Equality research into Glasgow housing associations made available

In 2011, Dr Stewart Montgomery completed research concerning how effectively Glasgow housing associations were implementing equality policy commitments into practice. This was an extremely comprehensive assessment, covering around 80% of all housing associations in the Glasgow area.

Progress regarding equality policy implementation was evident, however, the research indicated that policy documentation was deficient in a range of ways.

For example, the study suggested that policy documentation was often inadequate in terms of failing to cover law and good practice issues, accurately or in sufficient depth.

Again, many of the equality policies examined lacked clarity – in part due to their brevity and consequent omission of important details. Lack of coherence was also an issue. Lack of coherence has major implications for organisational practice, of course, as failure to address issues comprehensively may well result in equality commitments not being mainstreamed into practice.

Although the research dates from 2011, consideration of several contemporary equality policies indicates similar failings continue to exist. As identified in the research, gaps in implementation stem from a lack of a coherent strategic equality framework. This framework must adhere to specific theoretical principles if equality policy commitments are to be implemented holistically and systemically throughout all organisational services.

The University of the West of Scotland Library has now developed an online digital system which enables access, free of charge, to Dr Montgomery’s research.

The full reference for the thesis is:

Montgomery, S. (2011) A critical assessment of factors that are necessary for the effective implementation of equality rights within services provided by Glasgow’s housing associations Master of Philosophy Thesis, Paisley: The University of the West of Scotland.

Should you wish further information about this research, you can contact Dr Montgomery on montgomeryst@hotmail.com.