In the UK, there are also no ethnic minority women constables (police). By comparison, Beverly Harvard, an African-American, became Atlanta’s top cop in 1996. She is the first Black woman to hold that position in a major city. Also, in February of this year, New York native, Joyce Stephens, became the first African-American and woman promoted to Deputy Chief in New York City.
“Black and ethnic minority women in the UK also have different health outcomes compared to white women in the region,” Moosa said. For example, infant mortality within the first week of birth is more than twice as likely to happen within the immigrant Pakistani and Bangladeshi community. And women of these two communities are also more likely to face higher pay gaps.
Black and ethnic minority women make up about 3 percent of the population in the UK according to Fawcett’s report published in 2005. The definition in the UK of Black and ethnic minority women is similar to the American definition for women of color, but also includes Irish and Roma travelers (properly known in the UK as gypsies).
The Fawcett Society is a feminist organization and the “Seeing Double” project is very much an extension of this ideological agenda. Moosa says part of the society’s purpose for this campaign, and their work in general, is to establish how feminism is different for different women.
But does feminism have the same resonance for Black and minority ethnic women as it does for white women in the UK?
Although the society has not done any formal research on attitudes toward feminism within ethnic minority communities, Moosa said she would not say ethnic minority women do not like its principles. “I think there are some people who like feminism—the word—and some people who just don’t like the word, but in terms of the issues, they impact on all women and all women sign up to that.”
The “Seeing Double” project is less than a year old and will last for three years. There is still plenty of research needed to explain and inform the double barriers of racism and sexism. This experience women face can make life and discrimination cases infinitely more complicated.
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