101 reasons for liberation

reasons forliberationin your students’ union

101

101 reasons_for liberation_print 14/8/07 17:28

For statistical references please go to: www.officeronline.co.uk


LiberationLiberation from discrimination is something that millions of

students across Britain are still fighting for. Oppression for

students today can mean anything from name-calling to

violent attacks and death.

Your students’ union has a responsibility to represent

these groups of students, campaign for their equality,

celebrate their diversity, and ensure that your college or

university exercises zero tolerance of discrimination!

Here are 101 reasons why every Union needs a Black

Students’ Officer, a Disabled Students’ Officer, an LGBT

Officer, and a Women’s Officer!

101 reasons for liberation



General1. Discrimination still exists for Black students, minority

ethnic students, LGBT students, disabled students

and women students

2. If you add up all the Black, disabled, LGBT and

women students, they are s almost certainly the

majority of students at your institution!

3. Liberation officers run lots of cool initiatives like

campaigns, events, fundraisers, club nights, plays

and much, much more for your students!

4. Nationally, your students can be better represented

5. Your students’ union can remain at the cutting edge

of campaigns for equality in education

6. Having Liberation Officers mean that Black, disabled,

LGBT, and women students are represented within your

union – every year – not just when a Black, disabled,

LGBT or woman student happens to be elected


women students

Women students7. It will take women significantly longer to pay back

their student debts than men (because of the pay

gap, maternity leave, etc)

8. On average, women are paid 17% less than men in

full time work, and 38% less in part time work

9. 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence

10. Women make up under 20% of British MPs in

Parliament today

11. 70% of the world’s poor are women

12. Only 11.1% of university vice chancellors are women

13. Less than 30% of college principals are women

14. 2 women are murdered every week in Britain by their

current or former partner

15. Women own less than 1% of the world’s property

16. Only 49% of disabled women are in work


women students

17. Two-thirds of the world’s illiterate people are women

18. A plane load of women die each week as a result of

unsafe abortions in the world

19. More than 90% of hairdressing apprentices are

women, whereas over 90% of construction, motor

and plumbing apprentices are men

20. 16% of women experience stalking in their lives

21. 1 in 10 senior police officers are women

22. On average, a woman victim of domestic violence has

11 contacts with support agencies before she gets the

help she needs – this rises to 17 if she is Black

23. At the current rate it will take 200 years before there is

gender equality in Parliament

24. Women’s Officers run awesome events like the

Vagina Monologues, International Women’s Week,

and campaigns against rape and violence on campus

25. Women are far less likely to be students’ union

presidents than men


women students

26. Women’s bodies are used to sell everything from

soap bars to cars

27. Today, women are still being excluded from schools,

colleges and universities for getting pregnant

28. 42% of women homicide victims (compared to 4% of

men) were killed by a current or former male partner

in 2001

29. There are only 2 Black women MPs in Parliament –

and 13 men


black students

Black students30. There are only 15 Black MPs in Parliament, but if the

numbers of MPs reflected the amount of Black

people in Britain today, there would be 55 MPs

31. Black students face discrimination throughout

education: despite higher achievements on entry,

they leave school with lower grades and are more

likely to be excluded. They face discrimination in

admissions to elite universities and are awarded

lower marks where anonymous marking is not

implemented

32. Research by the DfES found that Black students are

less likely to get a first class degree when all other

factors are equal. Discrimination is rife in education

33. Research has also found that more African-

Caribbean students study at one university – London

Metropolitan – than the top 19 institutions combined


black students

34. Annual top-up fees of £3,000 introduced in 2006,

burden Black students with decades of debt as

Black graduates are 4 times more likely to be

unemployed than white graduates so get saddled

with debts for longer

35. The number of pupils excluded on the grounds of

racist bullying has risen by 29% between since 2004

36. African-Caribbean boys are 3 times more likely to be

permanently excluded from school, than white

children for misdemeanours of similar severity

37. Black children are 5 times less likely to be considered

‘gifted or talented’ compared to white children

38. Black communities are 3 times more likely to become

statutorily homeless than the majority white population

39. African-Caribbean people are 14 times more likely,

and Asians 6 times more likely, to be stopped and

searched by police than white people


black students

40. In 2004/05 there were approximately 179,000 racially

motivated crimes. Since 1999, after the Stephen

Lawrence Report, racially motivated crimes have

steadily risen

41. Almost 10% of mental health inpatients are African-

Caribbean or mixed-race, despite making up only 3%

of the general population

42. Black people are up to 44% more likely to be

detained under the Mental Health Act but are less

likely to be referred by their GP than white people, a

significantly high percentage instead get referred

through the Criminal Justice System

43. In 2004, Black workers earned an average of £7.50

per hour, compared with £8.00 per hour for workers

from white backgrounds. This gap has been

increasing since 1998

44. Within six months of graduation Black people are

three times more likely to be unemployed than white

graduates


black students

45. Within 5 years of leaving college Black students can

expect to be earning 9% less than their white peers

for the same standard of work

46. 18% of men and 15% of women graduates who are

Muslim are unemployed – this is 2 times the rate of

their Christian and Jewish, without religious

conviction counterparts

47. 75% of the Black community live in 88 of the poorest

boroughs across Britain

48. Job applicants with an African name are 25% less

likely, while those with a Muslim name are 18% less

likely, to get an interview than those with a British

sounding name

49. There are no Black women police chief constables

and there are no Black women judges in the House

of Lords or Courts of Appeal.

50. Babies born to immigrant Pakistani mothers in Britain

are more than twice as likely to die in their first week

as the babies of British-born mothers


black students

51. Rates of suicide among young South Asian women

are double that of the general population

52. On average, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women earn

only 56% of the average hourly wage of white men

53. Less than 1% of college principals are Black and

there is only 1 Black university pro- vice chancellor

54. Black staff are more likely to be cleaners than

lecturers at universities and colleges


disabled students

Disabled students55. In further education, at least 6% of students declare a

disability on enrollment

56. In higher education, at least 4% of students declare a

disability on enrollment

57. In 1994, China introduced a law designed to

eliminate ‘inferior births’ and heighten the standards

of the whole population through enforced sterilization

of disabled people and compulsory abortion of

disabled fetuses

58. Only 1 in 20 disabled people are in FE or HE,

compared to 1 in 10 for the rest of the population

59. 1 in 5 disabled people in FE and HE feel that they are

directly discriminated against because of their

disability

60. One third of disabled people do not feel they can

enter education because of their disability


disabled students

61. 27% of disabled people have no qualifications at all

compared to 12% of the rest of the population

62. There are 7 million disabled people in Britain

63. Only about half of disabled people in Britain work,

compared to 80% of the rest of the population

64. Only 1 in 5 people with mental health problems work

in Britain

65. Disabled employees are paid an average of £1.50

less per hour than their non-disabled counterparts

66. Disabled students are 10 times more likely to be the

victim of bullying than their non-disabled counterparts

67. Disabled people are ten times more likely to be

victims of sexual abuse

68. 85% of disabled people surveyed in Britain feel they

are treated as second class citizens

69. 1 in 3 families with Black disabled children have

severe problems with their housing, compared to one

in five families with white disabled children


disabled students

70. Disabled women are 3 times less likely to work than

disabled men

71. Dyslexic students make up 43% of the disabled

students in Britain

72. HIV is defined as a disability under the Disability

Discrimination Act 1995

73. In 2005 2.4 million adults and children in sub-

Saharan Africa died of HIV. Over 2 million of these

deaths was preventable through anti-retroviral drugs

and the widespread condom availability

74. In 1997 less than half of polling booths in Britain were

accessible meaning that many disabled people were

simply unable to vote

75. Even though it’s against the law, lots of colleges,

universities, and students’ unions are not fully

accessible to disabled people

76. Disabled people are denied adequate sex education –

disability and sex remain a taboo and not talked about


lgbt students

LGBT students77. In a recent study, 72% of young lesbians and gay

men indicated that they had either played truant or

feigned illness to avoid homophobic abuse at school

78. LGBT pupils are more likely to leave school at 16 and

not reach FE or HE (regardless of their achievements

at school). 2 in 5 say they fear bullying will continue if

they stay on

79. In a survey of 4000 Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual

people, 48% of respondents under 18 had

experienced violence because of their sexuality and

90% had experienced verbal bullying

80. 24% of lesbians (1 in 4) have suffered homophobic

violence

81. In a recent study from Scotland, 68% of respondents

said that they had been verbally abused or threatened

by someone who has assumed they are LGBT


lgbt students

82. Only 6% of British schools have a homophobic

bullying policy, despite homophobic bullying being

endemic in schools

83. Gay and bisexual men or any person who has had

sex with a gay or bisexual man cannot donate blood

to the National Blood Service

84. Same-sex sexual activities for men are explicitly

illegal in more than 80 states around the world, and

for women in more than 40 states

85. 35% of lesbian and bisexual women in a survey of

1100 LGBT people said they had attempted suicide

(the average age for the first attempt was 18 years old)

86. According to recent figures, 1 in 5 young LGB people

try to commit suicide

87. 4 in 5 secondary school teachers say they are aware

of verbal homophobic bullying in schools

88. Waiting times of ten years are not uncommon for

trans people wishing to access surgery or other

treatments on the NHS


lgbt students

89. Many colleges and universities still refuse to re-issue

degree certificates for graduates who have changed

gender roles. Such refusals mean that trans people

may have to apply for jobs with employers who are

going to ask to see their certificates, or force them

to disclose their medical history during application

90. It wasn’t until 1992 that the World Health

Organisation removed homosexuality from its list of

mental disorders

91. Up to 38% of LGBT people will be the victim of a

hate crime at some point in their lives

92. The Civil Partnership Act came into place in

December 2005 and provides same-sex couples

with some of the rights that opposite-sex married

couples enjoy

93. A Stonewall survey found that 83% of Londoners

believe anti-gay prejudice should be tackled

compared to just 65% in the east of England


lgbt students

94. Government estimates put the number of LGBT

people in Britain at 6–7% of the total population

95. In a 2007 social attitudes survey 98% of Guardian

readers said prejudice against lesbian and gay

people should be tackled compared to just 49% of

Daily Telegraph and 65% of Daily Mail readers

96. Until May 2007 it was legal to refuse goods or

services to an LGB person. Trans people still have no

protections from discrimination in the provision of

goods and services

97. 74% of gay and 42% of straight consumers are less

likely to buy products from companies that hold

negative views of lesbians and gay men

98. In 2007 a gay man from Paisley won £120,000 from

his employer for discrimination because he was gay.

This was made possible by the Employment Equality

(Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003

99. From over 700 members of the House of Lords only

two – Lord Smith and Lord Alli – are openly LGBT


lgbt students

100. It is 35 years since the first gay pride march in Britain

101. LGBT people are officially subject to the death

penalty in nine countries across the world, in 3 of

which recent executions took place



Contactblack students’ campaign

e. [email protected]

disabled students’ campaign


women’s campaign


lgbt campaign


national union of students

2nd floor, centro 3

19 mandela street

london nw1 0du

t. 0871 221 8221


w. www.officeronline.co.uk/liberationineveryunion


Convinced?For a complete guide to Liberation in your Students’ Union

please visit www.officeronline.co.uk/liberationineveryunion

or contact us at [email protected]!

The Liberation In Every Union Pack Includes:

• detailed information about all the Liberation Campaigns

• model policy to help you set them up

• useful stats and facts

• contact details and help with getting started

We have come so far in Liberation work over the years but

we’re not done yet. Demand Liberation in your Students’

Union this year!

Produced by NUS 08/2007


101 reasons for liberation

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