Equality and Diversity Unit

Welcome to the Equality and Diversity Unit (EDU) web pages. We're the team responsible for driving the equality and diversity agenda across the full range of council services.

Islington Council has a proud history in celebrating diversity and challenging discrimination in all its forms. The council is committed to ‘Dignity for All’ for our staff, residents and service users alike, regardless of age, gender, disability, faith, race or sexuality. We are keen on promoting these values amongst our partner agencies and in the wider community.

As an organisation, we are keen to identify and eliminate the processes, practices and behaviours which constitute discrimination. The most common forms of discrimination involve race, gender (usually against women), disability, age, sexuality and religion/faith. You will find information about these issues in these webpages.

It is important to have an understanding about the human consequences of discrimination. Ignorance, prejudice and discrimination of any kind, tarnishes the quality of life of the men, women and children affected.

People may identify with more than one "equality strand". For example, someone may be older, gay, disabled, and have a faith. Rather than pigeon-holing people according to one aspect of their person, what fundamentally matters is that we are whole men and women, each with our own needs and aspirations. As people, there is far more that unites us than sets us apart.

The EDU has been busy. A range of equality staff forums are now well established for Women (Gender), Disabled Staff , LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Staff and BME (black and minority ethnic) Staff, respectively. The EDU has also staged a wide range of events, including World AIDS Day, international Women’s Day, Black History Month, LGBT History Month and the Diversity Through Art Competition, to name just a few of our initiatives to date. Approximately 2,000 people have attended our events in the last three years alone.

These webpages have been set up to share relevant information and inform you about our work and the progress being made. The pages are under constant development and we would welcome your thoughts on how they can be improved.

Thank you for supporting the equality and diversity agenda.