As the UK’s principal cultural relations organisation the British Council is strongly committed to Equal Opportunity & Diversity.

Equal opportunity is focused on legislating against unjustified discrimination and the fair treatment of specific groups. It’s about treating people fairly, identifying and removing barriers that get in the way of this and redressing existing imbalances, so that groups which continue to be disadvantaged gain access to opportunities for full participation in the workplace and in wider society.

Diversity is focused on making effective use of the differences and similarities between people. It’s about creating working environments that value a range of differences, believing that understanding and managing these can lead to organisational and societal benefit.

When we talk about equal opportunity and diversity in the British Council, we focus on 7 main areas:

			age
			disability
			ethnicity/race
			gender (which includes transgender)
			religion/belief
			sexual orientation
			work-life balance.

We believe the best way to manage diversity is to ensure that it is built into all processes and functions, considered as part of all policy decisions, and present in the planning of all programmes from start to finish. This is what we mean by mainstreaming diversity.

See our Diversity Unit pages for more information.