Whatever happened to equality?

This session will interrogate the differences between equality and equity and ask in what contexts is a more equal society a better one?

Whatever Happened to Equality? is a day of active debate and documentary-making. Participants will take a critical look at how the discourse of equality has changed in recent times. The day includes a film-making training workshop for young people, who will be encouraged to video their thoughts, and have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of working behind and in front of the camera. Videos will be published on the internet.

An introductory workshop will introduce interview formats and techniques, capture on film participants’ initial reflections on the topics and brief them on doing a multi-camera shoot of an event.

There will be two panel debates, open to a wider audience of all ages, each introduced by a panel of experts. Participants will be given plenty of opportunities to ask questions and make points from the floor:

Equality, Equity and the dispossessed
The notions of equality and equity are widely used and yet people’s understanding of their meaning differs hugely. This can make it difficult to know what people are talking about when they argue for greater equality - is it equal rights? Equal access to education? Equal opportunity? Equal pay? All of the above? This session will interrogate these differences and ask in what contexts is a more equal society a better one?

Speakers include:
Dr Vikki Boliver, Durham University
Dr Geoff Payne, Newcastle University
Chris Snowdon, author, The Spirit Level Delusion

Equality versus Difference
Why has difference replaced equality as the central theme of feminist and anti-racist politics over the last three decades? What has been lost and gained by this shift of emphasis?

Speakers include:
Dr Davina Cooper, author, Challenging Diversity: Rethinking Equality and the Value of Difference
David Goodhart, Director, Demos

Film-workshop participants will video the debates and interview speakers and audience members. A closing session will encourage them to reflect on the discussions and ideas to which they have been exposed; they will record final interviews with each other, capturing new thoughts resulting from the day’s events, and a demonstration of how to upload material to the web will be given.

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