08 Sep 2023

Diversity Lens - Issue 190

Diversity Lens - Issue 133 Diversity Lens - Issue 132 Diversity Lens - Issue 131

Big claim incoming: I've found the most welcoming, socially conscious and exciting festival. Granted, I haven't sampled them all - and I'm still riding that post-festival high - but I'm sure End of the Road Festival in Dorset has to be up there. NME called it "a spectacle of communal wonderment." Here's why -

The line up might not blow you out of the water on paper, but just wait until you experience it. The range of artists and genres on display is thrilling, particularly those that pay homage to their culture and heritage or weave social messages into their music. From Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul who use their catchy electronic beats to address racism, to acts like Fatoumata Diawara who uses traditional dress, masks and dance to bring her heritage to the forefront. I left the magical woods of Larmer Tree Gardens feeling invigorated by the breadth of talent I'd witnessed, and reminded of the power of music to effect social change 🥹✨

QUICK FIRE NEWS 🧨

✈️ 8 in 10 LGBTQ+ travellers consider their safety before travelling
❤️‍🩹 Indeed to give trans employees $10,000 for g ender-affirming care
❌ French students banned from wearing Muslim robe
📰 Daily Mail ghost-writing racist articles using Black writers
🇰🇷 First openly gay Korean woman to give birth

LET'S GET INTO IT 🤓

Do you live to work or work to live? The tide is changing

How important is work to you?
According to a new study of 24 countries, people in Britain are less likely than people elsewhere to place importance on work. We also ranked low for believing that hard work brings a better life - a steady decline since the early 2000s.

What’s behind the shift?
With income growth remaining sluggish, and young people entering the workforce, people are starting to question the value of work. If working harder doesn’t bring you the promised benefits of a better life, financial security, or even putting food on the table for your family, why prioritise work over many other aspects of our lives which also add value?

Perceptions of not working are starting to shift
The study also looked at perceptions about people who don’t work, and there appears to be a cultural shift away from the ‘benefits cheat’ rhetoric of the early 2000s.
With many now feeling the impacts of the cost of living crisis and a desire to achieve better balance (read: not letting work take over your life), perhaps this shift is a healthy alternative to the high-pressure hustle culture which just isn’t desirable to many of us today.

💼 How important is work to you? 💼

Very Important Somewhat Important Not Important

Our schools are crumbling. How did we get here?

What's the story?
At least 100 schools in the UK are currently closed entirely or partially due to concrete in buildings crumbling. The Conservative government pulled out of plans to rebuild schools back in 2010 over cost concerns. Headteachers have voiced dissatisfaction with the government's response to the crisis and claim they are taking the blame instead, having to "identify bits of concrete that might look like Aero bars" instead of focusing on the children. The government urged schools to "get off their backsides."

What's the government response?
Sunak's plan to rebuild 50 schools a year has come to light, a plan which would take 440 years to complete. The National Education Union has described it as “calculated neglect”. Labour leader Keir Starmer mocked Sunak's refusal to fund necessary repairs on schools while "he took the decision – at the same time – to cut the tax rate on champagne.”

Urgent action is being taken on women's health 🏥

✍️ HAVE YOUR SAY! ✍️

What's the context?
Women's health remains a woefully under-researched and underfunded area of medicine. Historically, health concerns that mostly affect women just haven't been taken seriously enough and our pain has been discounted.

What now?
Periods, contraception, fertility, pregnancy and menopause are being seriously addressed as part of a new women's health strategy. As part of this, a landmark survey is calling for input from all women in England aged between 16-55. Run by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the findings will help form a new government health policy that is fit for purpose and start to undo decades of “systemic” gender health inequality.