Equal opportunity is focused on legislating against unjustified discrimination and the fair treatment of specific groups. It’s about treating people fairly, identifying and removing barriers that get in the way of this and redressing existing imbalances, so that groups which continue to be disadvantaged gain access to opportunities for full participation in the workplace and in wider society.

Diversity is focused on making effective use of the differences and similarities between people. It’s about creating working environments that value a range of differences, believing that understanding and managing these can lead to organisational and societal benefit.

When we talk about equal opportunity and diversity in the British Council, we focus on 7 main areas:

• Age
• Disability
• Ethnicity/race
• Gender (which includes transgender)
• Religion/belief
• Sexual orientation
• Work-life balance.

We believe the best way to manage diversity is to ensure that it is built into all processes and functions, considered as part of all policy decisions, and present in the planning of all programmes from start to finish.  This is what we mean by mainstreaming diversity.  To help us mainstream diversity we have a number of documents that outline our commitment to equality and diversity. They are our:

Equal Opportunities Policy

Diversity Strategy  

Integrated Equality Scheme