Measuring Equality
Equality is a contested concept and the ways to measure it are subject to substantial debate. Yet, its measurement is necessary if there is to be an understanding and explanation of changes in the level of inequality and the evaluation of policies to address it.
Earlier work included the measuring of changes in the implementation of the 12 critical areas of the UN Platform for Action for UNESCO and for the EU Presidency; the measurement of violence against women for the UN and for the Home Office. Reports on this earlier work are available for download on my personal web-site.
'A Review of Equality Statistics'. Report from research for the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission on statistics and indicators to measure equality across gender, ethnicity, disability, age, religion/faith and sexual orientation across ten dimensions. Project Research Associates: Jo Armstrong (Sociology) and Les Humphreys (Applied Statistics).
Further publications from this project include:
Walby, Sylvia and Armstrong, Jo (2011 in press) 'Developing key indicators of "fairness": Competing frameworks; multiple strands; an array of statistics', Social Policy and Society.
Walby, Sylvia and Armstrong, Jo (2010) 'Measuring equality: Data and indicators in Britain', International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 13 (3): 237-249.
Reprinted in C. Hughes and R. Cohen (eds) (2010) Feminism Counts: Quantitative Methods and Researching Gender. Oxford: Routledge.