Black and Minority Ethnic Women

BME women are an important part of the talent pool…

Ethnic minorities are a relatively small but growing part of the UK’s working age population.  A higher birth rate and net international immigration means that ethnic minorities are younger on average than the white population.

• 9.3% of the 35.2 million people of working age in 2004 were ethnic minority compared to 7.9% in 2001
• median age for white people is 40 years old compared to 27 years old for ethnic minorities
• 46% of all ethnic minorities in work live in London where they are 27% of the workforce.

And minority ethnic girls are achieving educationally…

•         In England in 2003, ethnic minority girls did better at GCSE than ethnic minority and white boys.

•         Both Indian and Chinese boys and girls are particularly high GCSE achievers, outperforming all other ethnic groups, including their white counterparts.

•         Ethnic minority women have a much higher participation rate in higher education

Young minority ethnic women are motivated and aspire…

•         Equal opportunities Commission (EOC) research[1] shows Black Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi girls are more ambitious than white girls in the same schools.

•         Despite stereotyping, 90% of Bangladeshi girls do not agree that their parents want them to get married and have children rather than follow a career.

•         About half of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women employees (aged 16-34) aspire to be their own boss, a senior professional or in senior management compared to 42% of their white counterparts.

But unemployment rates indicate that they are under-utilised…

• Ethnic minority women are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white women[2]
• Overall unemployment rates for ethnic minority men and women are similar but Pakistani women have an unemployment rate five times the rate for white women and more than double the rate for Pakistani men.
• Among ethnic minorities, Indian and Chinese have the lowest unemployment rates.

Unemployment rates: by ethnic group¹ and sex, 2004²

Percentages

1 The estimates for the Other Black group and Bangladeshi women are excluded due to a small number of respondents.

Source: Annual population Survey Office for National Statistics

And in employment they perceive more barriers than white women:

•         According to EOC research, 30-40% of ethnic minority women say they experience racism or sexism

•         20% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women employees have heard negative comments about their  religious dress at work

•         80% of Black Caribbean 16 year old women think that they have to work harder to get to the top and rule out some jobs because of their ethnicity

•         20%  of young minority ethnic women say that they have had to take a  job lower than their qualifications compared to 5% white women employees 

•         Opportunity Now’s research reveals that ethnic minority women have a greater perception of almost all barriers but  are better educated and have greater aspirations  than their white colleagues.[3]

employers also see barriers…

•         half of employers[4] believe minority ethnic women face difficulties because of presentation, characteristics or family/caring commitments

•         35% tend to believe that Asian and Black women are more likely than white women to be affected by family caring issues

•         36% tend to think presentational problems are a difficulty (i.e.confidence and communication at interviews, lack of ambition)

•         38% of private sector employers and 13% of public sector employers have no Black or Asian women employees

many minority ethnic women choose self employment or running a small business…

• Ethnic Minority women are more likely to be self employed or running their own business than white women. ^[5]