Provided by Institute of Education EPrints
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on the 2008 inaugural Equal
Opportunities Conference held at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
Design/methodology/approach: The report is based on delegate observations,
notes and audience reactions to some of the papers presented on research
conducted across Europe, Asia and North America.
Findings: The papers represented new boundaries in diversity research. This
included research on women’s experiences in traditional male domains of
Science Engineering and Technology, developments in investigating diversity
such as intersectional analysis, resource dependency theory and social
movement theory, and insights on the experiences of specific minority ethnic
groups, challenging some of the assumptions of within-group homogeneity in
diversity research.
Originality/value: This report integrates a number of themes from diversity
research across the world, highlighting some of the progress accomplished so far
as well as the suggested direction for future diversity research.
The inaugural Equal Opportunities Conference was held between 1 st and 3rd July,
at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. The aim of the conference was to
provide an international platform for the exchange of knowledge across all
strands of equality, diversity and inclusion at work. About 80 delegates from
across the world attended and research was presented across five Streams. In
addition, there were keynote speeches, a doctoral colloquium, a practitioner
session, and two professional development sessions.
The conference started with an evening drinks reception in the highly acclaimed
Sainsbury’s Centre for Visual Arts during which Professor Mustafa Ozbilgin
(Professor of Human Resource Management at the Norwich Business School
and the co-director of DECERe, (Diversity and Equality in Careers and
Employment Research), took the opportunity to network and make brief
introductions before the formal dinner and evening speech. The following
morning, the conference opened with a welcome by Professor Ozbilgin providing
delegates with a brief background regarding the journey which led to the
conference and the vision to provide an annual platform for international scholars
and practitioners to share current knowledge and work on workplace diversity.
The first key note address, by Geraldine Healy, set the scene for the conference
by challenging diversity scholars to investigate diversity using an intersectional
analytical framework. Illustrating the work that still needs to be done to achieve
equality in organisations, Healy proposes that drawing on multiple levels of
difference including gender, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation would
significantly advance our understanding of inequalities in organisations.