Navigating the Culture Wars

The focus on the culture wars is setting a tone of conflict across the UK, one that impacts on the lived-experiences of people from all walks of life. If we want to see a transition towards a society that is addressing social justice, we need to navigate sensitively through the ‘culture wars’, as well as the accompanying narratives of challenging privilege and power imbalances. For organisations looking to be open, inclusive and socially just, the workplace needs to be somewhere where we can foster inclusion, reconciliation and dialogue. And we have seen from movements like B Corp and the Better Business Act that conduits for wider social change and positive action are as likely to come from the business community as think tanks and policy makers. We want to explore what lessons we can learn from organisations treading this path and how the law can help build a framework that resets the narrative towards inclusion, respect and cooperation. The discussion will explore how taking account of lived experiences in decision making processes can work and what the challenges are. We will look at the legal frameworks and technical points that affect considerations around inclusion, positive action and EHRC guidelines with a focus on gender. We will look at how organisations can collaborate to actively work to address social inequalities. We will invite panellists who are working in organisations that are at the coal-face of addressing these challenges and others who are carefully working out how to tread a path that meaningfully and thoughtfully addresses inclusivity, cooperation and collaboration around the key points of equity, diversity and inclusion. It feels like we are in a pivotal moment, we want to start to talk openly about the barriers to social justice and work out solutions that can be adopted both at an organisational and wider cultural level. We expect the audience to come away from the session with a framework to support them in recognising particular beliefs and making sure that their organisation is reflective of their people.