MYFUTURE Education and Careers Guide 2021/22

How diversity and inclusion
can help you succeed…
Diversity UK is a charity, founded in
2012, which focuses on informing
and educating the public about
equality and inclusion initiatives,
particularly in relation to race
diversity. We do this by publishing
articles on our website, via
newsletters and on social media.
We also undertake other initiatives
on race equality including:
» Entering into the debate with
parliamentarians and other
diversity organisations.
» Engaging with workplace equality
networks.
» Organising an event on
International Women’s Day (IWD)
or speaking at other IWD events
which takes place on 8th March
annually.
» Ensuring Diversity UK is known
to community organisations and
networks so that we can mutually
support each other.
18
What’s a Public Appointment?
Diversity UK also holds public bodies
to account about the appointment
of black, Asian and minority ethnic
(BAME) individuals to senior
positions in the public sector. A
public appointment is generally
a ministerial appointment to the
board of a public body or advisory
committee. Public bodies across the
UK deliver important and essential
public services. This includes large
public bodies overseen by boards
of directors and small, advisory
committees made up of lay
members, experts and specialists.
Examples of Public Bodies include
NHS Trusts, the Food Standards
Authority and organisations like the
Arts Council. Overall there are in the
order of 6,000 public appointees
(as of 31st March 2018).
As part of our work on public
appointments, Diversity UK has
undertaken research on the
appointments process; participated
in consultations, convened
roundtable discussions, facilitated
debates, hosted networking events
and showcased good practice.
What does this mean for me?
All this may seem a very long way
away from getting your first job,
but, by ensuring equality, diversity
and inclusion (ED&I) is at the
forefront of the minds of the biggest
bosses in the UK, we hope good
practice filters down throughout the
organisations they represent.
This is constructive activism in
keeping issues like the gender pay
gap, ethnic pay gap, racism, bullying
and harassment, microaggressions,
career progression, and fair
treatment at the forefront. We all
want to live a fair and equal society
and this is our way of ensuring that
this actually happens.
You can be what you can’t see!
Research has shown that diverse
organisations are more profitable,
take fewer risks and are more
representative of the audiences they
serve so there really is no better
time to aim high. You can be what
you can’t see!
On the next couple of pages we
ask how Trustee of Diversity UK,
Francesca Jus-Burke, and Advisory
Board Member Shivani Sharma got
started in their careers.
You can find out more about us at
https://diversityuk.org/