The 2009 Wainwright Trust Evening took place on 17 June 2009 at the Royal College of Physicians, Regent's Park, London. The Evening took the familiar format of a Question Time panel, who discussed points raised by the audience after each giving a very short presentation on current issues which they saw as important. The panel was chaired by Katharine Whitehorn, who is best known for her regular columns in The Observer from 1960 to 1997 and whose memoir Selective Memory was published in 2007.

The panel members were John Bowers QC, a barrister at Littleton Chambers and an expert on the law on equal pay, discrimination and pensions; Sushel Ohri, Director of Group Equality and Inclusion at Transport for London; Baroness Margaret Prosser of Battersea, Deputy Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and a past President of the TUC; and Charlotte Sweeney, who recently joined Nomura International as Head of Diversity and Inclusion, having previously been Head of Diversity and Wellbeing at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS).

The panel of John Bowers QC, Baroness Prosser, Sushel Ohri and Charlotte Sweeney
(Photos: Steve Teague Photography)

Katharine Whitehorn reminded us of how far we had come in her life-time, recalling when women could not take out mortgages and when a black President of the United States or a black champion Formula One driver were virtually unthinkable. Even so, John Bowers saw a number of missed opportunities in the Equality Bill, such as equal pay audits and hypothetical comparators. However, he did welcome the recognition, albeit rather narrow, of affirmative action and the possibility of class actions. Sushel Ohri said there had been tangible progress through using procurement to promote equality amongst contractors to Transport for London (TfL). This was important not only for TfL, but also for the community in London.

Margaret Prosser was also somewhat disappointed in the Equality Bill. However, the bill was important, because the Equal Pay Act was now "a busted flush". She argued that combination of all strands of equality in the one Commission had a beneficial effect, because employers had to address all the issues, rather than dealing with one and seeing the others as peripheral. Charlotte Sweeney felt that the credit crunch could actually benefit diversity, which needed commitment rather than money. She welcomed the emphasis on outcomes in the equality duty forms under the Equality Bill. There had been, she said, a large gap between what companies said externally about equal opportunities and what they did internally.

The theme of disappointment continued during the question and answer session. Joanna Foster, a former chair of the Equal Opportunity Commission, asked if the problem of the dismissal or threat of dismissal of pregnant women continued and Margaret Prosser sadly confirmed that it did. Ivy Cameron wanted to know why the business case for equality and diversity still did not result in action from employers.

There was also discussion about support for professionals in the field and Shelagh Prosser called attention to the recently formed Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners. Discrimination in the media was raised, as was the failure of the EHRC website to offer the support that people needed. (Margaret Prosser said that this problem was being urgently addressed by the Commission.)

Discussion of these and other topics continued over a buffet supper.

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Previous Wainwright Trust Events

Wainwright Trust Evening 2008

Specially commissioned play Twenty Years' Hard Labour: 2007

Previous events from 1997 to 2006