Equality and diversity in archaeology

CIfA acknowledges there needs to be a culture change around equality and diversity practice in archaeology.

CIfA's Board of Directors has agreed to embark on a comprehensive strategy that will have the greatest impact for the profession and strongly recognises the important roles of organisations representing employers, employees and those in education, and is working with the Industry Group (an existing collaboration between FAME, Prospect and CIfA) to jointly develop a pan-sectoral strategy on equality and diversity in archaeology. This would be owned by all three organisations and would commit each to jointly working on specific actions. FAME, Prospect and CIfA have issued a joint statement setting out their commitment to tackling bullying, harassment and discrimination in archaeology which can be downloaded here

CIfA has also formed an internal working party of its own Advisory Council to consider where CIfA should lead on equality and diversity matters and where it should play a supporting role. The Working Party remit was agreed at the Advisory Council meeting on 20 September 2018 and will run for six months, producing an interim report after three months and a final report three months later.

Useful resources for equality and diversity

• CIfA Equality and Diversity Group - membership is free to CIfA members and £10 per year for non-members
• CIfA Code of Conduct and Policy on Equal opportunities in archaeology - all accredited professional of CIfA have agreed to abide by the Code of conduct. Policy statements support the Code by setting out good practice
• Professional ethics case studies
• BAJR Guide – Respect: acting against harassment in archaeology - external link