Whats on the web
The Equal Opportunities Commission deals with sex discrimination and inequality related to gender, including good practice in the fair and equal treatment of men and women. Theirs is a well-designed colorful site with information on campaigns, research, the law and much besides. It is easy to navigate and a great starting point for any HR person looking at gender issues. Particularly useful are the checklist tools – a number of equality checklists designed for managers and supervisors. These help people to avoid sex discrimination and to promote best practice.
Right and wrong
The UK Disability Rights Commission (DRC) is an independent body established to stop discrimination and promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.
Disabled people of working age are twice as likely as non-disabled people to be out of work and claiming benefits. And disabled people are twice as likely to have no qualifications. The DRC has set itself the goal of “a society where all disabled people can participate fully as equal citizens”.
The site is very clear and easy to use with all the information one could wish for. The only criticism is that it is perhaps a bit too simple and colorful. Not everyone with a disability wants to be presented with a “picture book and crayon” approach.
Good relations
The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) was set up under the 1976 Race Relations Act. It is funded by the Home Office, but works independently of government.
The CRE has three main duties, to work towards the elimination of racial discrimination and promote equality of opportunity, to encourage good relations between people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds and to monitor the way the Race Relations Act is working and recommend ways in which it can be improved.
The site is a model of clarity with only the accessibility options proving a little confusing.
Thinking right
There will be no positive discrimination here. The US Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) positions itself to counter the “divisive impact of race conscious public policies”. CEO focuses on three areas in particular:racial preferences, immigration and assimilation and multicultural education. Among many elements on this interesting site is an outline of the debate between those who say that US immigrants cannot assimilate and multiculturalists who say that they should not – lessons for many other countries here about how the debate might go.
Resourceful site
This is a comprehensive federal web site that serves as a one-stop resource for nearly 50 million US citizens with disabilities. Through DisabilityInfo.gov,individuals with disabilities, their family members, job seekers, employers and others can access wide-ranging information covering employment, education,housing, transportation, health, benefits, technology, civil rights, and community life. Since its inception it has been visited by more than 5 million viewers.
The site provides access to disability-related information and programs available across the US government on numerous subjects, including civil rights,community life, education, employment, housing, health, income support,technology and transport. It is, as one would expect, very user-friendly, with good quick links, clear indexing and a choice of navigation methods. We particularly liked the “accessibility preferences” facility.
Poor stuff
Diversity Worforce, a UK information site, seems, at first glance, to be useful. It is also supported by advertising from such as Ford, West Midlands Police, the Department of Health and other big organizations. But (you could hear a “but” coming I expect) in reality this is a rather weak site. The different sections have very skimpy information (under “diversity law”for example there are only two references) and only three, out of date, under“events”). The pages load so that it looks as if you have never left the home page and have to scroll down to be sure and the whole site seems to be stuck in last October.
This site is billed as “yet another RPM solution” but this link brings up the old “cannot be displayed” message. All in all, a waste of a good opportunity.
And finally
Thomas Jefferson warned in his First Inaugural Address that the American nation could not “countenance a political intolerance.” He stated that they have nothing to worry about in views that differ from their own, as even “error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” Think about it.
Thanks to www.newsmax.com for this.
Contact us
For a particularly interesting and useful site you could always try our own!And if you have any favorite (or otherwise) sites that you would like us to review on these pages, please drop us an e-mail and we will submit them to our usual rigorous analysis.
