Disadvantaged, discriminated against and ignored: the experiences of Gypsy Travellers.
Published on 1 January, 2024.
A key focus of the discipline of Social Policy is the economic and social inequalities that people face. A recent report by the House of Commons, Women’s Equality Committee (2019) found that Gypsy Roma Travellers experience “the worst outcomes of any ethnic group across a huge range of areas, including education, health, employment, criminal justice and hate crime” (p.3). Their report concluded that successive governments had comprehensively failed GRT communities (ibid). This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the inequalities experienced by this community - from difficulties accessing their preferred mode of housing to employment and health disparities, as well as their experience of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will also discuss the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 – a dense piece of legislation with worrying consequences for Gypsy Travellers. The chapter then focuses on welfare, as in wellness – two concepts that focus on one’s standard of living in material ways. The section highlights the hate crime, racism and discrimination faced by this community, The chapter ends with two broad recommendations for tackling the inequalities faced by GRT.