Abstract
UK-based international development agencies are introducing the concepts of diversity and sexual orientation into their staff employment policies for the first time. Based on interviews with agency staff and a study of diversity policy documents, Carolyn Williams outlines some of the difficulties that have emerged. She proposes that future debates and policymaking need to explore how to interconnect sexual identity, social and cultural diversity, while paying careful attention to the protection of individual's right to privacy.
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My research has been motivated and informed by my work with three UK-based NGOs between 1981 and 2002, in the area of programme management living in Sierra Leone and Peru, and with ten other countries the Latin America/Caribbean region. I would like to thank the staff members of the agencies who agreed to be interviewed for this study, despite the sensitive nature of the topic and, at times, the personal distress some of my informants expressed when examining, often for the first time in an explicit way, their experiences in their workplace.
In 2008 the Labour Government decided to combine and streamline all discrimination and equality Acts by creating a Single Equality Bill, which at the time of writing is still in the planning stage. Details of all these Acts and plans for the new Single Equality Bill are available at http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.
The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, p. 1.
The EHRC is a non-departmental public body responsible for enforcing non-discrimination legislation in the UK. For further details, see http://www.equalityhumanrights.com.
Details of these internal staff diversity policies are available on the institutional websites: http://www.dfid.gov.uk, http://www.fco.gov.uk and http://www.oxfam.org.uk.
References
DFID (2006) Annual Diversity Report 2006, Human Resources Division.
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Outlines some of the difficulties when introducing diversity and sexual orientation in staff employment policy
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Williams, C. Same-sex Sexuality and Diversity Employment Policies in UK-based International Development Agencies. Development 52, 109–113 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2008.73
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2008.73