What Works for Equality?

Back in October, King’s College London and the Evidence Quarter published a paper that I worked on, with the topic of what works for equality. This is a tricky area; with many pillars of the what works network - average effects, parsimonious use of outcome measures and sub-group analysis, running against an equality agenda in some ways.

Caring about equality in a What Works context means caring about whether an intervention is not just effective on average, but effective for people who are harmed by inequality - women and girls, members of groups that experience racism, and LGBTQ+ individually. Our decision about whether to recommend an intervention for wider take-up should depend not just on what the overall, or average impact of an intervention is - but also whether it reduces, or exacerbates, existing inequalities. In the paper, we suggest ways of conceptualising and tackling inequalities through the what works movement - ideas that we’re excited about testing in the future.

This paper was joint work with Omar Khan (Director of TASO), Rosie Campbell (Director of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s), Ella Whelan (at What Works for Children’s Social Care), and Louise Jones (also at What Works for Children’s Social Care).