Happy summer to you from The Equality Trust. We hope you are well and staying safe. As ever, we are delighted to update you on the progress of our campaigns and our brilliant local groups over the past few months, and how you can get involved.

Building the movement

The webinars continue for Wanda as, undeterred by the pandemic, she continues to take the message about inequality to a range of communities and groups. Wanda delivered a presentation at the Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls at their ‘The time is now’ learning day, where students and parents heard her talk about her life and inequality.

On Saturday 18th July, Wanda spoke at the celebration of the trade union year at the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival joining a panel to speak about Black Lives Matter and COVID-19. You can watch the full event here.

COVID-19 fundraiser 

We know that inequality has exacerbated the impacts of COVID-19 and in turn the pandemic is exacerbating inequality, which we will see in even clearer detail over the coming months. This is why, we have launched a fundraiser to enable us to conduct research into the impact of coronavirus on inequality, particularly on those individuals and communities already struggling with hardship and exclusion. We would hugely appreciate it if you could be one of our first donors, alongside two major donors who have contributed a generous £10,000. Your early support will give the appeal a fantastic boost. Thank you.

Join our live screening of The Divide

The Divide (2015) tells the real-life story of seven unconnected individuals striving for a better life in the US and the UK- where the top 0.1% own as much wealth as the bottom 90%. By plotting these tales together, we uncover how every aspect of our lives is controlled by one factor: the size of the gap between rich and poor. For those of you who didn’t see this the first time around, the film is inspired by our co-founders’ critically acclaimed book, The Spirit Level.

The panel discussion following the screening will feature Professor Sir Andy Haines (Global Health Film Advisory Board), the film’s Director Katharine Round, Professor Richard Wilkinson and Dr Wanda Wyporska.

If you missed the live event, you can now catch up on the recording of the panel discussion.

Landsec agrees to introduce gender pay gap reporting by grade

Last month, we asked Landsec to commit to three recommendations on equal pay. While the company asserted that it has a “low-risk approach to pay” (despite advertising jobs without a salary), Landsec agreed to undertake gender pay gap reporting by grade.

As the UK’s largest commercial property development and investment company, with just under 600 employees, this is a huge win for the #EqualPay50 campaign, giving hundreds of workers the data necessary to identify and address potential instances of unequal pay.

A massive thanks to our friends ShareAction for their support and advice on using AGM activism as a tool for transformative change, and to our activists Carl and Louise for their digital contributions!

Over 1,500 tune in to our latest webinar: Tackling Health Inequalities in Light of The Marmot Review and COVID-19

In early July the latest Equality Trust, My Fair London and Toynbee Hall webinar saw over 1,500 people tune into Zoom and Facebook Live to hear Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Natalie Creary (Black Thrive) and Farzana Khan (Healing Justice) discuss health inequalities in light of COVID-19 and its effect on Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities. The panel was lively throughout with brilliant questions and discussions in the online chat. The full event will be on YouTube soon so keep an eye out for it.

Join the discussion: #HealthInequalities2020

FIA calling: global gatherings take place around the world

This month saw the Fight Inequality Alliance come together for its 2020 national and global gatherings. The online events, attended by national alliances in Zambia, South Africa, Mexico and the United Kingdom to name a few, provided an opportunity to bring activists together across the world. The sessions looked back over the last year, taking stock of national achievements and learning. There was also a focus on movement building and sharpening national strategies and plans for 2020/21. Wanda spoke on the first panel discussion, Where We Are In The Fight against Inequality?, which you can now watch in its entirety!

Wanda asks why?

In late July, Wanda wrote a piece titled Trying to think bigger? Revert to the simple wisdom of toddlers, which featured as one of the leading articles for the July 2020 Third Sector Magazine. The piece, which can be read in full here, challenges charities to engage more with the inequalities within their organisations and missions, especially during the pandemic. It’s a brilliant read which simplifies solutions to some of the biggest issues the charity sector, and wider society, are currently experiencing.

Who We Are, Who We Aren’t: I’m Not Your N****

Did you know that, thanks to your support, we’ve engaged with over 350 young people in 2020? Following their exhibition at the Tate Modern at the end of February, our Young Equality Campaigners worked with us to bring their essential activist art online during lockdown. Their website, featuring the hard-hitting audio from The Box alongside annotated portraits and resources for schools has received coverage in The Metro, The Voice and received excellent feedback from schools. Following the launch the young activists started working with their local council and community on Community Speaks; a series of online events about inequality.

Are you, or do you know, a young person under 25 who would like to get more involved with work such as this to tackle inequality? If so, please fill in this form (or send it to your contacts). We will be inviting those who fill in the form to our first online youth activism meeting, which will take place on the 10th September at 5.30pm – co-facilitated by one of our young campaigners.

LOCAL GROUPS BULLETIN

#CambridgeafterCovid

The Cambridge Commons held its first virtual meeting on 6th July, exploring the theme of #CambridgeafterCovid with two leading councillors discussing how things might be different in the city after the pandemic, focusing on better engagement with residents, being hyperlocal, and being much more responsive to the needs of the community.

The group recruited a new volunteer social media manager and have been actively communicating the damage done by inequality in Cambridge. Follow Cambridge Commons on Twitter @cam_commons.

The group has also published two reports on growth in Cambridge and its implications for sustainability and inequality, as well as blogs on educational inequalities, community action, and local government. Read the latest on their website. 

The Steering Committee heard from local campaigner Edward Leigh on his proposal for citizens assemblies as a route to a more sustainable and equal city and they will be engaging further with these ideas.

Sheffield Equality Group discusses UBI

On 29th June, the group welcomed experts from the universal basic income sector. In a world searching for radical solutions UBI offers a different approach, but could it impact on inequality?

Jason from the Sheffield Group brilliantly chaired the event with excellent speakers Cleo Goodman (Citizens’ Basic Income Network Scotland), Kweku Amonoo-Quyst (Basic Income UK) and Dr Simon Duffy (UBI Lab Network). Over 100 activists from Sheffield and across the world attended the webinar.

Watch the full event now.

LATEST BLOGS / COMMENT / RESOURCES

• Beyond bailouts: The Equality Trust signs a letter to the Prime Minister
• Government aid policies are pushing privatisation in the global south: Wanda for Left Foot Forward
• ​Wanda comments on Tony Sewell appointment to the Government Race commission
• Our friends at Millennial Money launch their series on inequality: check out their articles on racial wealth inequality and billionaires
• Debt, private finance and inequality: Citizens’ for Financial Justice on global inequality
• Ethnicity pay gap: Will Coronavirus help us talk about money differently?
• Wanda discusses disposable incomes around the UK: Wiltshire, Calderdale and Kirklees and Dorset

KEY DEVELOPMENTS AND REPORTS

• Poverty as a choice: Torsten Bell tells us why it’s a myth that poverty is the failure of the individual
• ​Over-exposed and under-protected: Covid-19’s impact on BME communities (Runnymede Trust)
• Finance development, not dividends: Use our campaign toolkit to advocate for the reform of financing for development
• Mind survey: Existing inequalities have made mental health of BAME groups worse during pandemic

INEQUALITY IN THE NEWS

• The Equality Trust event featured in The Ecologist
• The super-rich demand higher taxes to reduce inequality
• Sexist policies: Pregnant Then Screwed survey reveals that childcare played a role in almost half of all female layoffs
• Nikki Onafuye for Grazia: We need more Black history in the school curriculum
• One in 10 people born in the 1980s will inherit more than half of what the average person earns in a lifetime

COVID-19 AND INEQUALITY NEWS

• Covid-19 and ethnic minorities: Zubaida Haque spells it out in The Guardian
• Are we going back in time? Covid and the effects on the women’s economy
• How coronavirus is widening the UK gender pay gap
• Why Coronavirus is making the rich richer: Gary’s brilliant economics video makes it clear
• The two-child benefit limit is trapping families in poverty amid Covid-19
• Blaming obesity is not the solution to coronavirus

Thanks again for all your support. Please get in contact to find out more about any of our projects.

Best wishes,
Wanda, Jo, Rianna, John & Frankie

The Equality Trust team