ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the ethics of equal opportunities in the UK public service from two perspectives: the state in its role as employer and the state in its role as government. Equal opportunities are used as shorthand terminology for efforts to achieve equality of opportunity in respect of gender, ethnic origin and disability, though the terminology can be extended to cover age, sexual orientation, and religious affiliation. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development looking at the public service cross-nationally, says that ethos is ‘the sum of ideals which define an overall culture’ and ethics are ‘the rules that translate characteristic ideals or ethos into everyday practice’. The government’s stance was a mixture of pragmatism and to be a good employer. The civil service unions too, who first established an equal pay committee in 1927, mixed pragmatism and social justice principles. The business case for equality centres on competition in the labour market.
