Manchester's a Stonewall Diversity Champion
01 Aug 2013
The University has joined Britain’s good practice employers’ forum on sexual orientation.
Run by Stonewall, the charity which works for equality and justice for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, the Diversity Champion programme provides employers with access to a range of support and resources, including:
- One-to-advice from Stonewall’s Workplace team;
- Networking with hundreds of high profile employers;
- Performance benchmarking via the Workplace Equality index;
- Good practice seminars;
- Exclusive entry to Stonewall’s Starting Out Careers Guide.
Our membership of the programme will support and strengthen our efforts to make the University an inclusive/supportive place to work, study or visit.
It will also help to improve our chances of inclusion in the top 100 of Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index, which measures efforts to tackle discrimination and create inclusive workplaces for lesbian, gay and bisexual employees (the University is currently in 161st place out of 376).
Paul Marks-Jones, Equality and Diversity Adviser, said: “While the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) Network and the Equality and Diversity team have been the driving forces behind our application to join the Diversity Champion Programme, staff and students across the University can all contribute to making the University an inclusive/supportive place to work, study or visit.
“Our Diversity Champion status will have a positive impact on the recruitment of staff and on student engagement.”
Membership of the programme entitles the University to use the Stonewall Diversity Champion logo on relevant communications and publications. If you would like a copy of the logo or more information, please email:
Our Diversity Champion status will feature in the University’s entry to the 2013 Manchester Pride Parade on 24 August: watch out for news of this during the next few weeks. Last year, the University won ‘Best Public Sector’ award with only its second entry, beating more seasoned participants such as the Police Force, Salford City Council and the NHS.
Take a look at our plans for this year's Pride Parade at: