Zeno001
commented
2 years ago @sarawilcox
That GDS page states:
Public sector organisations will have someone who is responsible for making sure the organisation is meeting its obligations under the public sector equality duty. They can help you work out what equality information to collect.
This pattern covers:
age disability ethnic group marital or partnership status religion sex and gender identity sexual orientation
The Public Sector Equality Duty (s.149 of the Equality Act 2010) is in relation to the Protected Characteristics in the Act. These are given in Chapter 1 of the Act:
age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation.
The list on the GDS page is wrong on several (very obvious) counts: it omits some protected characteristics, misstates others and uses a term ('gender identity') that is not used or defined in the Act and that is not a protected characteristic.
Asking for equality information - particularly as part of ensuring duties under the PSED ate being met - has nothing to do with being "more diverse and inclusive in our user research." Although related, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion are fundamentally different and cannot be confused as I've seen happen on many occasions. Equality is a legal duty but the others (however desirable) are not, and diversity and inclusion cannot override the PSED or the anti-discrimination requirements of the Equality Act.
I would suggest the following definitions to help clarify the different terms:
Equality
Equality is about ensuring every individual has equal opportunity, recognising that historically certain groups of people with characteristics such as race, disability, sex and sexual orientation have experienced discrimination. Equality protects individuals, or groups of individuals, from being unlawfully treated less favourably because of their Protected Characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.
Diversity
Diversity is about recognising difference. It’s acknowledging the benefit of having a range of perspectives in an organisation’s operations and decision-making and taking steps to aid that diversity.
Inclusion
Inclusion is valuing people’s differences and is used to enable everyone to thrive in that organisation. An inclusive organisation is one in which everyone feels that they belong without having to conform, that their contribution matters and they are able to perform to their full potential, no matter their characteristics, background, identity or circumstances.
I hope this helps.
sarawilcox
GDS has a pattern for this: https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/equality-information/.
There is some work happening in the NHS.UK team to test ways of asking people for a range of equality information so that we can be more diverse and inclusive in our user research.
This issue is related to a number of other issues, including:
226
421
246
185
Note: the need to collect data to make sure we've being inclusive is different from the need to ask users for information in order to provide a service or health information.