Impact : Journal of the Career Development Group

Guest Editorial: Encouraging signs

I am very pleased to be writing the editorial for this themed issue of Impact on the subject of Equal Opportunities. We have included the Group's revised policy and statements for equal opportunities as well as two excellent articles by Sheila Ritchie in this issue. The new Web site for the Career Development Group is also featured, and that includes a section on equal opportunities.

I became Honorary Equal Opportunities Officer for the Group in 1999, and have certainly had my horizons broadened about what the term ‘equal opportunities’ encompasses. As we enter the 21st century, it isn’t just about the long standing discrimination faced by people from ethnic minorities backgrounds, people with disabilities (I am partially deaf so I have a personal interest here), or people with different sexual orientations. We are all aware of institutional racism even if we haven’t experienced it ourselves; social exclusion or inclusion seems to crop up every day in the media; and the attempt by the Government to repeal Section 28 aroused strong opinions. These are just a few examples.

The inequality between men and women has always been a heated subject for debate, and is especially interesting, I feel, in our profession, which has always had a high percentage of women. Sheila Ritchie wrote an article for Assistant Librarian in March 1979. ‘2,000 to 1: A Sex Oddity’ was a report of a pilot study undertaken by Sheila on women and men in senior public library posts. 2,000 to 1 refers to the odds against a woman reaching the top, for example the post of Chief Librarian.

Have our chances improved since then? (Apologies to male readers!). In Sheila’s second article, ‘2000 and beyond: is sex in libraries still an issue?’ she reflects on the changes in society and the profession during the 1980s and 1990s. There are encouraging signs but we still have some way to go before the percentage of women who have broken the glass ceiling are a better representation of the percentage of women in the profession at all levels.

In the Career Development Group we have always been committed to equal opportunities. We have published at least two books that were a response to social issues. In 1992 there was a campaign by the Group on career progression for women, and out of that came Equally Good, written by Gill Burrington as an illustration of role models of women who had succeeded in our profession. Out On The Shelves is a bibliography of lesbian material, and was linked to the Local Government Act 1988 that contains Section 28. We are hoping to commission new editions of these well-received books.

This year alone we have had excellent articles on social exclusion and Section 28 in Impact. So if you feel passionately about an issue, let us know! Feedback is always welcome, either through writing to Impact or direct to me, or let your Divisional Representative for Council know so that we can debate issues and then do something. We can all make an impact, both individually and together.

Sarah Attle, Hon. Equal Opportunities Officer