RUNNYMEDE AUTUMN 2010 / ISSUE 363

girls &
school
exclusion
black
feminism
MINORITY
wOMEN ETHNIC
WOMEN &
WORK

Intelligence for
a multi-ethnic Britain
Runnymede

Bulletin
Dr Rob Berkeley editor’s
letter
Director
Sarah Isal
Deputy Director
Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard
Senior Research & Policy
Analyst
Dr Omar Khan
Senior Research & Policy
Analyst
Julie Gibbs
Senior Research & Policy
Analyst
Jessica Mai Sims
Research & Policy Analyst
Kjartan Páll Sveinsson
WELCOME to the Autumn 2010 edition of the online Runnymede Bulletin.
Research & Policy Analyst
Phil Mawhinney
This quarter we shift our focus to women and their organisations. Though
Research & Policy Analyst most of us are still reading the fine print in an attempt to understand exactly
Jacob Lagnado how (badly) we’ll be affected by the Comprehensive Spending Review 2010,
Research & Policy Analyst few doubt that the zealous cuts in expenditure will be felt keenly by women.
Gabriela Quevedo
Research & Policy Analyst
Four in ten working women are employed in the public sector. Enough said.
Vastiana Belfon Meanwhile women’s organisations in the voluntary and community sector
Real Histories Directory
have already been steadily culled as a result of the economic downturn’s all-
Robin Frampton
Publications Editor round pull on purse strings.
Vicki Butler
Public Affairs Officer
These miserable truths are even more emphatically the case for minority
Klara Schmitz
ethnic women and their organisations. How black women fare in the wider
Project Assistant labour market will be of particular interest in these worrying financial times,
Kamaljeet Gill and is the focus of Omar Khan’s fact-rich piece on page 6.
Project Assistant
Riffat Ahmed Meanwhile Pragna Patel paints a bleak picture for the future of black and
Arts Project Manager minority ethnic women’s organisations, which are widely expected to be
Rebecca Waller
Administrator
among the first casualties of a dearth of funding opportunities (Q&A on
page 22).
Colin Kelly
Business Development
Manager But, before you worry that our ‘women’ issue is to be wholly grim, read about
Nina Kelly the positive work being done to counter health inequalities for black women
Online Editor on page 10. And Ranjit Kaur writes in praise of black feminism from page 8.
Keep an eye out for the sign on the contents page opposite for all our
ISSN 2045-404X
women-related articles and regular features.
The Runnymede Trust,
Sept 2010. Open access,
some rights reserved,
Off theme this month, Vicki Butler explains what the Big Society is all about,
subject to the terms and how equalities may or may not fit in with it, on page 14. While Shamus
of Creative Commons Khan and Casey Stockstill give us the benefit of the US experience of
Licence Deed: Attribution-
Non-Commercial-No localism on page 12.
Derivative Works 2.0 UK:
England & Wales. You are As always, I cannot sign off without thanking all the contributors who have
free to copy, distribute,
display and perform lent us their thoughts, ideas and precious time to make this Autumn 2010
the work (including
translation) without written Runnymede Bulletin happen.
permission; you must
give the original author If you have any feedback or suggestions for our forthcoming bulletins,
credit; you may not use
this work for commercial please get in touch with me at the email address below.
purposes; you may not
alter, transform, or build
upon this work. For more
information please go to
www.creativecommons.
org. For purposes other
than those covered by
this licence, please
contact Runnymede.

Runnymede is the UK’s

leading race equality
thinktank. We are a
research-led, non-party
political charity working
to end racism. Nina Kelly, Editor
nina@runnymedetrust.org

Front cover image by Vijay Jethwa at the Bangla Stories launch, July 2010

2 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363 www.runnymedetrust.org

Contents

14
On the cover
06 black women & work
The facts on minority ethnic
women and the labour market
speak for themselves
08 black feminism
How much more inclusive will
the apparent resurgence in the
feminist movement be?
11 Girls & school exclusion
Young women are often forgotten
in the debate on pupil exclusions
14 big society
What is it exactly, and how might
it affect the struggle for equality?
16 foreign ex-offenders
Vilified by the press, forgotten by
the state and hidden from view:
what becomes of foreign nationals
released from UK prisons?
18 diversity & older people
How financial policy needs to
reflect the increasing diversity of
our older generations

10
REgulars
04 news in brief
A round-up of some of the most
notable race-related news
22 Q&A
Pragna Patel of Southall Black
Sisters tells us why black
and minority ethnic women’s
organisations matter
27 key facts
Ten facts you ought to know
about race and women
20 bangla stories
A new online teaching resource
focusing on the Bengali diaspora
A view from...
24 ...Suffolk
The chief executive of the Ipswich
and Suffolk Race Equality council
on why race matters in Suffolk
25 ...Latvia
With its recent history of Soviet
occupation, xenophobic attitudes
to foreigners are rife in Latvia

28 vox pops
How does ‘double discrimination’
16
affect minority ethnic women?

29 reviews
Book reviews and a round-up
from the Edinburgh fringe festival

31 director’s column
Rob Berkeley on trying to engage

20 with the ‘Big Society’ rhetoric

Features

10 breast cancer awareness

How certain groups of women
are losing out on breast cancer
care, and an innovative new
project designed to help

12 localism in the us
What could the UK’s ‘Big Society’
advocates learn from examples
across the pond?

www.runnymedetrust.org Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 3

 news in brief
International criticism as French
Government removes Roma people
THOUSANDS OF TRAVELLER AND
Roma communities have been removed by
French police as part of the government’s new
scheme to reduce crime associated with this
ethnic group.
More than 186 people were flown to
Bucharest on just one day in August. This
marked the beginning of a controversial
‘crackdown’, justified as a means of tackling
crime. The deportation, which is part of
President Sarkozy’s new anti-crime initiative,
is described as a ‘voluntary reform procedure’.
The intention is to dismantle at least half the
country’s estimated 300 illegal Roma camps
within three months. This year so far more than
8,000 individuals have already been deported,
with almost 1,000 of the removals taking place
in August. Although this compared with little
fewer than 10,000 total removals of members
of the Roma and Traveller community in 2009.
Although the individuals in question are
citizens of the European Union (EU), and
therefore entitled to live and work in member
countries such as France, they are required
under French law to have a valid permit to
remain in the country after three months. Each
adult that ‘volunteers’ to return is entitled to
300 euros compensation, while children will
receive 100 euros each.
The European Commission has been
closely monitoring the expulsions and
commented that, while France does have the
right to take measures regarding foreigners
living on their territory, EU law requires that
each person’s case is dealt with individually
Campaigners and police in bid to ban racist march
ANTI-FASCISM CAMPAIGNERS AND
local police were successful in their bid to
ban a planned English Defence League (EDL)
march through Bradford.
Chief constable of the West Yorkshire
Police, Sir Norman Bettison, applied to
Bradford Council requesting a ban for the
march planned on 28 August 2010. The
application was also supported by a petition
with 10,000 signatures, handed to home
secretary Theresa May earlier in the month.
The ban was authorised less than two
weeks before the date planned for the march.
The grounds for the ban included the fear that
4 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
and the EU’s freedom of movement laws must
be respected.
As EU Fundamental Rights Commissioner
Viviane Reding prepared to report on whether
the policy contravened EU law, French
ministers met a selection of EU Commissioners
in Brussels on 6 September 2010 to defend
their country’s expulsion of Roma migrants.
They insisted that European law had been
respected ‘scrupulously’ and that deportations
were in keeping with EU rules allowing for the
free circulation of citizens within the 27-nation
bloc. French immigration minister Éric
Besson, talking to the International Herald
Tribune, emphasised that those expelled were
targeted because they “posed a threat to public
order”. However, Reding’s speech, though she
has since backtracked on the more extreme
parts of it, was unreserved and comprehensive
in its condemnation of the scheme. Yet almost
80 per cent of French people polled supported
the deportation, according to a poll taken by
Le Figaro newspaper and released on 6 August
2010. It is not known whether supporters
may have decreased in number after hearing
the outcry from the European, and wider
international, community.
In fact, dissent among the international
community has been rife, with commentators
in France and across Europe condemning the
expulsions. Jean-Pierre Grand, a member of
the governing UMP Party has compared the
raids to the round-ups of Jews and Gypsies
during Nazi occupation. Teodor Baschonsi,
Romania’s foreign minister told Radio France
the march could result in violent civil unrest
Despite this, the police and the Home
Office had no authority to prevent the EDL
from holding a protest in which marching was
not an element.
The ‘static demonstration’ that resulted
included 700 activists throwing bricks, bottles
and smoke bombs, fighting with police, and
shouting racist chants.
The protest was countered by thousands
of anti-racist activists and local residents,
through events organised around the city.
Thirteen arrests were made following the
protest, but violence and rioting of the kind
by Sarah Sternberg
Internationale that he is “worried about
the risks of populist provocation and the
prompting of certain xenophobic reactions at
a time of economic crisis.”
Human rights groups and the left-wing
opposition have called the crackdown a crude
and divisive policy being used to bolster the
government’s right wing credentials. Many
opposing the expulsions have also been
involved in grass-roots activism in the form
of rallies and protests, with thousands of
demonstrators taking to the streets of more
than 100 cities and towns across France.
In London, a rally on 4 September 2010
organised by the Irish Traveller Movement
in Britain (ITMB) attracted around 50
supporters, and ended with a delegation of
demonstrators delivering a petition to the
French embassy.
While much UK media coverage has
highlighted the injustice of the deportation,
little has focused on the experience of the
deportees, or of the Bulgarian communities
that have received them. Boyko Borisov, the
Bulgarian Prime Minister defended France’s
actions, after a meeting with ex-Spanish
prime minister José María Anzar, but has not
released an official statement on the matter.
The Roma and Traveller community is
the largest ethnic minority group in Europe,
including an estimated 7.9 million people.
There are 15,000 Roma of Eastern European
origins in France. Members of the community
still experience high levels of discrimination
and inequality in many European countries.
that occurred in 2001 during the Bradford race
riots was notably absent. Paul Meszaros, of
the anti-fascist Bradford Together campaign,
said: “In the face of provocation, the way
all the people of Bradford, particularly the
Muslim people, reacted was wonderful.”
The EDL formed in Luton last year and,
according to the Guardian, has become the
most significant far-right street movement in
the UK since the National Front in the 1970s.
While it purports to be a peaceful, non-
racist organisation opposed only to ‘militant
Islam’, racist behaviour and violence are
recurrent elements of EDL events.
www.runnymedetrust.org

Photo: Steve Cadman
Ethnic minority groups suffer from
lack of access to green space in UK
Ethnic minority groups HAVE
a startling lack of access to green spaces
compared to white people, a new study
has found.
A government report released by
the Commission for Architecture and
the Built Environment (CABE) in July
2010 revealed the disparity between UK
residents of different races.
In areas where residents are almost
entirely white, there is 11 times more
green space than in areas where 40
per cent of residents are from black or
minority ethnic (BME) groups. There
is also a discrepancy in the quality of
green space UK residents of different
ethnic backgrounds can expect to have
access to.
The study draws on a number of
themes around the provision of green
space, including investigating survey
respondents’ attitudes to the use of it.
Interesting findings included feelings
of safety, with only half of Bangladeshi
people reporting feeling safe in their
local green space, compared with three
www.runnymedetrust.org
quarters of white people interviewed.
Differences between ethnic groups
are also evident in respondents’
comments on how well they were
satisfied with their local parks and green
patches. More than 70 per cent of people
in affluent, predominantly white, wards
are satisfied. This compares with only 50
per cent of satisfied residents in wards
where more than 40 per cent of the
population are from BME groups.
The research has received attention in
the public policy and academic spheres.
Danny Dorling, professor of human
geography at Sheffield University,
comments that the report ‘shows that the
inequality in provision of green space is
even worse than inequality in schooling,
housing, jobs and health’.
Recommendations from report
authors CABE include local authorities
working with voluntary groups to make
it easier for people to improve the green
spaces on their doorsteps and allowing
more scope for communities to take over
temporarily vacant land.
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 5
Ethnic minorities
turning from banks
CERTAIN ETHNIC MINORITY GROUPS
are less likely to engage with mainstream
banks and other financial institutions than
the white population, according to a report
published by Runnymede.
The report, entitled Saving Beyond
the High Street, reveals that Bangladeshi,
Caribbean and Chinese people are less likely
to engage with formal finance, often because
they lack trust in banks and are reluctant to
get into debt.
Instead, informal community savings
schemes are becoming a popular alternative
for some ethnic groups in the UK. These
more traditional forms of saving, such as
‘pardnas’ (among Caribbean communities),
are typically organised by a group of no
more than 20 people agreeing to save a small
amount of money among themselves, usually
involving relatives or members of close-knit
communities.
While there is no return on the investment
(savers get out exactly what they put in over
time), such savings clubs are proving popular.
The self-run schemes are seen by participants
as instilling financial discipline in the saver.
Other forms of financial investment that
do not involve reliance on banks, such as
investing in property, are also popular.
The report found that these alternative
saving decisions are not necessarily taking
place due to poor financial understanding, but
are rather the result of a perception that banks
are insecure or unethical. This perception,
according to Runnymede’s research, has
become more widespread following the
banking crisis. The report recommends
that, in response, banks need to to consider
how to extend their support and expertise to
community and local banking.
Runnymede director Rob Berkeley said:
“We now appreciate more than ever the
central role that banks play in providing
access to money for investment, but for some
communities banks fail to offer appropriate
services, meaning that they miss out on
custom, but also that some groups may be
missing out on investment opportunities. To
serve all parts of society banks should do
more to reach out, or alternative solutions
must be found.”
The full report is available to download for
free at this link: http://bit.ly/savingsreport
How do black women
fare in the job market?
Omar Khan examines the statistics representing black and minority
ethnic women’s chances in the labour market. While this group reports
a diverse set of experiences, overall there is a disappointing trend
B
lack and minority ethnic (BME)
people and women generally have
worse experiences in the labour
market, whether in terms of their
employment rate, earnings, promotion,
or experiences of discrimination. Black
and minority ethnic women are therefore
particularly disadvantaged in the labour
market. However, the experience of these
women differs significantly across different
sectors and ethnic groups.
Most of us consider our job to be one
of the most important parts of our lives.
National statistics on unemployment, working
conditions, and wages have become the crucial
indicators to the relative ‘success’ of a country.
Work has become the predominant way of
measuring people’s contribution to society,
and indeed their own self-worth, meanwhile
women have increased their participation in the
workforce. Women’s wages and the diversity
of their work experience have also expanded
significantly. This has resulted from genuine
struggle on the part of many women (and
men), acting both individually and collectively
to ensure fairer access to employment.
However, it is widely understood that
whatever success women have achieved in the
labour market, a significant ‘pay gap’ persists
in every sector of the economy, and for every
level of skill and talent. Black and minority
ethnic people experience a similar gap, and so
it is hardly surprising that black and minority
ethnic women are generally disadvantaged in
the labour market.
According to the most recent data (from
the second quarter of 2010), the female
ethnic minority employment rate is 52.3%.
This represents a gap of 16.5% compared to
women generally, and 15.7% compared to men
from ethnic minority groups. These gaps have
declined only slightly over the past five years.
Among BME women, black Caribbean
(64.0%) and Indian (64.4%) women have the
highest employment rates, while Pakistani
(29.6%) and Bangladeshi (35.0%) have the
lowest employment rates.
6 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
Data on employment in the UK distinguishes
employment, unemployment and inactivity.
‘Inactive’ people are not actively seeking
work, either because of caring responsibilities,
because they are studying, or because they
are disabled or unable to work. ‘Unemployed’
statistics therefore refer to people actively
seeking employment, and the rate for BME
women is currently 13.5%, which is 6.3%
higher than for females overall. The groups
with significantly higher unemployment rates
are Pakistani/Bangladeshi women (19.8%) and
black African women (18.0%).
In general women have higher levels of
economic ‘inactivity’ than men, in large part
due to caring responsibilities. However, the
figures vary considerably for different ethnic
groups. While the overall female inactivity rate
is 25.8%, it is one and a half times this number
for ethnic minority women at 39.6%; roughly
four in ten BME women are economically
inactive. Within these percentages, however,
the numbers of inactive for different ethnic
groups vary significantly. For Pakistani
(62.2%) and Bangladeshi (58.7%) women,
the figure is much higher than the next highest
ethnic group (Other Asian at 40.1%).
Having set out the headline figures it is
worth trying to explain them in further detail.
Starting with the last point, some black and
minority ethnic women are particularly likely
to be economically inactive, meaning that
they are not seeking a job. This is most likely
because they are carers, many of them raising
children. It appears that for some groups, and in
particular Bangladeshi and Pakistani women,
the value of family life currently trumps their
participation in the labour market. Of course it
is also true that these same women also have
the highest unemployment rates, meaning
that inactivity rates alone cannot explain their
labour market position at the bottom of the pile.
Indeed, these high unemployment rates may
convince Bangladeshi and Pakistani women
that they cannot get a job easily or fairly, which
could result in more of these women choosing
to be ‘inactive’ for that very reason.
Nonetheless, more women are inactive
than men, and this raises the wider question
of expectations for different genders. For
many years research has shown that people
treat male and female babies differently, and
this continues throughout childhood and into
early adulthood, particularly in education.
For example, at age 16 boys and girls choose
subjects at a similar rate: girls represent 52%
of pupils studying English literature, 51%
studying a science double, 50% studying
mathematics, and 46% studying design &
technology. By A-level (age 18), however, 71%
of students taking examinations in English
literature are women and 76% of students
taking physics are men; at higher education the
numbers are more extreme when 82% of those
studying education (teaching) are women and
86% of those studying engineering are men.
For apprenticeship courses the segregation
is greater still, with nine in ten in health and
social care, hairdressing, and early years care
and education being women. In contrast, at
least 97% of those doing an apprenticeship
in engineering, the automotive industry,
construction, plumbing and the electro-
technical industry are men.
Some argue that women’s ‘preferences’
explain the pay gap, as they are less likely to
want to work in high-pressure jobs with long
hours. If it is true that women prefer socially
useful work in care professions and jobs with
flexible hours and more scope for better work-
life balance, there is increasing recognition
that men would also benefit from similar work
conditions and flexibility. It is not obvious why
these jobs should have lower rates of pay.
It is hard, however, to sustain the argument
that women’s unequal outcomes can be
explained wholly by their different preferences,
especially given that at age 16 males and females
study courses at roughly similar percentages,
but that university subject choices were heavily
skewed. Is it likely that so few women do not
like or have any interest in jobs in engineering,
the automotive industry, construction, plumbing
and the electro-technical industry? Should
www.runnymedetrust.org

we interpret these outcomes as examples of a
person’s ‘preferences’ or as a ‘constraint’ on
their opportunities?
As with women generally, BME women are
more likely to work in particular industries.
As with their male counterparts, Bangladeshi
and Chinese women are much more likely to
work in the distribution, hotel and restaurant
industry, according to the Office for National
Statistics (ONS).
Further statistics from the ONS reveal
that two in five Chinese women and one in
three Bangladeshi women worked in this
industry in 2004, compared with one in five
of all women in employment. Half of black
Caribbean and black African women (54%
and 52% respectively) worked in the public
administration, education or health sector.
Indian, Pakistani and black African women
were around four times more likely than white
British women to be working as packers,
bottlers, canners and fillers.
If minority ethnic women’s concentration
in these sectors is really down to their
preferences, must we conclude that Chinese
women particularly like working in catering, or
that black African women are four times more
keen to work as packers, bottlers, canners and
fillers? This raises a fundamental question when
addressing current labour market disadvantage.
Should we focus on ensuring that employers
treat existing and future female staff equally,
raise their pay and status? Or do we need to
change deeper social expectations about gender
roles, both inside and outside the job market?
We obviously do not have to choose one
www.runnymedetrust.org
of these strategies over the other, but this
difference does matter in thinking about, for
example, caring responsibilities. Women suffer
a significant disadvantage in the labour market
following the birth of their first child, and this
often persists over time. Evidence suggests
that more highly educated women who return
to full-time work do not suffer this penalty as
much as less-educated women. Policies that
might respond better to maternity leave, or
even adopt more generous parental leave for
both parents, could potentially alleviate some
of this disadvantage.
This raises another point: that women’s
experiences, including among ethnic minority
women, are not all the same. For example,
black women of Caribbean or African heritage
have a higher hourly wage than their male
counterparts. This is partly explained by
the low wages of black Caribbean and black
African men, but also indicates the relatively
better position of some black women. In this
context, it is perhaps worth noting that many
more black women are single mothers, so their
apparent success in the labour market may not
mean that they have higher levels of wellbeing.
Given the lack of good public provision of
childcare, the high cost of private care, and
many men’s unavailability to help in parenting
responsibilities, black women are particularly
vulnerable to reductions in benefits.
Black and minority ethnic women, as with
BME employees generally, are more likely
to be in low-paid jobs. Half of Pakistani and
Bangladeshi women have net incomes below
£100 per week, for example.
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 7
feature
Photo: Vijay Jethwa
As with women generally, BME women
are particularly under-represented in positions
of power. This includes in the financial sector,
where there is a very large pay gap for women
overall. There are only four minority ethnic
women directors in the FTSE 100, or 0.4%
of the total. There are only ten BME female
MPs (about 1.5%), though this is a significant
improvement from two in the last parliament.
Only 1% of all councillors are women from
an ethnic minority background and only one
high court judge. In the media, academia, the
voluntary sector, and the arts, while women
may do well at lower levels of the job scale,
they become increasingly less common higher
up, with ethnic minority women particularly
under-represented.
Although black and minority ethnic
women have a diverse set of experiences,
they are significantly disadvantaged in the
labour market. No group earns the median UK
wage, and all groups have lower employment
rates than men. Responding to these gaps is
a challenge, and requires policymakers to
challenge both racism and sexism.
There appear to be particular biases about
the competencies of some ethnic minority
women that prevent them from advancing
further. However, there are also wider social
and cultural expectations about the role of
women that make it difficult to tackle labour
market disadvantage in one neat policy. Unless
black and minority ethnic women become
more likely to occupy a more diverse set of
jobs in the future, including more powerful
ones, pay gaps will persist.
Black women have always had
a role in feminism, if not a voice
Originally published in the Women
Resource Centre’s Source, here
Ranjit Kaur outlines her hopes for
an inclusive brand of feminism
Several new books about feminism have been published
recently, such as The Equality Illusion, by Kat Banyard.
Coupled with the creation of a plethora of new websites
dedicated to discussions about feminism, this has led to
claims that we are experiencing a new surge in feminism.
For those of us who have spent the majority of our lives, time
and energy arguing and campaigning for equality and human
rights, any surge in feminist activity is very welcome. This is
especially pertinent at a time when our hard-earned rights
are under growing threat, and funding to the women’s sector
is likely to be cut, further threatening the existence of many
worthwhile and important projects for women. However, one
concern I do have is whether the feminist movement has
learnt lessons from the past and whether it can be said to
be truly inclusive in reflecting the needs and aspirations of
black women.
Lack of diversity in the women’s movement
From my discussions with other black feminists, it is clear
that they do not believe that the women’s movement has
actively engaged them or is that interested in their issues
and views. In researching this article, I was given numerous
examples of how black women feel marginalised by the key
issues that are being promoted as the so-called modern
‘feminist agenda’. A common theme was how the feminist
movement continues to fail to recognise that the experiences
of black women in relation to sexism and violence differ in
comparison to those of white women and how the impact of
racism and social class are conveniently ignored.
As Jocelyn Watson, a black lesbian socialist activist, put it
to me:
“In these times of global economic crisis it is crucial that the
voices of the most marginalised in society – black and minority
ethnic women, disabled, elderly, refugee and asylum seeking
and impoverished women are heard, listened to and supported
in their struggles by feminists throughout the world”.
An unwelcome consequence of the funding crisis has been
the accusation that some mainstream women’s groups are
behaving unscrupulously in competing with black women’s
groups for funding on issues such as forced marriage and
honour crimes. Historically, these are areas where it has been
generally accepted that black women have unparalleled
8 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
expertise gained through their work in the communities
affected. Equally worrying is the accusation that some black
women’s groups are beginning to behave similarly towards
other black women’s groups. An example of the former
was the funding crisis at Southall Black Sisters (SBS) and
their legal battle with Ealing Council, which threatened the
organisation’s core services (see page 24 for an interview with
SBS trustee Pragna Patel). Thankfully, and unsurprisingly,
SBS won the case securing a landmark decision not just for
themselves, but for the whole of the voluntary sector. What
is shameful is the fact that while they were busily involved in
this campaign, another women’s group saw fit to approach
Ealing Council and offer to take over the services. Such
unsisterly and predatory behaviour reinforces the view that
some mainstream women’s groups only pay lip service to the
notion of an inclusive women’s sector.
Women’s issues not a priority
Within the black community too, women’s issues are often
forced down the agenda. Yasmin Rehman, women’s rights
campaigner and chair of Domestic Violence Intervention
Project (DVIP) and formerly the most senior Asian woman in
policing in the United Kingdom illustrates the problem when
she says:
“I do think there is a resurgence in feminism but this
resurgence is limited to white women. Black women’s
issues are again being subsumed in the wider debates
around guns, gangs, youth crime and of course the counter
terrorism debate. It’s a repeat of the 1970’s - black women
are campaigning with black men on these wider issues while
issues affecting women are suppressed until a later date.
The policy of divide and rule has succeeded. Where we once
all stood together as black sisters we are now so divided by
ethnicity, faith,etc. This silences the possibility of a collective
voice and makes the battle for funding even more difficult
and intense - pitting sisters against sisters.”
However, there is also a feeling that the reason we have not
seen a resurgence in black women’s activism is because
black women have never stopped fighting to secure equality
and their basic human rights on a number of fronts. Talk
of resurgence implies that something had become less
important or extinct. Being complacent has never been an
option for black women. It is no coincidence that the leading
women’s campaigning group in the UK today is SBS as
evidenced through their successes and public acclaim.
Nor is it a coincidence that the Million Women Rise Coalition
(MWR), one of the most successful feminist movements since
the suffragettes, is largely driven by black women. Sabrina
Qureshi, MWR coordinator said:
“I did not learn about feminism through books. I learnt it
www.runnymedetrust.org

Southall Black Sisters
and supporters celebrate
their High Court victory
through life and through my own experiences I learnt it
through the experiences of my mother and grandmother and
other black women and their mothers’ and grandmothers’
experiences.”
Exciting times for black women
These are interesting times for black women. Diane Abbott
is standing for the leadership of the Labour Party; Oona King
is hoping to stand as the Labour candidate in the London
Mayoral election and a record number of black women
were elected to parliament at the recent general election.
Film director Pratibha Parmar will be releasing an updated
version of her film A Place of Rage at the end of this year.
The film focuses on black American feminists Angela Davis,
Alice Walker and June Jordan. The updated version looks at
how these women, along with Rosa Parks and others, played
a significant part in events leading to the eventual election of
the US’s first black president. Many black feminists, myself
included, have been greatly influenced by the work of black
American feminists and the release of the film in the UK will
be welcomed.
So where do we go from here? How can we ensure that the
women’s sector and feminism generally reflects the interests
of the widest and most diverse audience of women? Although
I have focused on black women in this article, my question
also relates to the involvement of disabled women and LGBT
women. A good start might be for some kind of conference
or event where black women can expand on their concerns.
This will only work if everybody else listens, takes on board
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feature
Photo: Courtesy of the Women’s Resource Centre
what is said and it results in tangible change.
Susana Klien, Head of Programmes at Womankind
Worldwide and former director of Latin American Women’s
Rights Services offers the following advice:
“The women’s movement and women’s organisations need
to work on inclusiveness and have a political analysis of
poverty, disempowerment and women’s rights. Women,
in particular the poorest, face multiple discrimination.
You can’t see gender as the only cross cutting issue. In
order to engage and really be inclusive you need to be
open to be challenged, you need to be open to have your
assumptions on how the world should be challenged, and
you need to listen. You need to be aware of multiple ways in
which you exercise power, even in your relations with other
organisations. And be clear if you want your agenda to be
pursued, or you are prepared to develop a joint agenda with
points for agreements and disagreement, but a joint agenda
that may allow collective action.”
So, what is my dream for the future? I would like to see the
women’s movement develop a greater sense of genuine
solidarity and sisterhood, and in all its diversity attempt to
develop a joint agenda, enabling collective action based on
mutual respect.
Ranjit Kaur is a freelance consultant and fundraiser. She is
the former director of Rights of Women, an advice centre
and research organisation committed to informing and
empowering women regarding their legal rights.
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 9
 Short stories for longer lives
Gemma Novis and Sarah Sternberg report on a scheme to increase
minority ethnic women’s chances of survival from breast cancer
Women meet for a breast screening.”
chat about health
over a cup of tea
Following the success of the workshops,
there will be an event held at Lewisham
Civic Suite on Friday 1 October 2010 for
the women involved to share their stories
with a wider group of women in the
community.

The project is also having an impact

on the wider work of the NHS. A series
of focus groups held with local women
revealed feelings that current publicity
materials for screening did not relate
Photo: Amy Gwatkin on behalf of NHS Lewisham

to black women. Participants claimed

that the types of images and wording
often used were at odds with the lived
experience of black women. Several
women from these initial focus groups are
now involved with producing images that
they feel black women will connect with,
thereby encouraging them to see breast
screening as significant to them.

A new project using oral storytelling between 45 and 70 in a number of training

to encourage black and minority
ethnic (BME) women to attend breast
cancer screening appointments has
been launched in south east London.
The initiative, a local response to the
Department of Health’s Pacesetters
Programme aimed at reducing health
inequalities, is based in Lewisham.
The aim of the project is to address
inequalities in diagnosis and treatment of
breast cancer among BME women. This
follows a report by the National Cancer
Equality Initiative, which revealed that
women from black and minority ethnic
groups are more likely to visit a doctor for
the first time with more advanced breast
cancers and have poorer survival rates
than white women. Patient surveys also
show that BME groups in general report
a worse experience of cancer treatment
and care than non-minority groups.
The three-month programme, called
Women Opening the Pathway to a
Healthy Life, has engaged black African
and black Caribbean women aged
sessions. Promoting breast checking and
awareness of physical changes plays
a large part in the focus of the project.
Storytelling has emerged as a means of
comfortably communicating experiences,
with discussions focused around the
potential barriers that prevent some BME
women from attending breast screening
appointments. Facilitated by project
workers, the sessions also benefited
from the insight of leading storyteller,
Jan Blake, who has been performing
internationally for more than 20 years.
The storytelling sessions also provide
an opportunity for participants to share
their concerns about healthcare with
medical professionals. The supportive
environment that is created allows women
to share their stories in a safe space, free
from any discrimination or prejudice.
One participant in the project said: “I
have been able to address my own fears
and anxieties around breast screening,
something I previously didn’t want to even
think about. I now feel more confident
to be able to talk to other women about
Fact box
A 2008 study including 35,000
women found that 17% of
Pakistani women and 15% of black
African women were diagnosed
with breast cancer that had spread.
This compared with 7% of white
women, who were nonetheless the
group most likely to be diagnosed
with the disease overall. (Cancer
Research UK)
Many UK cancer registries did
not start collecting data on
patients’ ethnicity until very recently.
Some studies that have been done
on ethnic differences have used
so-called ‘dirty data’.This involved
the ridiculous practice of making
assumptions about people’s
ethnic origins on the basis of their
postcode or surname. (BBC News)

10 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363 www.runnymedetrust.org

Excluded from the debate
Audrey Osler looks at young
girls’ absence, both from school
and from the wider debate about
pupil exclusions
The issue of school exclusions is one that highlights the ongoing,
deep-seated and savage inequalities that remain in our school
system and in British society. A society like ours, in which
debates on race inequality are often muted or marginalised,
might be predicted to have a school system that reflects rather
than challenges racism in society.
Parents sometimes assume that high exclusion rates
reflect a school that is strong on discipline, whereas there
is growing evidence that exclusion is used as an alternative
form of selection, and that an individual’s chance of being
excluded depends less on race, gender or class, but more on
the particular school that he or she attends. There is therefore
much to be learned from those schools and local authorities
that have zero or low exclusion rates.
Debates about school exclusion have tended to focus on
official exclusions (those that are recorded), both permanent
and fixed-term. Yet there is evidence to suggest that unofficial
exclusion continues to be a very serious problem that official
statistics tend to hide. Recorded exclusions appear to be the
tip of an exclusion iceberg, reflecting wider issues of student
control, institutional racism and also interpersonal racism and
bullying, faced by those young people perceived by their
peers to be different. These include those of mixed heritage
and lesbian and gay students. We know from official statistics
that students of mixed heritage are particularly vulnerable to
exclusion. Yet when students are asked to self-identify, my
research has shown how mixed heritage is itself often under-
recorded.
Perhaps no one understands the patterns of student
behaviour and student discipline better than those who are
subject to it. Research that focuses on student perceptions
of discipline challenges some commonly held assumptions.
Many students who are considered troublesome or who take
up a disproportionate amount of teacher time and energy
are being excluded or are choosing to self-exclude. Ofsted
has noted how the typical profile of a black student who is
excluded is different from that of his or her white counterparts.
Black students are more likely than white to be excluded for
‘challenging behaviour’.
Girls are much less likely than boys to be officially excluded
from school and therefore have often been overlooked by school
authorities, research-funders and those who offer alternative
education. Yet girls report high levels of self-exclusion, bullying
and violence (including racist violence) in schools. These
experiences, which often go undetected by adults, lead to self-
exclusion in many cases.
Children and young people in Britain are entitled, under the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to education that
is accessible to all. Under the convention children’s education
must prepare them to live in a multicultural society and in an
interdependent world, in the spirit of solidarity with others in their
www.runnymedetrust.org
Photo: Shaindlin
community, in their nation and across the globe. This implies an
education system which educates against racism and for social
justice. It also implies an education system that is accessible
to all on the basis of equality. The disproportionate exclusion of
any group of young people by race or ethnicity (and the failure
to provide alternative education for those who are excluded) is
in contravention of children’s human rights. Since we have failed
as a society, and as an education community, over a number
of decades, to operate a system of school discipline that uses
exclusion as a form of punishment, in a way that secures
children’s right to equality and to education, there is a strong
argument for abandoning the practice altogether.
The racist stereotype remains of the young black man who is
perceived as a threat to the wider community, whereas young
black women are often portrayed as educational successes.
It is important that we highlight black educational success
among both girls and boys, since it challenges stereotyping
and may also reveal ways in which individuals may effectively
counter racism in their education and in their working lives.
Nevertheless, young black women of Caribbean descent
(like their male peers) remain under-represented in the most
prestigious universities and like all women, go on to suffer a
gender penalty in the employment market.
In discussions of school exclusion, as in other areas
of social policy, girls and young women of colour remain
invisible. If the discussion is about gender or class inequality,
it is generally assumed to be a discussion about white people.
But in discussions about race, young black women are also
overlooked, since they are considered to be less of a problem
than their male peers.
Where, then, do young black women fit into the picture?
Sadly, young black women, like young black men, are still on
the receiving end of racist stereotyping in the debate about
school exclusions. They are most likely to come in for criticism
when researchers look for family-based explanations for the
disproportionate exclusion of young black males. Then black
mothers are the ones who are required to shoulder the lion’s
share of the blame.
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 11
Dangers of localism
As the UK’s coalition government pushes ahead with its Big Society
agenda, power may well be devolved to a more local level, encouraging
political participation. Shamus Khan and Casey Stockstill of
Columbia University look at how this type of ‘localism’ has played out
in the US. By using real world examples that have parallels in the UK,
they warn against the pitfalls of this approach
As our nations have grown, economies
changed, and communities transformed,
so too has concern about the narrow
characteristic of political power. Few of
us are involved in making the decisions
that affect us, corporate actors are taking
over and we are losing control of our
collective governance.
Recently a potential saviour has
emerged, particularly in the US: localism.
The basic premise of localism puts local
issues in the hands of local people, with
smaller governing bodies weilding power
over their local areas. In practice, this
means decisions being taken at local
government level, rather than being
The cost of vibrant local political
life could be increasing racial and
economic inequality
handed top-down from the nationally
elected state.
Whether it is how we run our children’s
schools, where we buy our food, or
how we decide about the location of
bus routes, localism is seen to have the
promise of reforming our communities
by re-engaging our citizens in political
life. The reason for this hope is simple
enough: people have interests in their
own local communities. Working on
this smaller scale, people have greater
capacity to bring about change, thereby
make their lives better and their political
commitments stronger.
The darker side of localism
Yet before we commit ourselves to the
promise of localism, we must consider
12 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
its impacts on political life on a broader
scale. While we share in the hopeful
promise of localism we also worry about a
darker side. Drawing on lessons from the
United States, it is reasonable to suggest
that if localism is not combined with
national standards for, and commitments
to, equality, it is likely to aggravate social
problems. The cost of vibrant local
political life could be increasing racial
and economic inequality.
One of the sources of these worries
is that communities tend to be more
homogeneous than the nation as a
whole. Though patterns of residential
segregation are far more pronounced
in the US than the UK, Britain still
experiences considerable segregation by
community. While the ethnic experience
in Britain is varied, ethnic minorities are
concentrated in a few central cities, and
the most disadvantaged (Pakistanis and
Bangladeshis) tend to experience the
highest levels of residential segregation.
Segregated communities
The spatial distribution of minority ethnic
people and the high levels of economic
segregation in Britain affect how we
might view localism. Let’s simply accept,
uncritically, that localism increases
political participation. We must ask,
through such a local orientation, who do we
think of as part of our political community?
How does that community define the
range of political problems that must be
addressed? What issues are excluded?
And most importantly, how does localism
affect advantaged and disadvantaged
communities respectively?
The insight we seek to provide here
is a straightforward one: if political
participation increasingly moves to the
local level, and if local communities
are not representative of the national
population, then politics can become
increasingly particularistic and interest-
based. Within racially, economically,
and religiously segregated communities,
such local politics is likely to lead to
ignorance around issues that do not
influence local communities. It is also
likely to lead to a ‘political community’
– those who have the power to govern
locally – that is unrepresentative of the
nation at large, particularly in terms of
race and social class. This would lead
to a further disempowerment of the most
disadvantaged citizens. The cost of local
democracy might be national equality,
unity, and identity.
Schools as an example
Let us explore an example to show that
these worries are not simply theoretical.
The case we take up is one that has
been the most triumphant instance of
localism in the United States, and one
that will resonate with British readers:
schooling. The Charter School movement
is representative of the localist impulse.
These schools receive public money,
but do not have to follow the same
curriculum as other state-run schools,
in exchange for producing certain
results. This initiative frames itself as
offering ‘school choice’ and so creating
competition within, and improvement of,
national education. Today more than 1.5
million American children are enrolled in
some 5,000 charter schools, many set
up by teachers or parents unwilling to be
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restricted by national teaching policy.
Those that run charter schools can design
school programmes to meet the needs of
their children and students. The result has
been an erosion of broad-based political
movements for national equality through
support of more individualistic drives
towards ‘competition’ and ‘choice’. As
scholars have shown, such competition
has led to a ‘dumbing down’ of education
and teaching that emphasises testing
over knowledge. Such choice has
worked to drain the political power of less
advantaged communities by creating
incentives for the best students and their
families to exit failing schools. Charter
schools represent giving up on national
standards for education in favour of the
interests of a smaller group.
While some local families and hedge
fund managers have been quick to jump
upon charter schools as their saviour and
embrace the principles of choice and
competition, the results of these schools
could not be described as anything but
a failure. The only major study of charter
schools found that while 17 per cent of
charter schools gain higher student test
scores than their local public schools,
46 per cent had equivalent scores, and
37 per cent were significantly worse.
Charter schools have also drained state-
run schools of economic resources.
Further, the charter school scheme has
led to a decline in communities’ social
resources, as more engaged citizens are
seduced by the opportunity to influence
the schooling of their own children
The greater the degree of income
inequality, the less likely people are
to participate in civic life
rather than paying into the pot. And
most importantly, it has led communities
to give up on national commitments
to equality and to give in to their own
individual interests in advancement.
Forgotten groups
We can also see here that the expected
empowering effects of localism in
politics are unlikely to extend to the
most disadvantaged citizens, primarily
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because of problems of access.
Participation in local politics requires
time, knowledge and interest in politics
The most disadvantaged ethnic
minority communities tend to
experience the highest levels of
residential segregation
and an established sense of power. In
all communities, even well-integrated
ones, research has shown that the
most disadvantaged people in the
neighborhood are the least likely to
participate in local politics.
The stratification of political participation
is mostly the result of differences in civic
skills. Skills like confident public speaking,
letter writing, and communication within
a group are honed through schooling, at
church, and in the workplace. It is not by
virtue of economic disadvantage alone
that these citizens have significantly
fewer opportunities to build civic skills,
but also because of the strong correlation
between low economic status, unskilled
jobs that do not nurture civic skills and
low educational attainment. The extra
layer of difficulty that the lack of these
skills places on disadvantaged citizens is
a roadblock to all political participation,
but to local politics especially. And so,
the growth of localism is incompatible
with the increased political participation
of the disadvantaged. At the local level
it will still be the advantaged who rule,
and we have seen a clear example of this
within American charter schools.
Assumptions of apathy
Despite the fact that the most
disadvantaged people are not as able
to engage in local politics as their
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 13
feature
neighbours, localism perpetuates the
assumption that disadvantaged citizens
have had ample opportunity to make
changes for themselves. Significant
improvements for the economically
disadvantaged are unlikely because
of the relative powerlessness of local
governments in the UK and the lesser
likelihood of participation from the most
disadvantaged. Yet, under the structure
of widespread localism, active citizens
can claim that inequalities only persist
because the most disadvantaged are
apathetic or make poor decisions.
Localism not only exacerbates
inequality in participation, but also
prevents the larger political community
from addressing the issues of the
disadvantaged. Instead of increasingly
engaged and responsible citizens,
localism can produce self-interested and
homogenous local political communities.
How to increase participation
If we do not focus on localism, then, where
should we place our efforts as we work
towards a more engaged and vibrant
political life? Put simply, research shows
that political engagement and economic
equality go hand in hand. The higher the
degree of income inequality, the less
likely people are to participate in civic life.
We should stop obsessing over localism
and start working on inequality. The UK
has the lowest levels of intergenerational
mobility in the industrialised world, and
its levels of inequality are near those
of the US (which is to say, they are
embarrassing). As inequality declines,
political participation increases. And the
worries we express about differences
between the political capacities, power,
and interests of the advantaged become
less pronounced.
Reviving our political communities does
not require a new saviour; it requires
one of the simplest yet hardest to realise
principles: equality.
Making the Big Society
work for race equality
Runnymede’s public affairs officer Vicki Butler explores how we can
work within the framework of the coalition’s Big Society to ensure that
race equality remains integral to the agenda
The big society and localism have been
central to the coalition government’s agenda
since the 2010 general election. But while
this drive for decentralised services and
greater public participation could provide
opportunities to improve race equality, it
is important to ensure that these initiatives
do not lead to a reduced focus on black and
minority ethnic (BME) people, particularly
given the disadvantages these groups
continue to experience.
What is the Big Society?
The idea of the Big Society is related to the
localism agenda (see the article on page 12)
in that it too focuses on decentralising power
from the central to the local. However, unlike
localism, one of its key aims is reducing the
role of the state and government, instead
shifting power directly to people. Its stated
aim is: “to create a climate that empowers
local people and communities, building a
big society that will take power away from
politicians and give it to people.” The plans
include setting up a Big Society bank and
introducing a national citizenship service. In
addition, four flagship community projects
have been launched in Liverpool, Cumbria,
Windsor and Sutton.
Given the close relationship between these
two concepts, their implications for race
equality are often similar.
Potential benefits
Decentralised power under both localism and
the Big Society may lead to public services
more effectively tailored to the communities
they serve. As ippr state in their report
Equality, Entitlement and Localism (2010), it
makes sense to assume that those working in
particular localities, whether local authorities
or voluntary organisations, will be better
14 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
placed than central government departments
to tailor public services to the needs of service-
users. Areas with large black and minority
ethnic populations, for example, whose
local leaders have a better understanding of
the needs of their specific communities and,
under the premise of the Big Society, be able
to do something about it.
In addition, it could be argued that there is
potential to unite local communities as they
work together to provide services under the
Big Society. In particular, one of the aims of
the government’s National Citizen Service
(a summer volunteer programme for young
people currently being piloted) is to create a
more cohesive society by mixing participants
of different backgrounds and ethnicities on
volunteer projects. In addition, the scheme
could also act as a way to equip BME young
people with the skills they need to successfully
participate in the Big Society.
However there are some key concerns
surrounding localism and the big society,
particularly in relation to accountability,
equality of outcome and participation.
Accountability
There is a danger that, in the drive to localise
power and cut bureaucracy, local authorities
and other service providers will not be
sufficiently held to account on decisions they
make. This is a particular concern following
the scrapping of the Audit Commission, whose
remit it was to track the ‘economy, efficiency
and effectiveness’ of bodies providing public
services. In particular, if equality regulations
are watered down as part of a drive to reduce
bureaucracy this could have a negative impact
on black and minority ethnic groups.
One solution to this could be for the
government to determine areas over which
local communities (and local councils)
should not have the authority to decide, such
as minimum standards of human rights and
race equality. This is a recommendation from
Runnymede’s paper Local Decision Making
and Participation (2007).
In addition, it is important that the
new Public Sector Duty introduced in the
Equality Act is used to ensure accountability.
Used properly, as ippr argue in Equality,
Entitlement and Localism, the Public Sector
Duty should make sure that localism does
not lead to a reduced focus of tackling
inequalities experienced by particular
groups. It is also important that when local
or central government are commissioning
services to non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) and charities that they ensure
requirements under the Public Sector Duty
are met. Worryingly, it appears that the duty
will not apply to voluntary organisations that
provide services as part of the Big Society
but aren’t commissioned to do so by local or
central government.
Finally, another way to enforce
accountability at a local level could come
from an increased role for Race Equality
Councils (RECs) in holding local authorities
and service providers to account. RECs may
well have a better understanding than central
government of the local situation and of the
specific needs of the different ethnic groups in
the area. Currently the size and effectiveness
of RECs across the country is varied; indeed
some areas have no RECs at all. A lot of
work would need to be done to increase their
capacity and presence if RECs were to play
a part in holding public services to account.
Postcode lotteries
Increasing localised services could potentially
encourage innovative ways to protect and
promote equality and cohesion. For instance,
Blackburn and Tower Hamlets local authorities
have introduced innovative methods to bring
about greater equality in their workforce,
www.runnymedetrust.org

Photo: St Peter’s Community News
partly in recognition that their staff should
reflect local diversity. This example is noted
by Zubaida Haque in her paper for the 2020
Public Services Trust entitled The Changing
Landscape of Equalities, Cohesion, Human
Rights and Public Services (2010). Similarly,
the Big Society could open opportunities for
local charities and social enterprises working
in race equality.
However, while some areas may use the
opportunity of less bureaucracy and greater
responsibility to introduce innovative ways
to promote equality, others may not. Unless
there are effective accountability structures
or guidelines relating to equality, some areas
may introduce particular services with little
consideration on what impact it will have
on different minority ethnic communities,
particularly in areas where the BME
community is smaller.
Already there are different outcomes for
certain ethnic groups in relation to where
they live. Black pupils are more likely to
be excluded in outer London than in inner
London, for example. This result, first pointed
out in Runnymede’s paper Local Decision
Making and Participation is surprising
given that outer London have similar rates of
exclusion to inner London for all non-black
groups. This variation suggests that devolving
local decision-making to local government
or voluntary organisations could sometimes
www.runnymedetrust.org
A young girl helps out
at her local allotments
lead to unfair outcomes. Certain areas are less
familiar with diversity and are therefore less
capable of responding to difference in way
that is fair to all local citizens.
Participation
Geographical variations of race equality may
be further exacerbated in areas with little
black and ethnic minority representation
and participation. Indeed, if BME people do
not have a voice locally, particularly in less
diverse areas, there is a danger that under
localism local decision-makers will introduce
services which have a negative impact on
minority ethnic groups.
Black and minority ethnic people are
also less likely to be represented on local
councils, though some BME groups are doing
significantly better than others in terms of
political representation. For example there
are far more political representatives from
the Indian community than the Chinese
community. These disparities in representation
mean that people from certain ethnic minority
groups are less likely to have a voice locally,
which could lead to decisions being made
that negatively impact on these communities.
This is a particular worry because research
suggests that the participation of BME people
in institutions can result in a more effective
response to the needs of BME service users.
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 15
feature
Runnymede’s research into school governors
and race equality found this to be the case
with regard to schools, for example.
Evidence also suggests the black and
minority ethnic people are less likely to
exercise ‘choice and voice’ than others,
meaning that their voices are less likely to be
heard in local decision- making. Many BME
parents find it difficult to exercise choice in
relation to selecting a school for their child,
for example, as found in Runnymede’s report
School Choice and Ethnic Segregation.
Downgrading their options prior to selecting
schools and finding it difficult to navigate
the school choice system were elements
holding parents from some ethnic minority
communities back. Again, see the article on
page 12 focusing specifically on localism with
an example of how it has worked in schools in
the US for more on this.
Involving ethnic minorities
The question is also what role the coalition
government will have in creating the Big
Society and whether it will support and
introduce initiatives in areas with bigger
BME populations. Similarly will they a)
encourage initiatives working specifically
with BME people and b) provide guidelines
and requirements as to how Big Society
schemes must take into account the needs of
all communities?
The initiatives announced so far are, with
the exception of Liverpool, in areas with very
small ethnic minority populations. However,
it is crucial that a representative proportion
of the BME communities in an area become
involved in these local initiatives in order to
ensure that voices of the BME community
– however small – are heard. There is a
particular danger in less diverse areas for race
equality to completely drop off the agenda.
Getting the best out of it
More needs to be done to involve minority
ethnic people in local decision-making. The
government needs to ensure that Big Society
initiatives look at ways to involve people
from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.
Similarly, while the Big Society could
introduce more innovation in public services
it is important that decentralisation does not
exacerbate the postcode lottery of service
provision already existing in the UK.
Finally, it is crucial that accountability
measures are not lost in the drive to make
public services more efficient. Safeguards will
be needed more than ever in order to ensure
that decision-makers and service providers
are held to account.
 Released into detention
Julie Gibbs and Adeline Trude highlight the costly and unjust practice
of detaining foreign ex-offenders who have just been ‘set free’ from jail
Photo: Still Burning

This article examines the plight of foreign
national prisoners who have reached the
end of their custodial sentences. Instead
of being released into the community
as British nationals would be, foreign
national prisoners from countries outside
the European Economic Area (EEA) given
sentences of 12 months or more face
what is known as ‘automatic’ deportation.
They are ‘released’ into immigration
removal centres while their deportation is
arranged. It is not unusual for them to
spend longer in immigration detention
than they did in prison in what amounts
to de facto indefinite detention.
The facts
The number of foreign nationals (defined
as a person who does not hold a UK
passport) in UK prisons has risen in the
past ten years, from 9 per cent of the
total prison population in 2000 to 14 per
cent in 2010, with the number of foreign
nationals in prison standing at 11,100 in
June 2010.
Although foreign nationals in prison come
from around 166 countries, more than
half of them are from just seven countries
(Jamaica, Nigeria, Republic of Ireland,
Poland, Pakistan, Somalia and Vietnam).
In 2009, the UK Border Agency (UKBA)
removed 5,535 foreign national ex-
prisoners back to their country of origin.
Guidelines and targets now exist for
prioritising the removal of ‘higher harm’
foreign nationals, in other words those
that are judged to pose a greater threat
to wider society.
Media hysteria and recent political
debates have created the impression that
foreign nationals are committing more
serious offences than British nationals.
Statistics show that this is not the case,
with drugs-related crimes being the
largest category of offences that foreign
nationals commit.
‘Automatic’ Deportation
A national scandal broke in the UK media
when it was revealed in 2006 that around
1,000 foreign nationals had been released
from UK prisons without being considered
for deportation. The resulting uproar led to
the resignation of the then home secretary
Charles Clarke, and a subsequent change
in law. The UK Borders Act 2007 removed
the discretion of the home secretary over
whether to deport foreign nationals given a
sentence of 12 months or more. In practice
this means that at the end of their custodial
sentences, instead of being released
back into the community, possibly under
licence or Probation Service supervision,
this group of foreign national ex-offenders
are placed in immigration removal centres.
They must wait in these secure premises
while their deportation is arranged, often
with little prospect of early removal. A
signed deportation order automatically

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revokes Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).
Non-EEA nationals suffer the most serious
consequences of automatic deportation,
as there are a number of exclusions
that apply to EEA nationals that make
deportation action difficult for all but the
most serious offenders.
Foreign national ex-offenders in detention
are a diverse group of individuals. In
many cases foreign nationals subject to
deportation action will have lived in the
UK since childhood and will have little
knowledge of, or few contacts in, their
country of birth. This means that people
who have come to the UK as children
with their families to claim asylum or
who have settled in the UK with some
form of ‘Leave to Remain’ are at risk of
being returned to countries they don’t
know. Other detainees may have been
apprehended on entering the UK and
have gone straight to prison then to
detention after being convicted of a
document-related offence, such as
fraud. Clearly, while deportation will be
distressing for anyone, those who have
been in the UK since childhood and have
families here and few connections in their
country of origin are likely to have greater
difficulties on return.
The UK and Denmark are the only
countries in the European Union to have
opted out of the Returns Directive, which
allows for administrative detention only up
to 18 months. UK courts can however rule
that detention is unlawful in some cases.
Individuals held in immigration detention
have not been found guilty by a trial or
jury; they are there for the administrative
convenience of the UK Border Agency,
which believes they have no right to be in
the UK. Increasing numbers of detainees
are held for long periods according to
reports from some non-governmental
organisations (NGOs). Currently around
10 per cent of the detention population
has been held for over 12 months, several
of whom have been held for two or three
years. Almost all long-term detainees
are ex-offenders, who the Home Office
finds hard to remove for often document-
related reasons.
The effects
Research has shown that the effects
of indefinite detention on a person’s
physical and mental health can be
devastating. Foreign nationals who have
spent little time in the UK prior to their
sentencing may not have the language
skills required to communicate with
www.runnymedetrust.org
feature
staff, legal advisers and fellow inmates. Treasury £219,700, and that is before the
This can leave them isolated and lonely costs of removal flights and legal advice
on top of not understanding their rights, are taken into account. Some detainees
options, what is likely to happen to them, have been in immigration detention for
It is a myth that foreign nationals
commit more violent crimes than
other offenders
and how to get legal and other help. The more than three years at a cost of around
rehabilitation facilities and preparation £140,000 each.
for release that are provided for British
nationals in prison are generally not
Unjust system
made available to foreign nationals. As
To date little research has been carried out
a result, assessments of risk on release
on the long-term effects of the automatic
for foreign national ex-offenders applying
deportation policy or the risks that foreign
for immigration bail and accommodation
nationals pose as compared to British
support are made on out-of-date
nationals. Given that foreign nationals
information, and can prejudice chances
commit broadly the same crimes as the
of release on bail. Foreign nationals
general population it is hard to understand
report that they have few visitors in prison
how they could be more of a threat to
or detention and find it hard to telephone
society just because they happen to be
families abroad due to the cost and limits
foreign nationals. Those living in the UK
on calls. Isolation and frustration can
without documentation of course are likely
lead to self-harm, depression, and other
to be subject to immigration removal.
mental illness. These situations can make
However, for those who have lived in the
it difficult for prisoners and detainees to
UK for a longer period of time and do
feel sufficiently motivated to progress or
have the right to stay it is difficult to see
challenge their immigration situation and
how this policy is defensible.
exercise their rights, which in turn may
prolong their detention.
Despite the costs, the current and previous
governments have shown a commitment
Detainees cannot be removed or
to the continued growth of immigration
deported without some form of travel
removal centres. On the 2 August 2010,
document, such as a passport. Foreign
immigration minister Damian Green
national ex-offenders face particular
opened a new wing of the Harmondsworth
problems in obtaining travel documents,
Immigration Removal Centre, making that
especially those who have loose ties with
centre the largest of its type in Europe.
their country of origin as a result of years
With a capacity of 615 detainees, the
spent in the UK. Foreign embassies
centre has been built to category B prison
in the UK vary in their willingness to
standards (ie the second most secure
recognise, document, and facilitate the
type of facility for detention in the UK).
return of their nationals who have criminal
Green stated that the centre is for the
convictions. This means that many
‘most challenging’ detainees including
foreign national ex-offenders get stuck
foreign national ex-prisoners.
in immigration removal centres while
awaiting documentation.
Criminals are sent to prison to serve their
time and to deliver justice to their victims.
The economic costs Once their sentence has been served,
Given that it costs around £130 a night British moral and legal codes resolve that
to keep a detainee in an immigration they should be free to return to their lives,
removal centre, the costs of this policy regardless of their nationality. Punishing
of indefinite detention are hitting the foreign nationals further by placing them
UK taxpayer hard. Information released in potentially indefinite detention, hidden
under the Freedom of Information Act from public view, with limited access to
shows that in just one immigration legal advice, and then removing them
removal centre between 15 and 19 March from the country - all at huge personal
2010 there were 338 foreign national and economic cost - can hardly be
ex-prisoners. This would have cost the considered efficient or humane.
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 17
Future older generations will
be more ethnically diverse
Phil Mawhinney summarises
Runnymede’s latest financial
inclusion research programme,
which focuses on older people
Runnymede is exploring the financial challenges that older
black and minority ethnic people face in a new programme of
financial inclusion research. The purpose of the programme,
entitled Older Black and Minority Ethnic People and Financial
Inclusion, is to keep the interests of race equality among our older
population on the policy agenda. Our launch event, including a
lively drinks reception in the House of Lords, gave many older
people the opportunity to a space, at the heart of government,
which they had never had the occasion to be in before. The
event, which was kindly supported by Baroness Whitaker
and Baroness Greengross, was also a great opportunity to
assure older people from varied ethnic backgrounds that their
concerns are on our agenda. Omar Khan, who is leading this
work, discussed our progress in this topical policy area.

An increasingly diverse older population

In order to understand the financial needs of older black and
minority ethnic (BME) people, we must first know how the ethnic
make-up of the UK’s population of older people is changing.
Given that the older population, which is currently made up of
very few BME people, is set to increase significantly over the
next forty years, we commissioned the Centre for Policy on
Ageing to estimate that future population. The resultant report, These findings are a valuable contribution to the high-profile
The Future Ageing of the Ethnic Minority Population of England debates on ageing, which often focus on the economic
and Wales by Nat Lievesley, is available to download from our sustainability of an ageing population but rarely address the
website. (bit.ly/futureageing) increasing diversity of older people. For example, while most
BME people live in urban areas, many older people retire to
By 2051 the UK will be a much more diverse society. People rural or seaside areas where there are relatively few ethnic
belonging to an ethnic minority group, who in 2001 made up 9 minority people. Will the increasing numbers of older ethnic
per cent of the population of England and Wales, are projected minority people result in diversity in areas where they were
to make up 21 per cent in 2026 and eventually 30 per cent in previously less likely to live? Policymakers need to plan today
2051. This increasing diversity, coupled with an ageing society, for this change in the demographic landscape of non-urban
means that the population of older people will also become areas.
much more diverse. Indeed, the number of BME people aged
65 and over will increase from 231,000 in 2001 to 0.8 million in
The costs of ‘returning home’
2026 and eventually to 2.7 million by 2051. Of course, by 2051
the state pension age for both men and women will be 68, if not
Most black and minority ethnic people older than 65 were born
70. So it is significant that by then there will be 1.9 million BME
abroad, and many of them have lived in the UK for 30 or 40
people aged 70 or over, compared to just 269,000 in 2016. The
years. Some will consider returning to the country where they
point to be taken from these statistics is that in future there will
were born for their retirement. Of course, this decision will be
be, for the first time, a sizeable group of older BME people –
influenced by a host of factors, including whether they have
including particularly large numbers of Indian, black African,
close family living in the UK or abroad. But there are also serious
Pakistani and Chinese people – whose financial needs need to
financial costs and implications to moving abroad, which we
be anticipated today by policymakers, public service planners
detail in The Costs of ‘Returning Home, the second report of the
and financial institutions.

18 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363 www.runnymedetrust.org


research programme. (see: bit.ly/costsreturninghome)
Retired people receive a state pension, based on contributions
they have made throughout their working lives. These pensions
are generally increased or ‘uprated’ in line with prices or
earnings, and to take into account the rising cost of living over
time. In general, prices double in under 20 years. This means
that people who live 20 years past retirement age (say, to 85)
will see their weekly state pension double in value.
People who have worked in the UK for many years continue to
receive a state pension even after they move abroad. However,
one of the most significant and often hidden costs of retiring
abroad is moving to a country where pensions are not uprated.
Unlike most countries, the UK does not uprate pensions for
everyone living abroad and receiving a pension. Of the 1.1
million British pensioners living abroad, roughly half have had
their pensions frozen at the moment they leave the UK. So, for
example, a person who retired to Canada in 1990 would still be
receiving £46.90 per week, more than £50 less than the current
rate of £97.65.
People’s pensions are uprated in all EU countries, as well as
various other countries including the Philippines, Barbados,
Jamaica and USA. In contrast, people returning to India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh will not have their pension uprated.
The largest groups of foreign-born minority ethnic people in the
UK are from these countries. Pensions will also not be uprated
in China, Sri Lanka and all African countries. Many black and
minority ethnic people considering returning to these countries
will not be aware of this serious financial cost.
This is an unfair situation; people who have worked and paid
national insurance contributions in the UK should have a right to
a valuable pension regardless of where they live in retirement.
We therefore urge the government to uprate all state pensions
to respond to this inconsistency and lack of equality, and to give
older people the retirement finance they have earned.
Counting the costs
Those considering retiring abroad face other financial
considerations. Some countries have arrangements with the
UK allowing people moving there to continue to receive some
state benefits, such as those relating to disability, caring and
bereavement. Outside Europe there are only a handful of
countries that have arrangements with the UK, offering access
to a small number of benefits. It is financially easier for people
returning to Barbados, Jamaica, Turkey and the Philippines,
which have arrangements in place. Countries including India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and China have no such arrangements,
again affecting large numbers of people considering returning.
This may make it difficult for ill people in particular to return if
their home country provides less generous benefits.
Many migrants come to the UK assuming that they will eventually
return to their countries of origin. They remit large amounts of
money back home to build a house for retirement and they
may make little long-term investment in housing here in the UK.
However, as migrants stay for longer than planned and have
children and grandchildren, many end up staying in the UK for
retirement with little prospect of owning a home here. Housing
www.runnymedetrust.org
feature
is therefore an important consideration when thinking about
where to retire.
The UK healthcare system is one of the most affordable and
comprehensive in the world. Average life expectancy, at
79, is high compared to many countries, for example India
and Pakistan (66) or Kenya (59). Older people considering
returning home may be put off by worse quality healthcare,
but also by the additional costs of accessing high-quality
health care, a need that becomes more prevalent as people
grow older.
As with other costs, the price of health is relevant to all
retirees, regardless of ethnicity. However, in our research we
are focusing on the less-studied needs of black and minority
ethnic people in returning to their countries of birth, many
of whom are particularly likely to face additional financial
considerations.
As government and financial institutions begin to adapt to
an older society, our work will ensure that they understand
and meet the needs of BME older people. We will hold two
‘deliberative assemblies’: managed discussion groups in
which 50 older people from different communities will come
together and discuss their own experiences and concerns.
In this way, we will ensure that our research reflects real lives
and gives voice to a particularly hidden minority.
Get in touch
If you are an older person or work with older people and
would like to get involved in this research, please contact Phil
Mawhinney at phil@runnymedetrust.org
Fact box
By 2051 black and minority ethnic (BME) people
are predicted to make up 30% of the total
population of England and Wales, this is compared to
9% in 2001
People who have paid their taxes and National
Insurance in the UK but retire to certain countries
(including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya and
Nigeria) have less of a pension to look forward to that
others
The largest groups of BME older people in future
generations will be Indian, Pakistani, black African
and Chinese
It is estimated that there will be 2.7 million black
and minority ethnic people over the age of 65 in
England and Wales by the year 2051. The same statistic
was just 231,000 when collected in 2001
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 19
Individual stories of
a collective history
The Bangla Stories website focuses on one of the largest migration
episodes of the modern era. Here Claire Alexander recounts a few of
its more colourful tales and tells us more about the teaching resource
Mohammed Shamsul Huq
When we met him in 2008, Mohammed
Shamsul Huq told us he believed he was
108 years old. He lives in a refugee camp
next to a temple in Dinajpur in North-West
Bangladesh, but he was born in Calcutta
in the time of the British Raj. His father,
like many Bengalis, worked for the British
on the railways, but Shamsul told us
that he ‘used to dream of the sea and of
travelling’. As a young man he worked as
an oilman on a British merchant steamer
called the Arenda and travelled to
Colombo, Rangoon, Singapore, Jeddah
and Africa. He also saw London, where
he admired the beautifully designed
houses, wide roads and big warehouses.
The Arenda was sunk by the Japanese in
the second world war and Shamsul was
adrift for eight days on the sea before he
was rescued.
He returned to Calcutta and opened a
tea stall, but moved to East Pakistan in
20 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
the aftermath of the 1947 partition of what
was British India into separate states,
including Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Unable to find work and made homeless
by floods, he moved again to Assam but
was expelled by the Indian army in the
1960s and came as a refugee to Dinajpur,
where he still lives, recounting stories to
his great-grandchildren. He says that he
lost contact with his extended family over
the years: “We lost addresses and contact
details three times. The first time in a fire
in Calcutta, the second time in Noakhali
in the floods and the third time when we
were chased away by the Indian army
from Assam. They must be dead now, but
I remember them fondly in my heart.”
Mohammed Shamuz Miah
Or take a story from closer to home.
Mohammed is now in his 70s and lives
in Burnley. He arrived in the UK from the
Sylhet province of Bangladesh in 1964 on
a ‘voucher visa’. He arrived at Heathrow
and travelled by taxi to Burnley, where he
worked in the cotton mills for 25 years. He
arrived in January and told us that there
were no street lights and because of the
winter nights and the smog he thought
there was no day here. He said: “We
would only see day for three or four hours
and then it was dark.” He recalled that the
local English people and the police were
‘very kind’ to the new arrivals. He shared
a house with ten other Bengali men and
sent most of his money back to support his
family in Bangladesh. He brought his wife
and children to Britain in 1971 to escape
the turmoil following the Liberation War
in the country. Samuz has nine children:
his oldest son owns a local restaurant,
three of his daughters are teachers, one
is a secretary and one a social worker.
His youngest children are students. He is
happy living in Burnley because, he told
us, unlike nearby Oldham, “in Burnley
there are no racists”.
Aleya Parveen
Some stories take place in the much more
recent past. Twenty-eight–year-old Aleya
Parveen, who came to the UK in 2006
as a bride, was the youngest person we
interviewed. Arriving in Birmingham, she
began her role as housewife to husband
Akram, her ‘cousin brother’ (first cousin),
who her UK-based uncle had arranged
for her to marry. In Bangladesh, Aleya
had worked as a model and a television
presenter, but when she arrived in
England she began working in a factory.
Aleya stopped working at the factory
when she fell ill. While she is not in
employment, she has taken her love of
performance with her from her work in
Bangladesh to her new home. She is now
www.runnymedetrust.org

Baroness Uddin and pupils
from Mulberry School in Tower
Hamlets launch the Bangla
Stories project
Photo: Vijay Jethwa
involved with local Bangladeshi cultural
organisations, where she has taken part
in singing groups, drama and musical
productions. She found it hard to adjust to
life here at first, but with the support of her
husband and family in Britain, now feels
that this is her home. She said: “At first, I
felt very bad. I don’t know whether it was
for my country or my relatives. Gradually,
I got better. After three months, I went to
Bangladesh. Then I came back. I didn’t
go back again. I had no father, mother or
sister over there. I had no reason to go
there. I felt no pressure to go. Gradually
I also adjusted to being here. My brother
came; my sister was here before me.
There are other relatives here. So I like
this country. I am happy with my husband
in this country. I’m happy all round.”
Our story
These three very different migrant
tales arise from a three-year Arts and
Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-
funded research project, organised by
the London School of Economics (LSE)
and the University of Cambridge. The
focus was on the Bengali diaspora,
exploring the process and experience of
migration and settlement within and from
the Indian state of Bengal in the period
after 1947 (the year of partition), from
www.runnymedetrust.org
the viewpoint of migrants themselves.
It is estimated that there have been 20
million people from this region who were
displaced or migrated in this period;
it is one of the largest migrations of the
modern era. Of these, less than 2 per cent
migrated overseas, mainly to the UK or
the Middle East, and while some of these
stories have been told (often and most
powerfully as fiction), the vast majority
remain silent and invisible. The project
brought together the ‘big histories’ of this
migration. Partition, the Liberation War,
post-war global migrations were all told
with the stories of ordinary people caught
up in these extraordinary movements. The
tales provide an evocative lens onto the
sweep of history ‘from below’. The project
researchers collected more than 160 life
histories from Bengali Muslim migrants
in India, Bangladesh and Britain. These
intimate family portraits form the basis of
a unique collaboration with Runnymede,
aimed at bringing these stories into the
classroom.
The Bangla Stories website and
educational resource pack (banglastories.
org) is designed for children aged
between 11 and 14. Its primary aim is to
bring these hidden, unknown or forgotten
histories to life for a generation of British
young people. Whatever their background
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 21
feature
or heritage, the project aims to encourage
school pupils to learn more about these
stories, to discover the experiences of
their parents and grandparents, and to
consider how far we have come, literally
and symbolically.
Their stories, our history
But there is a bigger picture too. The
stories of Shamsul, Samuz and Aleya
are travellers’ tales that tell the story of
Britain writ small; their migrant stories are
inherently British, as well as insistently
global. Theirs is the story of the East India
Company, of the rise of British Empire,
of two world wars in which anonymous
Bengali sailors fought and died in the
bellies of British merchant navy ships
and of the careless abandonment of the
imperial project. Theirs is the story of the
Imperial Docks in East London, where
Bengali sailors jumped ship and headed
to Brick Lane, of the postwar labour
shortage, of the invitation to work in the
cotton mills and the steel industries of
Oldham, Bradford and Burnley, and the
sweatshops of Tower Hamlets. Theirs
is the story too of deindustrialisation, of
the struggle against racism, of the rise
of multicultural ‘Cool Brittania’ and, of
course, of chicken tikka masala. Their
stories are also our story.
 Q&A
Pragna Patel
southall black sisters
Pragna Patel is chair and a founding member of Southall
Black Sisters (SBS), a grassroots campaigning organisation
based in west London. SBS is a safe haven for women
escaping male violence and, while open to all women from
all backgrounds, the organisation specialises in helping
black and minority ethnic women. Pragna was instrumental
in SBS’s successful court bid against Ealing Council in
2008. The local authority was forced to rethink a change in
its funding policy that could have resulted in Southall Black
Sisters’ closure. Pragna has written extensively on race,
gender and religion.
What is the current climate like for black and
minority ethnic women’s organisations?
The situation is pretty bleak at the moment, particularly for the
more long-established successful black women’s organisations.
One of the success stories in the struggle for equality over the
last few decades has been black and minority ethnic (BME)
women who have self-organised.
All of that is now under threat. However, you cannot pin this
all on the coalition, under New Labour there was this push
for community cohesion, which did not work in favour of
specialist BME women’s services. There was a backlash
against multiculturalism for not being progressive enough.
There was this idea that the reason there are so many divisions
and segregations in society was because multiculturalism
recognised difference and gave it too much credence. Then
‘cohesion’ became the new buzz-word. This meant that there
was less tolerance of autonomous, self-organised groups. So
without questioning what segregation means, and how it is
brought about by poverty, racism and discrimination, it was
blamed on multiculturalism. Groups like Southall Black Sisters
were very much caught up in this New Labour initiative, which
attacked what policymakers called ‘single-identity groups’.
Now with the coalition government, there is no indication that
this agenda has been jettisoned. As for the ‘Big Society’, it is
a euphemism for cuts, for rolling back the welfare state and for
devolving power into local communities. But what will it mean
to give power to local leaders? The very groups who have
the power at local level are often the ones who have largely
excluded the more vulnerable within their communities. Now
they could be even further empowered.
22 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
Pragna Patel
We know, from years of experience, that those who have power
on a local level do not necessarily exercise it in the interests of
everyone. Many local leaders are interested in entrenching their
own position and creating empires, and basically excluding
the more vulnerable, including women. So, of course, there are
huge dangers and we really are going backwards. What I can
see in ten years from now, if this situation continues, will be more
litigation, and more vulnerable groups saying: “We are entirely
excluded”. Organisations will end up in court when they see
that the equality legislation, whether it’s gender, race, disability,
age or sexuality, is not being implemented in the way that is
should be. I think that [equalities organisations] will be looking
to turn more to the law to uphold our rights
My worry is now that the social policy aspect of the government
- whether it is the Big Society or the New Labour agenda - is
actually going to encourage more segregation.
Why are specialist women’s services like
Southall Black Sisters still important?
We set up because the needs of black women and migrant
women were not being met by statutory bodies due to
institutionalised racism. These same needs were not being
met by the organisations rooted in the communities in which
these minority women were living either, because they were
very male-dominated. That is why groups like us emerged, and
those reasons have not gone away. Racism has not gone away.
Gender discrimination and inequality, far from going away, has
actually become entrenched. So the need for organisations like
ours is perhaps even greater now than it was 30 years ago.
www.runnymedetrust.org
 We now see that vulnerable groups of women, particularly
refugee and migrant women, face a multitude of problems. Many
of them have no state support and no community support; they
are completely marginalised and invisible. Yet their needs have
to be met. If we are interested in equality, then we cannot afford
to ignore these women. And the reason we need autonomous
spaces such as ours is so that women feel safe about where
they are, and feel that they are being listened to.
What organisations like ours do is we unlock access to the
legal services, social services and child protection services
to vulnerable women. Many of these women cannot or would
not go to the state or statutory bodies because of a host of
often very valid reasons. There are issues such as language
difficulties, particular vulnerability or lack of confidence, the
trauma suffered as a result of experiences of violence: all of
these things combine to make it very difficult for the majority
of migrant women to feel safe in accessing public services.
Groups like ours play a very important role in bridging that gap
and connecting women to political and legal processes. For
those reasons, we need to exist. Our existence is fundamental
to vulnerable women being able to assert their human rights.
Are black and minority ethnic women
marginalised within the women’s sector?
Absolutely, I think black women are marginalised within the
third sector generally. Whether it is organisations working on
race who do not want to take up women’s issues, or women’s
organisations who do not understand that race and gender
often impact simultaneously. This can create a kind of intensity
of discrimination for many black and ethnic minority (BME)
women. Interestingly, the groups who have been worst hit by
funding cuts have been BME women’s groups. The refugee
centres, the advice centres: many of them have closed or
have been threatened with closure. Yet none of these smaller
organisations have the kind of support of patrons and contacts
that major women’s organisations have. More mainstream
organisations in the wider women’s sector are able to garner
more resources and funding. However BME women’s groups
do not have this kind of power and ability and, because of who
we are, we struggle.
The creation of competition for funding within the voluntary
sector means that it will be BME women’s groups that face
the axe. These more specialist organisations cannot provide
the same kind of services as cheaply as the larger women’s
groups can. So the women’s sector is in turmoil. Minority ethnic
women’s groups, rather than religious women’s groups, are
particularly on the front line in terms of cuts. It is incredible the
number of organisations that have contacted Southall Black
Sisters, asking us for advice on how to challenge these kinds
of funding cuts.
www.runnymedetrust.org
Is black women’s contribution to the feminist
movement better recognised now?
I think black women have contributed enormously to feminist
thinking in the UK. And I don’t think you can open any book on
feminism now that doesn’t touch on this. I think that black women’s
organisations have brought a kind of energy and a thinking that
is very different. Black women realised that we cannot talk about
racial discrimination as a neat, compartmentalised experience.
Our experience of discrimination often occurs at the cross-
section of a number of strands of inequality, including gender,
race and class, among others. This led to the introduction of the
term ‘intersectional discrimination’, which it is now fashionable
to talk about. This recognition that there is a larger context for
discriminatory feelings can be attributed to the energy and
sophistication that black feminism has brought to the debate.
Of course there is also a whole awareness now around cultural
forms of gender-based violence. When I was practising
twenty years ago, it was impossible to get social services to
understand that forced marriage was a form of child abuse
or violence against vulnerable women. Now social services
bend over backwards to help, and there are guidelines and
laws, such as the Forced Marriage Civil Protection Act. All this
is because of black feminist activity, which has enriched the
wider debate on feminism. There are many other examples and
successes. No book on feminism in the UK should talk about
the movement without mentioning the contributions of black
women, particularly over the last 30 years or so.
How have some members of the communities
you are part of objected to your existence?
From day one, we were asked: “Why are you washing your dirty
linen in public? Don’t you know that you are demonising your
communities?” The answer to that is we were always very alert
to the fact that in raising certain issues we give ammunition to
racist practice and thinking. But that cannot stop us from raising
these issues, because they are realities. In not acknowledging
these realities, you’re sweeping repressive practices under the
carpet, and by doing that you’re colluding in actions that should
not be tolerated.
Instead we have to find ways of struggling against both
racism and discrimination against women at the same time.
Southall Black Sisters has always tried to work with women in
the wider community to raise awareness of issues of violence
against women. We may be talking about forced marriage, or
honour-based violence, but all these are simply forms of violence
against women, which is a phenomenon that occurs across all
ethnic communities. These are very difficult issues, but at SBS
we’ve always tried to speak to all women, hoping to encourage
solidarity, so that we can stand together and demand change.
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 23
 A VIEW FROM... Suffolk

Chief executive of the Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality
Jane Basham explains why organisations like hers must exist,
particularly outside the UK’s cosmopolitan metropolises
‘Surely we don’t need a race equality
Boys engage with teachers at the
council in a place like Suffolk - there aren’t ISCRE’s Leadership Academy
many of them - you know what I mean
- is it politically correct to say coloured
people?’ This is one of a range of similar
comments I have heard from people who
should know better, in my four years of
running the Ipswich and Suffolk Council
for Racial Equality (ISCRE).
Suffolk’s estimated black and minority

Photo: Mathias Edoh Agbenokoudji, Edopro Studio

ethnic people (BME) population is 6
per cent. This rises to about 13 per
cent in Ipswich. Because of historic
agricultural links, we know that Suffolk
has a long history of Gypsy and Traveller
populations, which are invisible in
census data.
Consider a recipe for rural racism.
Take the isolation of being in a school,
a workplace, a town/village in Suffolk
where you might be the only BME person
or family; add the neighbours turning
your child away from their child’s birthday
party because of her colour; shake into
the pot the fact that other than ISCRE
and the Bangladeshi Support Centre
there are no BME groups commissioned
to deliver services for and within BME
communities. This is a recipe too for
embedded inequalities.
Newmarket’s prestigious racing
industry is now largely staffed by workers
from India and Pakistan. This explains the
unacceptable spike in racist incidents
in schools and in the wider community.
Lowestoft’s once vibrant fishing industry
is gone, replaced with high levels of
deprivation. Rising unemployment brews
resentment that results in increases in
racist incidents against migrant workers,
who have been brought in to work in the
many food processing factories in the
area. Overseas students who attend the
maritime course at the local college are
also targeted.
Demand for ISCRE’s legal services,
which is part funded by the Equality and
Human Rights Commission is high. We
dealt with 158 discrimination cases last
year – more than double that of the two
previous years. People still get stabbed
at work here because of their colour.
We have managed to fill the financial
gap by developing law undergraduate
summer placement schemes, and
engaging redundant lawyers through a
national scheme that resulted in more
than a 1,000 legal volunteer hours.
In 2007 black exclusions from Suffolk
schools were among the highest in
the country. While it appears to have
dropped we still hear stories of mid-
term transfers and managed moves by
anxious parents. The needs of those
young people from 2007 remain unmet.
We have hardly any black teachers
here. In fact there are few black
people working in any of our public
sector organisations, and none are
leaders. Attainment in Suffolk schools
is generally poor. African Caribbean
students between the ages of seven
and 11 have an attainment level 16 per
cent lower than their white counterparts,
and this disparity rises to 21 per cent for
young people at GCSE level. This is why
we have developed a pilot Leadership
Academy for boys aged eight to 11 who
have an African or African Caribbean
heritage.
Suffolk police stop and search
rates were some of the most highly
disproportionate in the country in 2008.
In some places, such as Lowestoft,
black people were 22 times more likely
to be stopped than white people. A
newly appointed chief constable allowed
us in to conduct a piece of research
that gave the lie to the stereotypical
myths being used to excuse this racial
disparity. A groundbreaking community-
led reference group emerged, with a
core group of local people meeting with
the police monthly to scrutinise forms
and shape police policy and practice.
Yet the group’s future is at risk despite
national and international recognition. Is
this because of funding cuts, or because
confronting these issues is simply too
uncomfortable? The community is angry
that after two years of working closely
together, Suffolk police as an institution
has been far too slow to change.
I believe Suffolk’s public services
have remained untouched by the 2009
Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, which found
UK police to be institutionally racist.
When I hear people talking about
institutional racism no longer being a
helpful term, or the need for other words
to talk about racism it worries me; Suffolk
is only just starting to think about it.

24 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363 www.runnymedetrust.org

 A VIEW FROM...
It has only been an independent state for a couple of decades, yet
Latvia faces an uncertain future if it cannot learn to accept foreign
migrants. Elisabeth Fischer reports from her time in Riga
Sitting in a café in the Old Town of Riga,
George Steele pulls in a fair few sideward
glances. There is nothing extraordinary
enough about his person to catch the eye
of the average Londoner. But he is black,
which is enough to attract attention in the
Latvian capital.
“I’m not invisible here”, says Steele.
“Occasionally people show me that I am
not welcome here.”
The overt racism that Steele reports
is nothing new in Latvia. At the end
of the 1990s racist attitudes in the
Latvian society appeared to increase in
frequency.
Yet there is an extraordinary challenge
in the years ahead. Forecasts suggest
that Latvia’s population will decrease
by as much as half by the year 2050
to 1.6 million people, according to
EUROSTAT, the European statistics
office. Ongoing emigration trends, an
increasing proportion of older people
and a declining birth rate will make a
growing migrant labour force necessary.
However, Latvia’s immigration policy
is conservative and based on the
concept of limited immigration from
developing countries. Members of the
European Union are, of course, free to
move around. But who from the ‘older’
EU states wants to migrate to the third
poorest country in the union?
Instead, Latvia has to look to the much-
despised former Soviet countries, or
welcome migrants from Asia and Africa.
Yet problems due to the uncertainty of
legal status, the lack of social protection
guarantees and a lack of information as
a consequence of not speaking Latvian
or Russian make life difficult for migrants
from different continents. This is before
we consider racism and xenophobia.
“The official version is that there are
some signs of racism,” says Deniss
Hanovs from the Friedrich-Ebert-
Foundation (FES) in Riga. Hanovs
used to work for the Latvian Ministry of
Integration from the very beginning in
2003 until its closure in 2008. The formal
reason for shutting the ministry down
was given as absent financial resources.
www.runnymedetrust.org
The unofficial version is that the ministry
was blamed for exacerbating social and
political problems.
Between the years of 2006 and 2007
a liberalisation of the Latvian migration
policy was discussed in the Ministry for
Integration. Then came the crisis and all
plans have vanished.
Hanovs firmly believes that there is a
need for the ministry as well as public
discussion of racist attitudes, particularly
because of the impending lack of
labour force. “But at the same time the
politicians’ ideas are that Latvians are
threatened by external factors,” he
says. “We have to protect the borders
of the country because we experienced
migration during the Soviet time and we
don’t want to have it again.”
However this “migration” to which
Hanovs refers was in fact a Russian
occupation, which began after the
second world war and ended with
Latvian independence declared in 1991;
this is deeply rooted in the minds of the
Latvians, even among the generations
too young to have experienced this
era themselves. This phenomenon of
a “cultural memory”, passed on from
generation to generation, is not unique
to Latvia of course, and allows a dark
period in a country’s past to remain
imprinted on the consciousness of its
people after those who experienced it
firsthand are dead and gone. Hanovs
says: “We are a society that reminds me
of an old lady who remembers her past
but doesn’t really move on.”
Yet, if you ask a Latvian if racism
exists, more often than not they will tell
you it doesn’t in Latvia. The Latvian
Centre for Human Rights (LCHR)
published an article in 2001 claiming that
even this denial is related to the Soviet
period, where racism was never officially
accepted. The government insisted
that xenophobia was a phenomenon
of the decadent West, but not of
communism. The doctrine of “friendship
of peoples” was preached and used as
a propaganda tool. To prove the point,
Moscow went out of its way to develop
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 25
Latvia
cultural exchanges with African nations.
The LCHR article also cited statistical
data from the Baltic Data House that
in 1998 that around ten per cent of the
population would be willing to block
black people from entering the country.
Newer data shows that racial intolerance
is in fact rising in a society that has had
little history of immigration from Africa or
Asia.
Moreover the Baltic republic came
out at rank 28 out of 28 in welcoming
migrants and promoting integration, in
a 2008 study by the Center for Public
Policy PROVIDUS. A highly bureaucratic
process system, a lack of information
and the enormous risks of immigrant
alienation, both politically and socially,
are blamed for this result.
In the run-up to the 2002 elections
the nationalistic Freedom Party ran a
political advertisement showing a black
man standing in front of Riga’s Freedom
Monument, wearing Latvian military pre-
war garments and kissing a local girl.
The Latvian state television, LTV, banned
the commercial. A leaflet on the same
subject said: “Today he is guarding
Latvia. Tomorrow he may become your
son-in-law.”
The campaign attracted criticism from
all the other political parties. Members
of the Freedom Party defended the
advertisement as an “exercise in drawing
attention to the risks of joining the EU.”
George Steele, an African-American
and one of approximately a hundred
black people living in Riga, sued the
Freedom Party for the racist publicity.
The court ruled in his favour and the
party failed to win enough votes to get a
seat in the government.
Steele, who has lived in Latvia for
15 years, is married to a Latvian. He
has been condemning racist attitudes
in the country for years. In an interview
with politika.lv he stated that he is living
in one of the most racist societies he
knows, worse than the USA. “Here in
Riga where I live in the centre, every day
leaving the house, I expect humiliation
and contempt.”
Are you passionate about race equality?

Do you want to increase your connections and challenge racism?

Runnymede 360° is a new national network connecting aspiring and established leaders in
race equality. By joining the network you would increase your knowledge base, improve your
professional skills, and make contacts that may help you in your work, while also contributing to
challenging racism.

Being part of Runnymede 360° will enable members to:

•• have the opportunity to raise their profile
•• share their experience and learn from others
•• create partnerships across regions and sectors for future work
•• have early access to Runnymede’s work and events
•• have access to the latest policy developments related to race equality

Runnymede draws on over forty years’ experience providing research intelligence, policy
influence, and partnership building in order to promote a successful multi-ethnic Britain. The aim
of Runnymede 360° is to bring together the most passionate and innovative thinkers and actors in
race equality from all sectors, backgrounds and regions of the UK. The network meets monthly at
seminars, e-conferences and receptions. It also has an online discussion space to keep up with
the latest current events and policy developments on race equality.

The ideal candidate will:

•• have been working in private, public or voluntary sectors for a minimum period of five years
•• have an understanding of the policy and practice landscape on national and/or local levels
•• have the ability to apply their knowledge, creativity and experience to their commitment to
race equality, equal opportunities and social justice
•• be committed to the network for at least two years during which they will be expected to con-
tribute to the Runnymede Bulletin, attend Runnymede 360° on/offline events, and participate
in the Runnymede 360° social networking space

Most importantly, the Runnymede 360° member will have something to say and will want to say it.

Why not apply to join?

For more information on current members and details on how to apply go to:
www.runnymedetrust.org/360net

26 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363 www.runnymedetrust.org

 key
facts Race and women
about...
There are
cu
no black w rrently
o
chief cons men

1
Pakistani and Bangladeshi tables
women in the UK earn only serving in
the
56% of the average hourly police forc UK
e
wage of white men

Fawcett Society

2
Indian and Chinese girls in
the UK achieve the highest
GCSE grades, above all other
groups categorised by gender and
ethnicity

Equality and Human Rights Commission

3
More than half of black and
mixed race families are
headed by a lone parent,
usually a mother

Photo: Vijay Jethwa

Office for National Statistics Diane Abbott, MP for
Hackney North and
Stoke Newington

4
Helen Grant was the first
black woman to be selected
to defend a Conservative
party seat, and her subsequent
Diane Abbott was the first black
election made her the first black
female Tory member of parliament
woman to be elected as an MP

7 9
The Guardian Rates of suicide among
40% of London-based black
young South Asian women in
and minority ethnic women’s
the UK are double that of the

5
There are currently no
women from an ethnic
minority group appointed as
police chief constables. Neither
are there any female ethnic
organisations have no full
general population
time paid staff
Centre for Evidence-based Mental Health
Women’s Resource Centre

8
minority judges in the UK’s House Almost half of the

of Lords or Court of Appeal
Fawcett Society
10
Bangladeshi women in the Diane Abbott was the
UK have no educational first black woman MP
certificates recognised in to be elected when
the country. Of all groups she took her seat in 1987. She
also became the first black or

6
A record 22 British Asian
women stood for election to
parliament in 2010, of which
six were successful
BBC
characterised by gender and
ethnicity, they are the most likely
to have no qualifications at all
Government Equalities Office
minority ethnic person to stand for
leadership of the Labour party, or
for any major party, in 2010
The Guardian

www.runnymedetrust.org Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 27

 vox
pop
based and racial) combine to affect minority
ethnic women?
Sabrina Qureshi
Founder and co-ordinator
Million Women Rise
“All the Women Are White, All the Blacks
are Men but Some Of Us are Brave”, to
paraphrase the title of a book by Gloria
Hull, Patricia Bell Scott and Barbara Smith
published in 1982.
The biggest battle is the dismantling of this
coordinated and systematic male violence
and oppression of black, minority, refugee
and asylum seeking women in the UK.
Oppression still comes from global
imperialist systems that exploit women,
and the darker your skin, the greater the
oppression and violence. The UK is a
diverse and culturally mixed country, yet
violence affecting black communities is a
cultural norm and black women are doubly
invisible.
We can’t just talk about black women in the
UK either. The world may have borders,
but women must make connections. If
feminism has seen a resurgence, then
what we need is an action to end violence
against African women in particular.
You end male violence against black
women and you set the world free.
28 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
How do two strains of discrimination (gender-
Professor Avtar Brah
Professor Emeritus of Sociology
Birkbeck, University of London
Discrimination experienced as a woman
and as a member of an ethnic minority
group often operate simultaneously and
have combined effects.
All women share certain disadvantages
because of the fact of being a woman,
but the precise form that a particular
disadvantage takes will vary with the
ethnic background of each woman.
For example, all women are affected by
the gender segregation of the labour
market, but within each sector minority
women may occupy a specific position.
This may influence the level of an
ethnic minority woman’s wages, which
on average may be lower than other
women.
On the other hand, there are some
practices that are specific to a particular
ethnic group, such as arranged
marriages, which are quite rightly
prohibited by law if they become forced
marriages. Strategies for tackling
inequality due to gender and ethnicity
need to be aware of the relationship
between the two.
Samantha Mangwana
Trustee
The Fawcett Society
The Fawcett Society campaign “Seeing
Double”, aimed at combating the ‘double
invisibility’ of minority ethnic women, found
part of the problem to be generalisations
about all women or all members of ethnic
minorities.
In policy arenas ‘gender’ tends to mean
‘white women’, and ‘race equality’ often
refers to experiences of non-white men.
The needs of minority ethnic women,
different from those of both groups, all too
often fall through the cracks. Differences
between individual groups of minority
ethnic women have virtually no chance of
being addressed.
As a discrimination lawyer, I learn of
experiences my clients face in workplaces
where, after time, it can be impossible to
untangle the roots of discrimination and all
that is readily apparent is unfairness and
disadvantage.
Early access to evidence through use of
a statutory discrimination questionnaire,
and reversal of the burden of proof at trial
are mechanisms that could assist minority
ethnic women at this stage.
www.runnymedetrust.org
 REVIEWS: BOOKS
An extraordinary legacy
The Immortal Life of Henrietta
Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot, Macmillan 2010
Book review by Kate McGovern
In 1951 an African-American woman named
Henrietta Lacks died at Johns Hopkins
Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, the victim
of an aggressive strain of cervical cancer. But
Henrietta wasn’t an average patient. Before
her death, unbeknown to her family, doctors
had extracted cancerous cells from Henrietta’s
body. These cells went on to became the first
‘immortal’ human tissue, known as HeLa.
While the Lacks family continued to live
in a community entrenched in poverty, crime,
and inadequate health care, Henrietta’s cells
became instrumental in medical advancement.
HeLa cells were used in the development of
the polio vaccine, in vitro fertilisation (IVF),
cancer treatments, cloning, genetic mapping
among others, spawning a massive industry in
the sale of biological materials.
Families across borders
Transnational Families: Ethnicities,
Identities and Social Capital
by Harry Goldbourne et al, Routledge 2009
Book review by Jessica Mai Sims
Over the summer football supporters poured
into different pubs around the capital to
support their team in the 2010 World Cup.
How they each decided which ‘their’ team
may have been determined by national or
ethnic background, the prowess of the team,
or, as in my case, the results of the office
sweepstake (Uruguay and Brazil for those
interested).
International sports have long been
linked with ethnic and national identity and
belonging, the most obvious case being
Tory MP Norman Tebbit’s ‘cricket test’. In
Transnational Families, support of football
team is just one of the themes that the authors
consider while exploring how identities,
attachments and social relations are developed
and maintained across borders. If not football,
what is an accurate representation of our
national and ethnic identities?
www.runnymedetrust.org
Now journalist Rebecca Skloot, after more
than a decade of research, has produced a
book that tells Henrietta’s whole story. The
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks digs deep
into the Lacks’ past and present, but also
the uncomfortable interplay between race
and medicine in American history, and the
debatable ethics of the commercialisation of
human tissue.
Skloot also traces her own integration
into the Lacks family. Most interesting is
the connection between Skloot and Deborah
Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter. In spite of their
differences in background and experience, the
two women share a deeply rooted concern with
doing justice to Henrietta, who rests in an until-
recently unmarked grave, on the land where
her family farmed tobacco for generations. window into the legacy of slavery in America:
That common driving force is what ultimately that a black woman, treated in the ‘coloured’
carries the women through ten years of complex ward of a hospital in the segregated South,
and often devastating discoveries. would unwittingly change medicine forever.
That Skloot, as an educated white woman, Yet 50 years later, that same woman’s son
comes from a life of privilege compared to the would wake up from quintuple bypass surgery
Lacks family is an issue she doesn’t shy away $125,000 in debt, with no medical insurance
from. Skloot presents readers with a particular to cover the costs.
Transnational Families offers a
fascinating look at how families are created
and maintained, culture and tradition are
understood and performed, and how race and
ethnicity, gender and generational identities
impact on family relations. Divided into
two sections, the first devoted to theoretical
exploration of social capital and the second
drawing on case studies (Caribbean and
Italian), Transnational Families offers a
thorough analysis of how social relationships
serve to influence identities across borders. For
those of us interested in empirical accounts of
transnational migration, the second part of the
book discusses the specific issues that impact
on transnational families and social capital
in practice. Through the interview material which helps to enrich our understanding of
with Italians and Caribbeans (both in and migration, belonging and identity. Anyone
outside the UK) the authors explore themes interested in issues of transnational migration,
of support, values and traditions, pressures integration and belonging, and families would
of tight-knit families and belonging, with be satisfied with this book.
a concluding chapter on families of mixed I was content with the USA (my country of
ethnic or national backgrounds. birth) drawing its match with England (where
The authors provide an interesting account I live). But if the match had been USA versus
of the complexity of identities depending on Vietnam (my mother’s country of origin), well
context, migration, generation and gender then that would be a different matter entirely.
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 29
 REVIEW
How much is that woman in the window?
Photo: Festival Fringe Society
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Selected reviews by Rachel Humphris
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which ran
from 6 to 30 August this year, is still the
world’s largest arts festival. This year it
boasted over 2000 performances in 259
venues by performers from over 60 countries.
With such a deluge of art forms, genres and
perspectives the festival provides a rich arena
for the exploration of new ideas.
This potential was recognised by Amnesty
in the Freedom of Expression Award, now in its
eighth year. This year’s winner was Roadkill, a
site-specific production in which the audience
followed a young Nigerian girl onto a bus
and across Edinburgh to an abandoned flat
in which she was held captive and forced to
have sex for money. The play also represented
cycles of abuse through the character of the
girl’s captor, who had also been trafficked to
the UK and force to sell sex.
Roadkill represented just one of a crop of
performers and artists who chose to engage
with the issue of sex trafficking at this year’s
Fringe, mirroring the growing interest in
this issue, highlighted by Channel 4’s recent
documentary series and the EU’s directive to
combat human trafficking. ‘Verbatim theatre’
30 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | Autumn 2010 / issue 363
piece Fair Trade presented the personal
stories of two young women from Albania
and Sudan who were brought to the UK under
false pretences and forced into prostitution.
The testimonials raised important issues
regarding the rights of women in the UK and
how victims of trafficking must be protected.
Perhaps surprisingly, Keith Farnan’s
stand-up comedy show Sex Traffic: How
much is that woman in the window? was more
thought-provoking than either of these, and
alone linked sex trafficking with wider issues
of women’s oppression. Farnan asked: ‘Do
we value women, or do we just put a value on
them?’ Farnan used sex trafficking as the most
extreme version of wider structural processes,
exploring a range of issues from the Rwandan
parliamentary quota enforcing 50% female
representation (the UK ranks 52nd in the
world at 22%) to high-flying career women
with no time for family.
The theme of women’s oppression was
also addressed by Angie Le Mar’s play Do
You Know Where Your Daughter Is? The
production presented some of the issues faced
by girls growing up in the UK today, such
as low self-esteem, peer pressure from other
girls and coercion from boys into having sex.
It also addressed the relationship between
mother and daughter, and highlighted inter-
generational patterns. Although lacking
THEATRE // COMEDY
Festival-goers gather for
a street performance
the dramatic punch of more professional
productions, the young cast gave decent
performances and the play was fuelled by a
genuine sense of injustice about the situation
of young people facing discrimination based
on gender or race.
Elsewhere, issues of race were openly
invoked by two stand-up comedians.
Reginald D. Hunter’s Trophy Nigga was
dominated by his experiences of living as a
black comedian in the UK, and the politics
of reclaiming and thereby disempowering
the word ‘nigger’. Hunter regularly sold out
a 700-seat space, thus occupying a unique
role in confronting mainstream audiences
with their own discrimination and prejudice,
encouraging people to laugh at themselves, as
well as questioning their beliefs.
More thought-provoking still was comic
Paul Sinha, the self-proclaimed only ‘openly
gay, ex-GP, British Asian’. His show’s title,
Extreme Anti-White Vitriol, referred to a
description of his act by BNP deputy leader
Simon Darby during a radio discussion. By
openly confronting his own preconceived ideas
and stereotypes, Sinha invited the audience to
do so too. His message - that we should talk to
one other more - was hardly groundbreaking.
But the show was well-argued, witty and
intelligent, adding depth to an otherwise
simplistic cry for liberal tolerance.
www.runnymedetrust.org
Director’s
Column
Runnymede director Rob Berkeley
does his best to engage with the
Big Society rhetoric
Let’s not forget the role of equality
T
hree months into the unchartered
waters of the UK’s coalition
government and the pace of reform
shows no sign of letting up. At the time
of writing, we wait with bated breath for the
outcomes of the spending review; not many
are waiting with hopeful anticipation. Issues
of equality circle the government’s decision-
making with their pledge to ensure fairness
throughout this process of making swingeing
cuts appearing more and more threadbare.
Equalities minister Theresa May and, more
recently, Lib Dem leader and deputy prime
minister Nick Clegg have openly admitted
that the disadvantaged are most likely to be
affected by the cuts. For black and minority
ethnic communities this is bad news given
their overrepresentation among the ranks of
the poor.
The opposition to the cuts is being led by
the Trade Union Congress (TUC), whose
member unions are keen to highlight that
the financial crisis was caused by bankers,
while the consequences are to be visited on
the least able to withstand the onslaught.
Those who rely on public services, those on
Discussion of the Big Society
is often prefaced with a weary
acceptance that resistance is futile,
so we seek ways to make the best
of this new agenda
lower salaries - for which, again, you can
interpret a disproportionately large number
of people from black and minority ethnic
communities - are to be the hardest hit by
an economic meltdown that they had little
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involvement in triggering.
A bold move by the Fawcett Society to seek
a judicial review of the budget on the grounds
that it discriminates against women (they
argue that 72 per cent of cuts will be met from
women’s income as opposed to 28 per cent
from men’s) remains to be answered. But it
has bolstered opposition to the government’s
analysis of both the need for cuts and the
balance (or imbalance, depending on your
view) struck between cuts and increased
taxation. It is timely, then, that in this issue
of the Runnymede Bulletin we have chosen
to focus on black and minority ethnic women,
who stand to suffer significantly from the
direction of current government decisions.
What has been surprising in this last period
has been the willingness of public policy
organisations, civic society, and political
pundits to seriously entertain the coalition
government’s invitation to discuss fairness in
this context, to join the current ‘Big Society’
shibboleth. Yet each discussion of Big Society
among equality organisations seems to be
debated through gritted teeth. Discussion is
often prefaced with a weary acceptance that
resistance is futile, and therefore we should
seek ways to make the best of this new agenda.
The dilemma is clear for organisations that are
keen not to paint themselves into a corner by
Autumn 2010 / issue 363 | runnymede BULLETIN | 31
opposing the cuts too vocally. Fearful of the
damage that this may do to their ability to
ensure that they are in a position to promote
equality, even in what may appear to be
infertile territory.
Too many questions remain unanswered
about the Big Society and its relation
to equality. Not to mention equality’s
relationship to the more nebulous ‘fairness’
espoused by the government. In this edition of
the Runnymede Bulletin, Shamus Khan and
Casey Stockstill have highlighted some key
worries with localism, an agenda that plays
its part in the Big Society rhetoric (see page
12). Satisfactory answers are yet to be found
to questions of democratic transparency,
accountability, minimum guarantees, and
capacity building so that all voices are heard,
and in particular those of the marginalised
who rely more heavily on public services.
I have been part of the discussions of the
Commission on 2020 Public Services which
published its final report in September 2010.
The commission started its deliberations
outside of this frenzied period of reform, and
argued for a long-term settlement on public
services. For a year and a half, some of the best
public policy minds have come together for
the Public Services Trust 2020 Commission
and struggled to reach a consensus on these
outstanding questions. Yet the Big Society
opens for business imminently, ready or not.
I am heading to the Chicago this month to the
largest race equality conference in the world,
Facing Race (for more information use this
link: bit.ly/facingracechicago). My short
time in the US will give me an opportunitiy
to see what the smaller government approach
that seems to have inspired much of the UK
coalition’s thinking actually delivers for racial
equality. However reluctantly, I too am trying
to engage.
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