1988] -
whereas
the
latter
emphasises
equality
of
outcomes
through
positive
discrimination
in
favour
of
some
disadvantaged
group.
Cynthia
Cockburn’s
critique
of
this
theory
pointed
out
that
there
was
nothing
particularly
radical
in
Jewson
and
Mason’s
&dquo;radical&dquo;
approach:
&dquo;It
seeks
to
give
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