The research described in Section 3 of this paper was commissioned and funded by Sheffield City Council (Department of Employment and Economic Development) in collaboration with Sheffield Council for Racial Equality. A full research report was published by this body in October 1989. The author would like to thank Sheena Clare, Isabella Stone, Sam Thackur and Andy Shallice for their contributions to the evolution of the project, and Simon Bromley and David Steyne for their comments on drafts of the research report.
2.
Since their adoption by parliament in 1984-5 the Codes of Practice on Employment drawn up by the CRE and the EOC have had the status of considerations which industrial tribunals have been bound to take into account when reaching decisions. In addition, under the Local Government Act 1988. local authorities may take an employer's possession of a Code of Practice covering race equality into account when awarding contracts. (The same legislation bans local authorities from using workforce composition as a disqualification.)
3.
The criticisms of EOPs which follow are not intended to devalue the campaigning referred to here. While EOPs may not live up to to expectations, such campaigning may have independently progressive effects. This issue is explored m a slightly different way in the section titled 'The policy implications of a critical view of EOPs'
4.
The monitoring of workforce composition by gender is in any event a legal requirement for the great majority of organisations, since crude information on gender must be provided for National Insurance, Census of Employment and other mandatory returns.
5.
The issues of whether there really are accurate and reliable ways of determining who 'the best person' for a job might be, and of whether the optimally functioning organisation is that where 'the best person' occupies each job cannot be discussed here. With regard to the second of these issues, suffice it to recall the political 'achievements' of Harold Wilson's Cabinet of the 1960s, which contained no fewer than eight Oxbridge first class degree holders.
6.
In order that answering the questionnaire should not be too complex an operation for employers, respondents were asked to break down employees by race and gender separately, rather than to cross-tabulate this data. As a result it was impossible to generate separate information on black men and black women.
7.
1983 figure for SYT
8.
All those private sector organisations not involved in manufacturing, financial services, retail and training, and which were not utilities. Respondents included a construction company and two distributive organisations.
9.
Acronym for Positive Action Training for Housing, a private sector black trainee scheme based in Leeds.
10.
Acronym for Sheffield and District Afro-Caribbean Community Association.
11.
Bussue, L. and Drew D. (1985) Ethnic Minorities in Sheffield: Key Facts. Sheffield City Polytechnic, Department of Applied Statistics Research Report AS/5.
12.
Gore, A. (1985) Pathways to Paradise. Pluto .
13.
Jenkins, R. (1986) Racism and Recruitment: Managers, Organisations and Equal Opportunities in the Labour Market. CUP.
14.
Jewson, N. and Mason, D. ( 1986) 'The Theory and Practice of Equal Opportunity Policies: Liberal and Radical Approaches', Sociological Review , Vol 34 No 2.
15.
Stone, I. (1988) Equal Opportunities in Local Authorities: Developing Effective Strategies for the Implementation of Policies for Women. HMSO.
16.
Webb, T. and Liff, S. (1988) 'Play the White Man: the Social Construction of Fairness and Competition in Equal Opportunity Policies', Sociological Review, Vol 38 No 3.
17.
Young, K. (1987) 'The Space between Words: Local Authorities and the Concept of Equal Opportunities', in Jenkins, R. and Solomos, J. (eds) Racism and Equal Opportunities in the 1980s, CUP.
