Word: britain
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...More like an imbalance. And addressing it could require some drastic action. "Political parties may need to use what people might consider unorthodox methods to accelerate their own integration," says Trevor Phillips, head of Britain's Commission for Equality and Human Rights. "They might try to ensure they have proportionate regional representation in their candidates. Or they might say that every candidate short list has to have at least one person who isn't white on it. You can't force people onto constituencies, but you can compel parties to think about their responsibilities...
...been done before. When it became clear there weren't enough women at the top, governments across Europe introduced quotas and other initiatives to boost the numbers. Britain's Labour Party adopted women-only short lists in some constituencies for the 1997 election, and saw the number of women in Parliament double from 60 to 120. Without similar measures to bring more European minorities into power positions, huge swaths of the population will always feel powerless. "I wouldn't underestimate the importance of politics as part of this conversation," says Geoff Mulgan, head of think tank the Young Foundation...
...Another way to make sure every citizen counts? Count them. Literally. Yet some countries don't collect ethnic data in their census and those that do are often behind the curve. Britain introduced a mixed-race category to its census in 2001, only to discover that it was already the country's fastest-growing ethnic minority group. It's illegal to collect data on ethnicity or religion in France, Belgium, Denmark, Italy and Spain, mainly on the grounds that identifying people by their race or faith is, in itself, a form of discrimination. But a move to make all people...
...Push People Up The biggest source of conflict in a multicultural society isn't segregation, race or religion - it's money. "The areas where there is the biggest tension in Britain are not the most diverse areas," says the Young Foundation's Mulgan, "but areas where a particular model of male, usually full-time, well-paid employment, has disappeared and been replaced with much less secure employment." Europe's minorities suffer, on average, more than double the rate of unemployment as whites. But a blanket affirmative-action policy like the kind in place in the U.S. is a nonstarter...
...best way to make minorities more upwardly mobile is to get specific - and creative. The French are teaching Chinese to schoolchildren in deprived neighborhoods so they can get into the global economy. Meanwhile, in Britain, research shows that the biggest hurdle for young Pakistani and Bangladeshi males isn't a lack of skills, but a mix of discrimination and trouble getting access to networks. So job centers in predominantly Asian neighborhoods are trying to convince employers to offer more entry-level jobs or take in more provisional employees for some workplace experience. Instead of relying on sweeping national policies...