Opinion

Povertyism needs to be taken as seriously as racism and sexism

In Ireland, povertyism results in people being followed around shops by staff, refused entry into restaurants and even unable to cash cheques

Adopting socio-economic status as a ground of discrimination in Ireland’s equality law would be an important part of the State’s policy efforts to tackle consistent poverty. Photograph: Agency Stock

Jim Clarken
Olivier De Schutter
Thu May 9 2024 - 05:45

For the many people living in poverty in Ireland today, life is not simply a struggle to make enough money to survive. It is a daily battle against the barrage of prejudice and disdain they face just for being poor; an exhausting fight against the entirely unwarranted stigma that restricts their access to education, healthcare, employment and housing.

In 2020, the Government committed to examine introducing “socio-economic status” as a new ground of discrimination in Irish equality law. The inclusion of this ground would make it illegal to discriminate against someone because of their socio-economic status, in the same way as disability, race, religion and other protected grounds. With less than one year left of the current Government’s term, time is running out.

“Povertyism” – negative attitudes and stereotypes about people in poverty – is rife.

The anti-poverty group, ATD Fourth World, has documented widespread povertyism in Ireland, with accounts of people in poverty being followed around shops by staff, refused entry into restaurants and even unable to cash cheques without first having to assure suspicious bank managers that they weren’t stolen. The “Your Rights” information service of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has received complaints of socio-economic discrimination in services areas such as insurance, banking and recreation. Little can be done to address this type of discrimination while its victims are not protected by law.

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Compounding this damaging stereotyping in daily life is the discrimination people in poverty can face within public services – in schools, health services, Intreo, Tusla, housing agencies, homeless services and the police. Stories abound of children feeling shame in front of their classmates for not being able to pay contributions, or adults living in poverty treated with disrespect in hospitals or stigmatised by social services.

It is unacceptable that people already contending with the horrors of poverty are also stigmatised because of their accent, address or appearance – turned down for jobs, refused housing or disenfranchised when interacting with health providers, social services and the police.

Last week the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission published a policy paper reiterating its call on the Government to urgently update Ireland’s equality law and include socio-economic status as the 10th protected ground of discrimination. This is in addition to its call that an 11th ground should be added to ensure a broad prohibition on discrimination on the ground of criminal conviction, not limited to spent convictions.

The Commission’s call follows two decades of campaigning from groups across Ireland and is echoed by the United Nations, whose Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recently expressed concern about the “prevalence of socioeconomic, racial and gender inequalities and social stigma and discrimination against disadvantaged and marginalised groups” in Ireland. The Committee recommended that the Government include “explicit references to all prohibited grounds of discrimination, including socio-economic status”.

The review of the Equality Acts, spearheaded by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, is certainly a step in the right direction. As were Mr O’Gorman’s remarks to the UN Human Rights Committee in 2022 that Ireland intended to introduce socio-economic status as a ground of discrimination. Campaigners were also heartened when, in response to a Parliamentary Question in February 2024, Mr O’Gorman stated that legislative proposals arising from the review of the Equality Acts will be brought in the coming months. Yet there is still no concrete timeline for reform. This opportunity cannot be missed.

Poverty will never be eradicated while povertyism exists. There is a dangerous and pervasive myth that poverty is a result of some kind of moral failure by the individual, rather than serious structural disadvantages. Adopting socio-economic status as a ground of discrimination in Ireland’s equality law would be an important part of the State’s policy efforts to tackle consistent poverty. In doing so, Ireland would join countries such as Belgium, France and Bulgaria in providing a practical means to challenge discrimination, while also sending a powerful message that such discrimination is not tolerated.

This week, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is holding a major conference on promoting socio-economic equality in work. It wants to encourage employers to take positive action now to recognise – and dismantle – the barriers experienced by people because of their socio-economic status. Prohibiting discrimination involving access to employment on the grounds of socio-economic status – identified through indicators such as family background, geographical location, home ownership, schools attended and economic situation – would increase the chances of people from low-income backgrounds escaping poverty. While we do not need to wait for legislation to act to diversify the workplace, introducing this prohibition in legislation would shine a light on this prejudice and improve accountability, leading in time to a more inclusive society providing real equality of opportunities.

[ Education in Ireland still shaped by social class despite decades of investment ]

In our respective positions as a commissioner at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, we are using this moment to urge the Government to deliver on its promise to take discrimination on socio-economic grounds just as seriously as racism, sexism, ableism and other forms of injustice.

Jim Clarken is commissioner at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and CEO of Oxfam Ireland. He is also chair of the FRA Management Board. Olivier De Schutter is UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

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