Intersecting childhood identities, inequalities and social justice

Issues of identity and social justice have come to the fore of political, theoretical and practical discussions. Children and young people are at the heart of this debate, confronting researchers, practitioners and policy makers with challenges of how to address social inequalities and promote social justice for present and future generations. Marlies Kustatscher, co-organiser of the 'Children's rights, social justice and social identities in Scotland' seminar series updates us on the upcoming third seminar. 

Children and young people’s identities and inequalities are complex. A growing field of interdisciplinary research in the UK and beyond recognises that categories such as ethnicity, race, gender, social class, disability, sexuality and age intersect in intricate ways, shaping children’s social identities and impacting on their everyday life experiences.

The way in which such interlinking identities generate particular inequalities has been framed in theory and research through the concept of ‘intersectionality’. Intersectional perspectives recognise the diversity of different groups and examine how certain groups are silenced from and marginalised by dominant political debates. This seminar series is providing us with an opportunity to better understand what the concept of intersectionality means for those working with children or those who shape child-related policy.

In the first two seminars we have addressed how intersectionality can help us to understand overlapping childhood identities, and how it can be put into practice by practitioners and policy makers. We have explored intersectionality from children and young people's perspectives and looked at how we can promote their participation in identifying, understanding and addressing these issues.

The third seminar takes place in Glasgow on 23 June to look specifically at the challenges of methods and research. We are interested in exploring:

• how research can help us to understand complex childhood identities and inequalities,
• what approaches are needed to enable academic work to contribute to processes that promote social justice and equality,
• what methods we should use to ensure that children's views, particularly from marginalised groups, are not silenced.

The seminar will include keynote presentations by Professor Floya Anthias, a leading expert in the field of intersectionality in the UK and worldwide, and Professor Peter Hopkins, who will talk about his extensive experience of doing research with young people. In the afternoon, delegates will be able to choose from a series of workshops on how to do intersectional research with children and young people in practice. The full programme is available on our website.

There are still a few final places available. Please be quick as registration closes on 6 June. The seminar is free to attend and is being held at Scottish Universities Insight Institute in Glasgow.

 

The seminar series is funded under the Scottish Universities Insight Institute 2013-14 programme.

Making children's rights real

Today, marks the launch of ‘Social Justice, The Common Weal and Children and Young People in Scotland’, with the Jimmy Reid Foundation. Authors John Davis, Louise Hill, Kay Tisdall , Liam Cairns and Selwyn McCausland consider how to make Scotland the best place to grow up in.

The themes of the paper arose out of our consideration of the recent legislation passed through the Scottish Parliament – The Children and Young People(Scotland) Act 2014. The rhetoric around the Bill was so promising, for those of us who support children’s rights and committed to improving children and young people’s lives in Scotland: the legislation was ‘landmark’ law, that would help ‘make rights real’ and make Scotland ‘the best place in the world to grow up’. But is the legisalation and accompanying policy radical enough to deliver on the promise?

We think we need to go further. It is welcome to have Scottish Ministers keeping ‘under consideration’ whether they can take further steps ‘to effect’ the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – but why not incorporate children’s rights more systematically and directly? Public authorities will be reporting on what they are doing in relation to children’s rights – but they can report ‘nothing’ and pretty well meet the legal requirements. The duties in relation to children’s wellbeing are much stronger: plans for children’s services must be directed towards children’s well being; plans must be reviewed and should be implemented. For children’s wellbeing, public authorities cannot just report ‘nothing’ and meet their legal requirements.

A children’s rights approach marries a focus on children’s human dignity, recognition of their contributions now as well as in the future, as part of the broader society of human rights. Children’s rights set minimum thresholds and claims on all of us. For example, rights recognise that children can be discriminated against, simply in relation to their age. Why do we still have signs in our shops stating ‘no more than 2 children allowed in at any time’? Can you imagine that being acceptable under any other category, from cultural background to gender? But yet we accept that for children, solely on the basis of their age. Why do we allow the staggering amount of child poverty in our society, if we were serious about children’s wellbeing (1:5 children live in poverty, in Scotland – McKendrick et al. 2014)? Children’s wellbeing is aspirational and holistic – both aspects which are welcome. But you could maximise children’s wellbeing and ignore their human dignity, a typical utilitarian response of the ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number’. Rights are an important counterpart.

Social justice may well be able to reconcile these tensions – and bring together the advantages of both rights and wellbeing. Social justice is about entitlements, redistribution, recognition and respect. The Scottish idea of the Common Weal – equality, mutual work and wealth shared in common – fits well with these components of social justice. And we ask, in the report: Where are children and young people in this? What are their roles in defining, debating, delivering and expanding the idea of the Common Weal into reality? From our childhood studies and children’s rights perspectives, we suggest that they and their families are key to change and ensuring that all the current aspirational talk is actually translated into radical change. Let’s recognise children’s human dignity now and not just in the future. Let’s make ‘rights real’. Let’s make Scotland the best country to grow up in.

We suggest that, whatever one’s stance on the forthcoming independence referendum, it provides an opportunity to think what kind of Scotland we want.

The report can be found at: http://reidfoundation.org/portfolio/2295/

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Do you want to develop your skills in research and consultation with children and young people? Take a look at our Continuing Professional Development courses, delivered by Dr Susan Elsley and Professor Kay Tisdall:

10-11th March 2016: Involving children and young people in research and consultation
28-29th April 2016: Using creative methods in research with children and young people

Consulting on a Children & Young People Bill

CRFR recently submitted a response to the Scottish Government's consultation on a proposal for a Children & Young People Bill.

CRFR has undertaken a range of relevant research, to comment on key aspects of the Bill: i.e. children's rights, children's wellbeing and early learning and child care provision.

Our view was that the proposed Bill, if underlined by processes and commitments, could ensure that children's rights are given more breadth and depth in policy making and practice. Certainly, the Ministerial support for 'making rights real' for children is very welcome.

However, we raised a number of points for consideration. 

• The Government should include a much clearer statement on how it will incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights on the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law, including timeframes.
• There needs to be more clarity on the duty on Scottish Ministers to "take appropriate steps to further the rights of children and young" and the duty should be extended to public bodies.
• Children's rights need to be the overarching framework for the Bill, and duties on public bodies should be focused on improving rights -- which incorporate children's wellbeing.
• Any strategies aimed at improving school readiness via a pre-school setting need to include, for disadvantaged children, strategies that seek to influence the child's home environment and parenting experiences at the same time.
• Children should be consulted, along with parents, to develop early learning and childcare provision.
• Developments in early learning and childcare must marry the need for high-quality care with flexible and accessible provision that also enables parents to take up employment. This is not happening for many families, particularly those in more disadvantaged circumstances or who are affected by disability.

 Please read our full response, with links to evidence, at:

http://www.crfr.ac.uk/consultations.html