Equalities watchdog says discrimination to blame
Gypsies and Travellers are amongst England’s most disadvantaged groups, have fallen further behind the rest of the population, and risk being increasingly locked out of opportunities, according to a major new report released today by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
‘Is England Fairer’ is an in-depth analysis of how people’s equality and human rights have been realised in practice over the past five years. It reveals that the gap has grown between the life chances of a range of groups - homeless people, those with learning disabilities, Gypsy, Roma and Travellers, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers – and the rest of the population. It also shows how inequality has become more entrenched.
Gypsies and Travellers are one of the four groups that the Commission focusses on in its wide-ranging report, saying that:
“Some people in our society are being left further behind because they face particular barriers in accessing important public services and are locked out of opportunities. There are several factors that may contribute to this, including socio-economic deprivation, social invisibility, poor internal organisation of the group, distinctive service needs that are currently not met, cultural barriers, stigma and stereotyping, small group size, and very importantly, a lack of evidence which limits us in our ability to assess the multiple disadvantages these people face.”
The result of these factors, the report continues, means that Gypsies and Travellers – as a group – face some of the worse life outcomes in England.
Research by the Commission shows that Gypsies, Roma or Travellers are considerably over-represented in prison, with 4% of the prison population identified as Gypsy, Roma or Traveller, whereas only 0.1% of the population identified as such in the 2011 census.
“A significantly lower percentage of Gypsy and Roma children (13.8%) and Traveller children (17.5%) achieved the GCSE threshold in 2012/13 compared with other White children (60.3%),” it states.
“Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children are still four to five times more likely to be excluded from school than the national average, even despite a significant fall in numbers. There were 35.8 exclusions of children from these communities per 1,000 pupils in England - a decrease of 13.9 cases per 1,000 compared with previous years.”
“Compared with the general population, Gypsies and Travellers are more likely to suffer bad health. This includes lower life expectancy, high infant mortality rates, high maternal mortality rates, low child immunisation levels, higher prevalence of anxiety and depression, chronic cough or bronchitis (even after smoking is taken into account), asthma, chest pain and diabetes and higher rates of smoking. This is exacerbated by the fact that many Gypsies and Travellers remain unregistered with GPs”, says the Commission.
The Commission places a lot of the blame on the racism and discrimination that Gypsies and Travellers face and says that “negative attitudes towards Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities (are) still widely held.”
“Discrimination and harassment of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers was common across Britain, not only on the part of the general public but also by the police and other authorities,” the report continues, with many having to hide their ethnic identity to access employment and services, whilst others said their children were bullied at school and that they had been refused entry to pubs and cinema,” says the Commission.
The Commission also states that “hostility in “political rhetoric and the media” is part of the blame for “entrenched inequalities”, saying that this has previously “been criticised by human rights monitoring bodies and highlighted by the Leveson Inquiry (the 2011 judicial Inquiry into the press).“
“The Traveller Movement (formerly the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain)”, says the report, “provided numerous examples of bias, racism and stereotyping in the media in relation to the reporting of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller issues and claimed that it was making the integration of these communities more difficult.”
Singling out a Traveller Movement complaint and petition about an article published in the Spectator magazine, the Commission continues highlighting prejudice in the media, stating that, “there were many examples of ‘prejudicial or pejorative references’ to particular races or ethnicities in the press. For example, in 2013 an opinion piece in The Spectator described Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people as lazy, criminal and unintelligent. The author Rod Liddle claimed that usage of the terms ‘gyppo’ and ‘pikey’ were a ‘useful means of lumping them all together’.”
The Commission concluded their special report on Gypsies and Travellers by condemning Channel 4’s series ‘Big Fat Gypsy Weddings’, saying that the hit TV series “has also been found to have perpetuated negative stereotypes. In 2012, the broadcaster was criticised by the Advertising Standards Agency for an advertising campaign which featured posters with the words ‘Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier’.”
“The decision that the complaints did not warrant investigation was challenged by the Traveller Movement and eight other complainants, and an independent review of the agency’s decision led to the case being re-opened,” states the Commission. “The Advertising Standards Agency took advice from the Commission and upheld that the adverts were offensive because they were racist, denigrating and portrayed Gypsies and Travellers in a negatively stereotypical way. It also stated that the adverts were irresponsible because they depicted negative stereotypes of Gypsies and Travellers, and endorsed prejudice against them.”
Reacting to the Commission’s report, Yvonne MacNamara, CEO of the Traveller Movement said:
“We are grateful to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission for recognising and reporting on what we know to be true. The discrimination and racism towards the UK’s Gypsies and Travellers is as appalling as it is ubiquitous and mundane.”
“A lot of our work is highlighting, challenging and making public that racism and discrimination which exists in all areas of our civil institutions; national and local government, commercial service provision, the police and the criminal justice system, the mainstream media and social media. The Commission’s report covers them all and its conclusions are damning.”
“Gypsy and Travellers lives, whether they be saints, sinners, or somewhere in between, are blighted on a daily basis by what the report meticulously describes. Gypsy and Traveller children and teenagers are having their life chances blighted and distorted by institutionalised racism. As the report shows with even government ministers being found guilty of discrimination in the High Court – the discrimination often comes right from the top,” she said.
“In the 21st century, the UK’s Gypsies and Travellers are as diverse and varied as any other ethnic minority in the UK. It’s about time that was recognised so we can all move on and leave what is often called the last acceptable racism in the past.”
Rebecca Hilsenrath, Chief Executive at the Equality and Human Rights Commission said that the report was a “wake-up call for the Government to improve life chances for all so that no one is to be left behind.”
“They reveal how severe are the inequalities faced by some of the most disadvantaged groups in our society,” she said.
“Our society is failing people in vulnerable situations and needs to do more to ensure everyone has better life chances. If we don’t, we risk perpetuating a two-tier society where some people are locked out or cut further adrift, damaging community cohesion and increasing social isolation.”
The full report - Is England Fairer - is available here - www.equalityhumanrights.com/IsEnglandFairer