The expansion of the professional workforce across developed and developing economies has been ac... more The expansion of the professional workforce across developed and developing economies has been accompanied by a concomitant growth in the employment of women and disabled workers (Muzio and Tomlinson, 2012). Evidence nonetheless suggests that inequalities, bias, and perceptions of lack of ‘fit’, continue to endure, particularly within traditional professions such as law, accountancy and medicine (Heilman, Manzi and Braun, 2015; Levin, et al., 2015; Muzio and Tomlinson, 2012). As such, it is argued, professionalization should be viewed as a political project (Larson, 1977) and, while it has long been acknowledged that inequalities stemming from gender and race, are as a consequence of the politics of professionalization (MacDonald, 1995), the position of disabled people has largely been ignored. This chapter explores why disabled people remain largely absent in debates on professionalization, even though it is acknowledged that diversity and inclusion is now an important part of the contemporary professional discourse (Ashcraft et al., 2012). It will examine what disabled people can learn from the past and current struggles of women in professions and the contribution that gender theory can make to the investigation of disability in professional work settings
This paper draws on findings from a two year EU funded project entitled: ‘Supporting Industrial R... more This paper draws on findings from a two year EU funded project entitled: ‘Supporting Industrial Relations in the Field of Workplace Adaptation to Enable the Employment of Older and Disabled Populations’ (VP/2015/004). Primarily an action project, its central aim was to engage social partners in three Eastern European (EE) countries Estonia, Hungary and Poland in a series of workshops to discuss ways in which disabled and older workers could be better integrated into the labour market. As such, the project complements other recent EU initiatives, including “From crisis to recovery – Better informed policies for a competitive and fair Europe” undertaken by The European Foundation (2013-16): an outcome from which, was ‘Sustainable work over the life course: a concept paper’ (2015), which emphasised the need for sustainable jobs and work environments over the life-course in the face of predicted labour shortages. Additionally, EU initiatives such as Horizon 2020 highlight the need for f...
Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2019
Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disab... more Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disabled employees that have been tailored to their specific situation within a workplace. This article, however, argues that there is potential for collective employment relations to motivate and enable social partners to develop a role in implementing reasonable accommodations and supporting older and disabled employees in the labour market. Focusing on industrial relations and work accommodation systems in Estonia, Poland and Hungary, the potential role that social partners could play in creating more inclusive workplaces is explored. This is done by reference to the findings from an action research project that brought together social partners to discuss ways in which practices in providing work accommodations could help better to integrate underutilised sources of labour in these three countries. The industrial relations regimes in the three countries have potentially enabling characteri...
The under-utilization of the labour of disabled and older people is a problem across the European... more The under-utilization of the labour of disabled and older people is a problem across the European Union (EU) but is most pronounced in Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states, where labour shortages are greatest. This presents a puzzle that is explored with reference to a project with social partners from Estonia, Hungary and Poland, the objective of which was to stimulate debate and actions around the role of industrial relations actors in facilitating work accommodations for disabled and older people. After establishing the extent of the demographic labour crisis in these countries, the policy tools being employed to address it are scrutinized and found wanting. A variety of factors are identified as having contributed to debate in this area: historical legacy, social policy path-dependency, social partner identity and agency, a ‘dead letter’ approach to EU policies, and the limited role of civil society organizations. We examine the potential of the concept of sustainabl...
On 31st October, 2016 the UK Government published Improving Lives – The Work, Health and Disabili... more On 31st October, 2016 the UK Government published Improving Lives – The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper and began a national consultation on work and health. This report summarises work done by social and economic researchers at Cardiff University which we think will be helpful for policy-makers and practitioners who wish to contribute to the consultation and to wider debate about the ways in which the lives of disabled people might improve. In particular, it provides data and analysis which help us to understand how the Government’s aim of halving the disability employment gap can be achieved where past and existing polices and approaches have failed.
The expansion of the professional workforce across developed and developing economies has been ac... more The expansion of the professional workforce across developed and developing economies has been accompanied by a concomitant growth in the employment of women and disabled workers (Muzio and Tomlinson, 2012). Evidence nonetheless suggests that inequalities, bias, and perceptions of lack of ‘fit’, continue to endure, particularly within traditional professions such as law, accountancy and medicine (Heilman, Manzi and Braun, 2015; Levin, et al., 2015; Muzio and Tomlinson, 2012). As such, it is argued, professionalization should be viewed as a political project (Larson, 1977) and, while it has long been acknowledged that inequalities stemming from gender and race, are as a consequence of the politics of professionalization (MacDonald, 1995), the position of disabled people has largely been ignored. This chapter explores why disabled people remain largely absent in debates on professionalization, even though it is acknowledged that diversity and inclusion is now an important part of the contemporary professional discourse (Ashcraft et al., 2012). It will examine what disabled people can learn from the past and current struggles of women in professions and the contribution that gender theory can make to the investigation of disability in professional work settings
This paper draws on findings from a two year EU funded project entitled: ‘Supporting Industrial R... more This paper draws on findings from a two year EU funded project entitled: ‘Supporting Industrial Relations in the Field of Workplace Adaptation to Enable the Employment of Older and Disabled Populations’ (VP/2015/004). Primarily an action project, its central aim was to engage social partners in three Eastern European (EE) countries Estonia, Hungary and Poland in a series of workshops to discuss ways in which disabled and older workers could be better integrated into the labour market. As such, the project complements other recent EU initiatives, including “From crisis to recovery – Better informed policies for a competitive and fair Europe” undertaken by The European Foundation (2013-16): an outcome from which, was ‘Sustainable work over the life course: a concept paper’ (2015), which emphasised the need for sustainable jobs and work environments over the life-course in the face of predicted labour shortages. Additionally, EU initiatives such as Horizon 2020 highlight the need for f...
Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2019
Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disab... more Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disabled employees that have been tailored to their specific situation within a workplace. This article, however, argues that there is potential for collective employment relations to motivate and enable social partners to develop a role in implementing reasonable accommodations and supporting older and disabled employees in the labour market. Focusing on industrial relations and work accommodation systems in Estonia, Poland and Hungary, the potential role that social partners could play in creating more inclusive workplaces is explored. This is done by reference to the findings from an action research project that brought together social partners to discuss ways in which practices in providing work accommodations could help better to integrate underutilised sources of labour in these three countries. The industrial relations regimes in the three countries have potentially enabling characteri...
The under-utilization of the labour of disabled and older people is a problem across the European... more The under-utilization of the labour of disabled and older people is a problem across the European Union (EU) but is most pronounced in Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states, where labour shortages are greatest. This presents a puzzle that is explored with reference to a project with social partners from Estonia, Hungary and Poland, the objective of which was to stimulate debate and actions around the role of industrial relations actors in facilitating work accommodations for disabled and older people. After establishing the extent of the demographic labour crisis in these countries, the policy tools being employed to address it are scrutinized and found wanting. A variety of factors are identified as having contributed to debate in this area: historical legacy, social policy path-dependency, social partner identity and agency, a ‘dead letter’ approach to EU policies, and the limited role of civil society organizations. We examine the potential of the concept of sustainabl...
On 31st October, 2016 the UK Government published Improving Lives – The Work, Health and Disabili... more On 31st October, 2016 the UK Government published Improving Lives – The Work, Health and Disability Green Paper and began a national consultation on work and health. This report summarises work done by social and economic researchers at Cardiff University which we think will be helpful for policy-makers and practitioners who wish to contribute to the consultation and to wider debate about the ways in which the lives of disabled people might improve. In particular, it provides data and analysis which help us to understand how the Government’s aim of halving the disability employment gap can be achieved where past and existing polices and approaches have failed.
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Papers by Deborah Foster