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Negotiating Gender, Race and Class: The way forward

Introduction

In July 2008, the TUC Race Relations Committee and Women's Committee organised a one-day seminar for black women trade union activists. The seminar set out to discuss issues that black women face in the labour market, prioritise the issues that trade unions need to raise on their behalf and plan a strategy for organising black women in the workplace and ensure that their priorities were taken forward by trade unions. The seminar was intended to be a starting point, rather than a one-off event and its outcome to both inform the work of the TUC Women's and Race Relations Committees and encourage trade unions to be more active on black women's issues.

The TUC had initially highlighted the barriers facing black women in employment and trade unions in 1987. There have been many positive changes and developments since that time that have led to greater access for black women in the labour market and increased initiatives from trade unions to identify and tackle the problems that they face. However, the severity of the discrimination and continuing barriers black women experience within the labour market was highlighted by EOC research on Pakistani and Bangladeshi women in 2005[1] and the TUC's own research in 2006[2].

The TUC's research confirmed that Black women were still more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive than any other group in the labour market, suffer cultural stereotyping - resulting in having to take jobs at lower skills level than they are qualified for, disproportionately likely to be working in temporary jobs and concentrated in low paid and low status jobs.

It is clear that there are still managers who faced with a black woman will stereotype them into the type of work that they think they should be doing or that they think them capable of doing. This is compounded by the fact that the very cultural stereotyping that reduces the life chances and opportunities of black women are still sometimes used to explain low levels of economic activity among women in some black communities.

The TUC has continued to press for concerted and co-ordinated action by government through legislative and community based initiatives. However, the importance of establishing collective bargaining on equality, encouraging increased participation in the trade union movement as vital steps to eliminating race and sex discrimination in the labour market and society cannot be overlooked. The TUC believes that establishing collective bargaining on equality is key if the multiple discrimination faced by black women in the labour market is to be defeated. The organisation and recruitment of black women is vital if future progress is to be made in addressing the problems that black women face in the workplace and in encouraging increased participation in the trade union movement. The seminar therefore placed its emphasis on the centrality of collective bargaining and organising as an empowering and effective means for tackling discrimination, and roundtable discussions gave delegates their opportunity to contribute.

The seminar heard from expert speakers giving the background and context to black women's experiences within the labour market. They addressed issues of intersectionality, discrimination, the need to transform workplace cultures and the importance of trade unions in leading this change. The seminar also placed great weight on the views and discussions of the participants, so that they themselves would be given the opportunity to articulate what their agenda should be and how it should be taken forward.

Background

Past TUC research has confirmed the experiences of the overwhelming majority of black women workers, where disadvantage, discrimination, poverty and exclusion have been interwoven with the determination to overcome obstacles and to challenge exploitation and racism. The unequal pay, occupational segregation and discrimination experienced by women as a group within the labour market are experienced in an intensified way by black women. Black women are not only concentrated into particular occupations but are also located within the bottom rungs of posts within their occupations and organisations.Bradley and Healy have pointed to the racial aspects of gender occupational segregation: one in ten black African women work as nurses, compared to 1 in 32 white women; Indian women are seven times more likely to work as sewing machinists and four times more likely to work as packers, bottlers, canners and fillers than white women are.[3] Black Caribbean women are concentrated in the public sector: 46% work there, compared to an average of 34% of all women and 16% of all men[4]. Intersectionality is therefore not a static identity but one created by social and political processes. Furthermore, the labour market is not a neutral venue, allowing the effects of race and gender to play out in a particular way, but rather plays a major part itself in shaping black women's identity. For not only is their position and location in the labour market simultaneously gendered and racialised, it actively reinforces stereotypes about them and compounds their invisibility.

The TUC's 2006 report on Black Women and Employment found that black women were more likely to suffer from cultural stereotyping by employers, resulting in them having to take jobs at a lower skills level than they were qualified for. Different groups of black women may be alternatively characterised as overly passive and lacking confidence within the workplace or being too aggressive and confrontational - while these stereotypes may vary, both essentially render these women as being unsuitable and unready for progression within the workplace. Other groups of women have difficulty entering the workplace altogether. It is often suggested that Pakistani and Bangladeshi women exclude themselves from the labour market - through their lack of skills, reluctance to engage outside their culture and passivity. However, EOC research found that when young women who described themselves as housewives were asked if 'they would like to find paid work' about a quarter from all groups said yes[5]. Of women aged between 16-34 who were housewives, 26% of Bangladeshi women, 25% of Pakistani women, 21% of Black Caribbean women and 28% of White British women said they would like to find paid work[6].

Discussions about labour market activity and career progression for black women often centre around the notion of building their aspirations, qualifications, confidence and skills. But research suggests that discrimination places obstacles in the way of women who are highly qualified, ambitious and place a high value on their career. Of those in employment, a higher proportion of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black Caribbean women than white women are graduates.[7] Young Bangladeshi and Pakistani women were about as likely as young black Caribbean women to say that opportunities for progression were important for them when choosing a job - and significantly more likely to say this than young white British Women.[8]

In fact, race discrimination still confronts black women in a stark and direct fashion, from the interview process through to pay, progression and vulnerability to disciplinary actions and dismissal. EOC research found that black women were disproportionately more likely to be asked about marriage and children at interview. Pakistani women were the most likely to be asked this, at 26%, followed by Black Caribbean women at 24% and 21% of Bangladeshi women had been asked at interview. This compared to 14% of White British women. The black women surveyed by the EOC were significantly more likely than young white British women to have had difficulty in finding a job or to have had to take a job at a lower level than they were qualified for. Black women were disproportionately more likely than White British women to 'often or sometimes' have difficulty finding a job: 49% of Bangladeshi, 56% of Pakistani, 54% of Black Caribbean women, compared to 34% of White British women. Even amongst those Pakistani and Bangladeshi women with high levels of qualifications, economic activity rates are low compared to similar white women (69% versus 85%)[9]. As a result, Black women are often forced to take a job at a lower level than they were qualified for - 18% of Bangladeshi women, 22% of Pakistani women, 16% of Black Caribbean women had all taken a job at a lower level than they were qualified for, compared to 6% of White British women.

This experience of discrimination is inextricably linked to disadvantage, poverty and exclusion. Race discrimination, the labour market and economic disadvantage are inextricably linked, a relationship that can sometimes be left unspoken when the public discourse about black women has instead focused on issues of culture, faith and diversity. 'Ethnic Minority Women and Local Labour Markets', a study conducted by Buckner, Yeandle and Botcherby as part of the EOC's 'Moving on Up' campaign found that Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean women are around twice as likely as white British women to live in the most deprived districts of England. The study also highlighted the fact that huge variations existed for labour market activity amongst different groups of black women depending on where they lived. Indian women experienced the biggest variation, of 50 percentage points, though other groups of black women also experienced large variations: 40 percentage points for Black Caribbean women, 38 percentage points for Pakistani women and 34 percentage points for Bangladeshi women.[10] The gap for white women was 29 percentage points. The study concludes that:

'Although ethnic minority women are disadvantaged partly because they are clustered in places where labour market opportunities are poor, this is not an adequate explanation, since the structure of local labour market opportunities benefits some groups of women while simultaneously leading to labour market disadvantage for others living in the same place.'[11]

This variation could suggest that the occupational segregation experienced by groups of black women is acute: where jobs and industries disappear, economic activity by groups of black women is severely affected, with far-reaching consequences for their families and communities. Children from BME families are more likely to be poor than children from white families. 50% of children in Asian families are living in poverty, 51% Black British children living poverty, 48% of children in Chinese families compared to 27% of children in White families[12]. Furthermore, the low rate of labour market activity by Pakistani and Bangladeshi women is also reflected here: Child Poverty Action Group's Statistics on Poverty for 2008[13] found that Pakistani and Bangladeshi children's risk of poverty was 63%.

There are still many elements of black women's economic activity that require further research and exploration. Black women are more likely to work full time than white women, however, this could be skewed by the concentration of black women within the public sector. In addition, the numbers of black women who work one full time job and another part time job in addition to this has not been fully researched. Similarly while official data records extremely low levels of economic activity by Pakistani and Bangladeshi women, the question of whether unofficial economic activity is not being recorded still remains. Black women are also disproportionately likely to be working on temporary and agency contracts[14], the extent and implications of this, too, remains to be researched.

In conclusion, what is known about the discrimination confronting black women within the workplace and the wider community suggests that it can have devastating and far-reaching consequences for their lives and that of their families. Furthermore there is much that still remains to be researched and explored. The valuable work conducted by the EOC in 2005 exposed the continuing work still to be done by Government, employers and unions in eliminating race and gender discrimination. The need for further and continuing research (and for genuine action to tackle the identified problems) is held back by the same invisibility that affects black women as both a collective and as individuals. Heidi Safia Mirza identifies the 'third space' that black women occupy: a space which overlaps the margins of race, gender and class discourse and occupies the empty spaces in between[15]. Discussions about intersectionality sometimes focus on the multiple ways some groups are different. Within these narratives, black women simply accumulate many different kinds of 'difference', always on the margins of the unspoken and unnamed centre to which they are compared, the default normality that they deviate from. In fact, black women's experiences and their lives takes them to the centre of the discrimination faced by women and black people and tells us something about how normative ideas of race, class and gender are constructed.[16] Tackling the discrimination encountered by black women within the workplace would enable trade unions to confront the issues of discrimination and exploitation encountered by many vulnerable groups of workers.

TUC Seminar on 'Black women and Employment'

The seminar, organised by the TUC Race Relations Committee and the Women's Committee, proved to be extremely well attended and attracted great interest from black women trade unionists. The event was planned for a seminar with fifty delegates but could have easily doubled in size if all who wanted to attend had been accommodated. The event was chaired by Zita Holbourne of the TUC Race Relations Committee and the key note speakers were Professor Geraldine Healy of Queen Mary, University of London, Gloria Mills, Chair of the TUC Race Relations Committee and Britain's leading black woman trade unionist and Joella Hazel of the Fawcett Society.

All the speakers discussed the interplay of race, gender and class which shaped the identities and experiences of black women within the workplace and the wider community. Professor Healy drew upon the stories of two women who worked together in the 1950s and 1960s in Britain to bring this abstract discussion to life and to illustrate the long role that trade union women have played. They had both come to Britain in search of economic stability - Mary from Ireland in the 1930s and Dolores, who arrived as part of the post-war Windrush generation. Mary had started her working life in Britain doing domestic work and then became a bus conductor during the war. Dolores had been recruited in the Caribbean by Birmingham City transport to work as a bus conductor in Birmingham. It was there that both women met and worked together.

Professor Healy drew a contrast between the lives and experiences of Mary and Dolores and that of the idealised image of 1950s family life which contained particular views of the role of women and which excluded Britain's black and migrant population altogether. Both women were drawn together not only by their workplace, sex and class but also as members of the Transport and General Workers' Union. But they would also have been confronted by signs such as 'no blacks, no Irish, no dogs', giving them a shared experience of racism. Both Mary and Dolores lived in North Birmingham where the National Front was active. Professor Healy's example of the intertwined histories of race class and gender enabled a vision of how those on the margins have an experience of discrimination that needs to be challenged in order to eliminate racist and sexist discrimination in the workplace. Dolores and Mary identified women's activism within the trade union movement and the use of collective bargaining as the levers which improved their working conditions, in particular the rights to equal pay and a pension, at a time when the norm was unequal pay and no pensions for women.

Healy then moved to consider her more recent works on black women. She noted individual strategies, for example woman who said that 'I do feel that I have to work twice as hard to be extra vigilant in my actions and decision making in terms of making sure that there is no reprisal . . ' highlighting a paradox where black women are rendered invisible when it comes to being heard or having their experience or qualifications acknowledged but all too visible to scrutiny and observation when it comes to perceived deficiencies. 'Getting on' in organisations (and unions) was a key issue for the black women in Healy's research where a woman reported that 'I had five internal interviews, always someone else was promoted above me. One of the first reasons was because I did not smile enough at interview, the second reason was given that I didn't sell myself enough . . . Then, they said you don't have the right personality, then they said, you weren't ready for it yet. So every time, there was an excuse.' These experiences of shifting goal posts are important and hard to track since the seminar was advised that few organizations monitor effectively on promotion issues. Moreover research confirms that negative stereotypes are alive and well. Nevertheless the women in Professor Healy's study did not see themselves as victims - they saw themselves as strong women, empowered to make a difference. She reported a belief in collectivism among the black women activists who worked hard to ensure that collectivist strategies confronted racism and sexism in the workplace (and sometimes the union). They were inspiring role models. She concluded that while both individual and collectivist strategies were used by black women to tackle the discrimination that confronted them, collectivist strategies were more likely to impact on more women and stand the test of time. She concluded by arguing the importance of celebrating and promoting the success of black women trade union activists as a means to inspire others.

Joella Hazel of the Fawcett Society highlighted recent research by Fawcett on 'Routes to Power', which included interviews with prominent and powerful ethnic minority women in the UK. This research had confirmed the experience of many ethnic minority women no matter their workplace or occupation, that they needed to overcome significant institutional obstacles to achieve success and that organisations across all sectors are struggling to recognise and reward their experience and expertise. Black women also brought personal values and commitments into the workplace, which could be excluded or ignored by hostile or discriminatory workplace cultures, leading to unhappiness, isolation and disengagement. The way that this collective discrimination was experienced in a highly personal way by individual women was underlined by all three speakers. Hazel pointed out that many workplace practices can be invisible until someone 'different' brushes up against them, disrupting unspoken assumptions. Stereotyping continued to structure the ways that ethnic minority women are treated in the workplace, whether it concerned the oppressed South Asian Muslim woman, the aggressive domineering black woman or the exotic oriental Asian woman.

Gloria Mills, the first Black female president of the TUC, and current chair of the Race Committee, informed the seminar of the latest research concerning black women and the labour market, examining the key factors contributing to barriers and the extent of the employment gap. She said that research by the Equal Opportunities Commission published in November 2004 revealed that Pakistani and Bangladeshi women aged under 35 are between three and four times more likely to be unemployed that their white counterparts, while Black Caribbean females are twice as likely to be out of work. The research also found that they are almost four times more likely to end up in a position at a lower level that the one they are qualified for. Mills emphasised the fact that Black women experienced multiple forms of discrimination in the labour market and in employment. Stereotyping and typecasting of their roles were barriers restricting their access to career progression and promotion. Mills highlighted the importance of issues of low pay, minimum wage levels and long hours working for black women. Their over-concentration and segmentation in specific jobs and grades, with covert discrimination, low status, low wages and fewer opportunities for training and promotion, continued to restrict the opportunities and life chances of black women in the UK. She said that action is required to address issues of disproportionate and disparate impact in the labour market and employment, for example, in areas of disciplinary actions, dismissals, restructuring and re-organisations, redundancy selections, access to training, personnel development and management opportunities. She called for unions to make greater use of tools such as race and equality impact assessments to monitor employment policies and practices. Welcoming the seminar as an important first step in taking forward the findings and conclusion of the 'Black Women and Employment' Report launched at Black Workers Conference in 2006, Gloria Mills called for the development of an agenda and strategy for trade union action.

Delegate contributions

A series of five roundtable sessions took up half the seminar. These were designed to provide an opportunity for delegates at the seminar to participate in a more detailed discussion on topics that would shape the work of the TUC for black women and employment. Participants were given the opportunity to participate in separate discussions on three topics. There were five local topic tables each with a facilitator who ensured that the three or four most important points raised during the discussion were noted and passed on to the TUC. The facilitators were all women members of the TUC Race Relations Committee.

The five roundtables discussed the following isssues:

What are the three main priority issues facing black women in the workplace?

How can we influence trade union negotiators to address issues faced by black women in the workplace?

How can black women organise to increase participation and visibility within the workplace and the trade union movement?

How can black women organise so that black women's issues become a feature of race and gender politics in trade union race and women's committees?

How can the trade union movement be more responsive to, and engage with, organising activities by black women within the community?

Priority Issues for black women in the workplace

The responses received can be separated into three broad categories which were those responses which prioritised changes to processes and procedures, those that required cultural change within the workplace and finally those which required proactive approaches by black women. None of these approaches were exclusive. Indeed, the contributions from participants made it clear that these priorities needed to be taken forward simultaneously in order to create real change.

The emphasis placed on the need for employers to monitor processes such as recruitment, pay, progression and conditions of service highlighted the lack of a meaningful implementation of the Race Equality Duty in many workplaces. Participants said that employers needed to ensure that members of interview panels were trained on equality issues, that the recruitment of black women and their progression once employed needed to be monitored and that the results of these needed to be published. The need for managers to have an appropriate understanding of how equality was relevant to their own responsibilities within the workplace and for transparent and fair performance management processes were identified as key priorities. These were seen as vital to inculcating the kind of culture where black women would feel valued, were treated fairly and received appropriate support and career development.

Unions were identified as key agents for change, pushing employers to implement monitoring and following up on any identified problems. A need for unions to become more representative, to include equality in general, and race equality in particular, as part of the main collective bargaining process, and to train their own reps on issues of equality was seen as crucial if they were to be successful in this endeavour. Statutory rights for equality reps were seen as essential. Along with institutional change by employers and a collective approach from trade unions, participants also saw individual agency by black women as fundamental to any real change. The need for a strategic effort by black women was constantly underlined. Trade unions were seen as key vehicles for change but not without increased activism by black women members. Encouraging more black women to be activists, particularly the younger generation who were yet to join the workforce was a priority for participants. While workplace networks are often mentioned as an important part of taking forward equality within workplaces, participants identified the promotion of trade unionism within such networks as important, making clear how closely linked all these efforts needed to be to transform workplaces. Creating change was seen as a systemic effort, which needed to get 'everybody on board'.

Unions and black women: negotiating for equality

The need to influence trade union negotiators to take on issues that mattered for black women was another theme that participants were invited to discuss. The importance of negotiating for equality as a lever for taking equality forward within the trade union movement itself can be seen in the comprehensive nature of the discussion. It is clear from the discussion that participants anticipated that changing the negotiating agenda would also mean changing some aspects of how trade unions tackled equality. Unions had to map and monitor their black members - reflecting the fact that data for the numbers and the location of black members within the trade union movement still remains patchy. The way union structures could support greater visibility for issues relating to black women were explored, with emphasis being put on enabling union reps to observe, participate and engage with networks relating to equality. This would enable negotiators to hear from black women members about the issues that were a priority for them. This would not only benefit black women members but all members, since workplace equality should play a fundamental role in trade union bargaining and negotiating agenda. Equality should be standing agenda and the need to impact asses and monitor policies for equality issues is as important for the trade union as it is for the employer. Unions should also monitor which issues were taken forward as key negotiating priorities compared to which issues were raised by black women members.

As with the other roundtables, the participants saw a need to have informal strategies and networks to support this work. They saw this as essential to enabling support from both the union and the employer in terms of resources and commitment, as well as monitoring progress and keeping the momentum for change going. Having more black women in positions of authority within trade unions was identified as another crucial element in taking forward issues for black women members in workplaces. If unions could address issues for black women through the mainstream bargaining and negotiating agenda, the participants concluded that it would enable the movement to demonstrate real passion and commitment to black women's issues. In this way, it could reciprocate and mirror the passion and commitment shown by the participants who attended the seminar, toward the trade union movement as a whole.

Visible and active: black women in the workplace and in the trade union

A question relating to how to raise levels of participation and visibility for black women within the workplace and the trade union stimulated thoughtful discussion as to what black women themselves could do to take this forward. Participants saw the need for black women to network with each other and with trade union reps, 'get on the BEC - you do not have to be a rep' and 'become a rep - why not!' In line with this proactive approach, the need to encourage, support and empower each other was underlined and could be summed up by the comment that while black women may not be able to do this by themselves, they certainly could do it if they worked together. Acquiring knowledge about trade union structures, particularly informal knowledge was also felt to be very important. Making time to attend formal and informal gatherings, election to committees, attending National Conference were all identified as avenues for acquiring this knowledge and putting it into practical effect. A role for trade unions was also identified - they needed to show increased sensitivity to issues for black women; a commitment to identifying their priorities and taking them forward; and increasing the presence of black women within branch committees.

Intersectionality: race and gender politics within trade unions

Issues for black women can sometimes be addressed as a subset of the wider work of two separate and distinct strands of equality work, resulting in an implicit set of assumptions for both gender equality and race equality. One roundtable tackled this issue head on by considering how black women could make their own agenda a feature of race and gender politics in trade union race and women's committees. Much of this discussion did not fundamentally differ from the conclusions and comments made in response to other roundtables, suggesting that focusing on the real and urgent priorities for black women as workers, with an emphasis on delivering for them through collective bargaining would go a long way to addressing this problem. Participants felt that trade unions were not always aware of the challenges faced by black women within the workplace. The roundtable also placed weight on increased activity by black women themselves - networking, engaging the younger generation and empowering themselves to make themselves heard within trade unions. Unions could support increased activity by black women by removing any obstacles and giving visibility to issues that affected them.

Community Organising

While the discourse around black women's involvement in trade union activism and political engagement more generally tends to focus on the need to encourage participation and increase confidence, what can sometimes be left unsaid is the long tradition of political activity by many groups of black women within their community. The final roundtable discussed how the trade union movement could be better response to and engage with organising activities by black women (many of whom are members of unions) within their communities. Participants agreed that greater awareness was needed within the trade union movement of the kinds of activities which were taking place within specific communities, many of them developed as a response to exclusion. Trade unions could engage with and support campaigns such as the one arising from the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. Obstacles and barriers for women entering the local labour market, single issue campaigns that mattered to the local community and support for community projects and activities that were fundamentally linked to the aims and values for the trade union movement were all suggested. Engaging in such work would empower both unions and local communities. The roundtables also emphasised that unions should be cautious about the politics of organising within communities, ensuring that these were linked to trade union aims and objectives and understanding that the trade union movement could also provide political leadership in taking forward such work.

Recommendations

The TUC believes that the experience of black women within the labour market poses a crucial challenge to the trade union movement. The high levels of discrimination, poverty and stereotyping they continue to experience calls for concerted and co-ordinated action by trade unions through collective bargaining and through organising initiatives. The responses made by participants at the seminar roundtables also revealed a group of trade union activists who were enthusiastic and committed to the trade union movement. Enabling these women to be more active within the union, responding to their concerns and harnessing their considerable abilities would strengthen the power of their trade unions. The TUC believes that trade unions should take note of the specific issues raised by black women activists during the workshop discussions in order to better respond to these challenges. This should also include the continuing work to ascertain the real number and location of black members within trade unions.

The responses made within the workshop sessions highlighted the importance of:

§ the need for greater awareness about trade union structures - how they work, how they could be accessed and how these could drive the equality agenda forward;

§ the creation of networks and both formal and informal gatherings to encourage greater participation from black women members;

§ identifying and removing obstacles to the participation of black women members;

§ the inclusion of black women's own voices, experiences and agendas in driving forward the union's work on race and gender equality;

§ establishing collective bargaining on equality as a driver to both eliminating discrimination within the workplace, including issues of pay equity and multiple discrimination, and raising participation within the trade union movement;

§ using the TUC Equality Audit to report, monitor, evaluate and set priorities for tackling discrimination;

§ Race and Women's Committees being proactive in taking forward the priorities and concerns identified by black women;

§ Greater exploration of the possibilities of increasing links with the local community, particularly areas where black women are active, and reaching out to recruit them into the trade union movement. The workshops suggested campaigns around removing obstacles and barriers for women entering local labour markets, single issue community campaigns and support for those community projects and activities which linked into trade union aims and objectives.

The TUC believes that the points raised by participants at the July 2008 seminar provide a valuable way forward for the TUC and its affiliates. The TUC's race and women's committees intend to use this report and its findings as the basis for future work and to encourage affiliates to act on its recommendations. The TUC will continue to lobby Government to ensure that the Single Equality Bill addresses the issue of multiple discrimination.

[1] EOC (2007) 'Moving on up? The way forward'

[2] TUC (2006) 'Black women and Employment'

[3] Bradley & Healy (2008) ' Ethnicity and Gender in the Labour Market' p25-26

[4] Platt, (2006) quoted in EOC 'Moving on Up'

[5] EOC (2007) 'Moving On Up? The way forward'

[6] EOC 'Women at Work' survey quoted in TUC (2006) 'Black Women and Employment' p5

[7] EOC (2007) 'Moving on Up: Key Stats'

[8] EOC 'Women at Work' survey quoted in 'Black Women and Employment', P5, TUC April 2006.

[9] Bradley & Healy (2008) ' Ethnicity and Gender in the Labour Market' p30

[10] Buckner, Yeandle and Botcherby (2007) 'Ethnic Minority Women and Local Labour Markets'

[11] Ibid, pvii

[12] TUC (2007): 'Ten Years After: Black Workers in Employment 1997-2007' p3

[13] Child Poverty Action Group (2008) 'Statistics on poverty 2008'

[14] TUC (2006)' Black Women and Employment' p7

[15] Heidi Safia Mirza (1997)' Black British Feminism' p4

[16] Ibid p4

Report (5,700 words) issued 30 Mar 2009