Unite launches Black Women’s Network to probe workplace
discrimination faced by black women
22 June 2011
Unite, the largest union in the country, launches its Black
Women’s Network today (Wednesday 22 June) to look into the problems
of discrimination in recruitment, pay, progression and ‘family
friendly’ policies, as well as the harassment that black women face
in the UK’s workplaces.
According to the latest Labour Force Survey statistics, the
employment rate of ethnic minority women is 52 per cent compared
with 72 per cent for the working population as a whole.
Unite national officer for equalities Collette Cork-Hurst said:
“Today, Unite is launching its Black Women’s Network during the
union’s National Women’s Week.
”We want to ensure that black women’s views can be fed into the
work of our union, particularly into our women’s and black, Asian
and ethnic minority agendas. The aim is to increase the involvement
and participation of Unite black women in our union and to take
action in addressing specific issues for black women workers.
”Key initiatives will include developing an online network, sending
out a quarterly bulletin to network members and producing a
publication on black women in Unite.
”Black women workers continue to face discrimination in the
workplace due to race and gender.
”Unite wants to make sure that black women’s voices are heard
and listened to. By setting up this network, we will increase our
ability to meet the needs of black women as part of our bargaining
agenda and campaign priorities.”
Monica Taylor, the first black woman on the Unite Executive
Council said: ”This is a great initiative, as it is important for
all of us to network and support each other not just for economic
prosperity but also for social justice.“
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
For further information please contact Unite communications
officer, Shaun Noble, on 07768 693940
Labour Force Survey – fourth quarter of the
2010
Labour market statistics
- Ethnic minority working age employment rate is 60.9 per
cent
- This compares to 72.2 per cent for all people of working age,
and the employment gap is 11.7 percentage points.
For ethnic minorities the employment rate is 69.4 per cent for men
and 52.4 per cent for women.
- The unemployment rate is 13.0 per cent. This compares to 8.0
per cent overall.
- Unemployment rates are high, both for ethnic minority men (12.4
per cent) and women (13.9 per cent).
- Three in ten (29.9 per cent) ethnic minorities of working age
are economically inactive. This compares to 21.1 per cent
overall.
- The ethnic minority women’s economic inactivity rate is
particularly high, at 39.2 per cent.
- For women, 26 per cent of the overall UK working age population
are in part-time work and 37 per cent are in full-time work.
Both of these figures are much lower for ethnic minority women, at
17 per cent and 30 per cent respectively
- For women the proportions in temporary jobs are the same as for
men: 4 per cent overall and 5 per cent for ethnic minorities.
While women overall are as likely as men to be in permanent jobs,
at 59 per cent, the equivalent for women from ethnic minorities is
only 43 per cent.
The employment gap
- For women the gap is 14.4 percentage points.
- This has decreased from 18.5 percentage points in 2001.
The progression gap
- For women the gap is 4.2 percentage points.
- This has increased from 2.5 percentage points in 2001, though
most of the increase was in the early part of the decade.
- Whilst the gap is smaller for women than for men when measured
this way, if we compare ethnic minority women with men overall, we
see a 12.6 percentage point gap.
