Equalities

Discusses the nature of equality and looks at examples related to medical care, employment, political rights and religion.

Kathy Davis explores cosmetic surgery as a cultural phenomenon of late modernity. She critically engages with the notion of cosmetic surgery as a neutral technology and shows how it is implicated in the surgical erasure of embodied difference.

A timely new look at coexisting without assimilating in multicultural cities If city life is a “being together of strangers,” what forms of being together should we strive for in cities with ethnic and racial diversity? Everyday Equalities seeks evidence of progressive political alternatives to racialized inequality that are emerging from everyday encounters in Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sydney, and Toronto—settler colonial cities that, established through efforts to dispossess and eliminate indigenous societies, have been destinations for waves of immigrants from across the globe ever since. Everyday Equalities finds such alternatives being developed as people encounter one another in the process of making a home, earning a living, moving around the city, and forming collective actions or communities. Here four leading scholars in critical urban geography come together to deliver a powerful and cohesive message about the meaning of equality in contemporary cities. Drawing on both theoretical reflection and urban ethnographic research, they offer the formulation “being together in difference as equals” as a normative frame to reimagine the meaning and pursuit of equality in today’s urban multicultures. As the examples in Everyday Equalities indicate, much emotional labor, combined with a willingness to learn from each other, negotiate across differences, and agitate for change goes into constructing environments that foster being together in difference as equals. Importantly, the authors argue, a commitment to equality is not only a hope for a future city but also a way of being together in the present.

Democracy and democratization are now high on the political agenda, but there is growing indifference to the gap between rich and poor. Political equalities matter more than ever, while economic inequality is accepted almost as a fact of life. It is the separation between economic and political that lies at the heart of this book.

Presenting cutting edge research on how religion can confront and obscure social inequalities in everyday life, Religion, Equalities and Inequalities argues that when religion is left out of social scientific analyses, it can result in incomplete analyses that conceal pathways to social inclusion and exclusion. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary group of contributors who operate at the vanguard of theoretical and empirical work on how social structures of power, institutions and bodies can generate equalities and inequalities in religion, the collection shows how religion can enable and challenge the inequities that affect people’s everyday lives. Academics and students of religious studies, sociology, politics and social policy will all find this book offers useful insights into the relationship between religion and contemporary culture.

"Radical Equalities and Global Feminist Filmmaking - An Anthology"’s main objective is to exhibit and unveil the fruit of the growing movement of feminist filmmakers around the world through interviews with current filmmakers themselves and through critical analysis of the works of these filmmakers. Every filmmaker we examine tells their own story about radical equality from a place that they have lived, are drawing from, or have imagined. The common theme in all of the films of our selected filmmakers is the obligation they feel towards the oppressed and the resulting ethics of interdependence their films exhibit. Some films give voice to those who are suffering in the shadows, or have been silenced and murdered because of their political orientation and work; some films showcase vulnerable identities (especially gender identities) because the characters are inter-sex, transgender, of a marginalised class and skin color, are being forced into a split identity because of a colonial history, or because they are living in a part of the world from which they cannot escape. Other films highlight the feminist experience of lesbian love and its constraints or revolutions, the experience of motherhood, and the question of origin in all of its complexities. The authors have, to date, conducted 16 interviews with filmmakers from around the world who, in very different ways - at times with comic relief , at times by pointing the cameras back at themselves, at times by inviting the viewer to grieve with them - question radical equality and vulnerability. We have selected these films on the basis of their unique stories and story-telling style, and their diverse points of view referencing different socio-political historical realities around the world. Each of them has one, if not several, female, intersex or non binary characters as their leads; each of them engage us with the question of feminism in a political way that highlights our obligation toward the character and her lived experience. Each of them focuses on “interdependence” as an aesthetic and cinematic principle. But what is most important is the fact that each filmmaker will be able to describe how they found their access and inspiration for their story, and how the film reflects on their own lived experience that is socio-economically and historically determined.

This book is about inequities in education in Europe. The authors have worked together on an analysis of educational inequalities in Europe, which they draw on through the book: they suggest that the countries of Europe, through the European Union, are beginning to address issues of educational disadvantage on a systematic, continent-wide basis. Because of this policy concern, this book is timely in the way that it addresses social and education inequities on the scale of Europe. This is not simply an account of practices and policies. The authors’ analysis of individual country and European Union policy documents will be of practical and theoretical use to the policy community and the community of practitioners who are concerned with inequities in society, and in education in particular. The authors want to do more than simply add to the literature and theory: they aspire to make an impact on how education can contribute to positively improving the lives of disadvantaged groups. While some suggest that education is doomed to simply reproduce existing social patterns and replicate social inequities, the authors believe that educational policies have the potential to challenge inequalities, and to transform lives.

What family forms are recognised in established Nordic and welfare policies? Which family values and parental models should be given political priority in a multi-ethnical society? Would part-time leave be ideal from a gender equality perspective? These were some of the questions raised at the conference 'Parental Leave, Care Policies & Gender Equalities in the Nordic Countries' in Reykjavik on 22 October 2009. The conference was arranged by the Centre of Gender Equality in Iceland on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Security during the Icelandic presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Researchers presented their preliminary results, compared the differences between the Nordic countries and discussed how we reach the goal of a gender-equality, friendly welfare state with reconciliation between personal and professional life where we serve the needs of men, women and children. The report contains notes from the conference, speeches, workshop discussions and links to PowerPoint presentations.