Discrimination on grounds of race, gender, religion and disability has been deemed unacceptable for many years, so why is ageism still so prevalent in British society?
Official statistics show that Britain is facing an ageing society. In 30 years, over 20 million people (a quarter of the current population) will be over 60, yet
more people have reported suffering age discrimination than any other form of prejudice.
Whilst workplace laws banning age discrimination were somewhat belatedly introduced a year ago, they have not made much of an impact on the problem of workers being discriminated against because of their age. A
recent study by the
Employment Forum on Age claimed
16 million workers witnessed ageist practices at work in the last year alone.
Negative representations of older people are still commonplace in the media – Sir Ming Campbell is a case in point. Hounded out of the Liberal Democrats leadership after questions about his age refused to go away – many saw him as too old-fashioned to lead the party in this image-obsessed age.
Speaking after his resignation, Sir Ming said: “We have got an obsession with age in this country... for some people it’s a cause of some anxiety and for many people it’s a sense of disappointment.”
And it isn’t just those over 50 who can be the victims of age-discrimination – young people can be equally affected. The
British Youth Council believes a culture of negative treatment towards young people is ingrained in British society and is seen by many decision makers as being legitimate.
Discrimination based on age impacts the lives of millions of people in Britain on a daily basis, so why is Britain ageist and what can be done to combat this “last form of discrimination”?
The participants:
Jo Swinson, Lib Dem Minister for Women and Equality
Jo was elected MP for East Dunbartonshire in May 2005, beating the sitting Labour MP by 4,061 votes. She is currently Lib Dem Minister for Women and Equality and at 27, Jo is the youngest MP in the House of Commons.
An active member of the Liberal Democrats since 1997, Jo was Secretary and then Vice Chair of the Liberal Democrat Youth & Students and launched the campaign website
www.scraptuitionfees.com.
Rachael became involved with the BYC three years ago and has since been voted onto the campaigns and communications sub-committee and later became a media spokesperson.
Rachael is also on the RESPECT young peoples’ advisory group has been involved in the Votes at 16 and Equal Minimum Wage campaigns where she attended a session in parliament and went to Denmark for a European sharing of ideas and practice. She is passionate about giving young people a voice and combating negative perceptions of youth.