Unemployment up 74% among Coventry BME women

A new report published by Warwick University and Coventry Women’s Voice suggests that BME women are being badly hit by the Coalitions Governments austerity measures.

The most dramatic impact for BME women has been employment. There ground-breaking research shows that unemployment among BME women in Coventry has risen by 74% between 2009 and 2013. Unemployment among white British Women increased by 30% during the same period.

This ground-breaking report : Layers of inequality: a human rights and equality impact assessment of the cuts on BAME women in Coventry examines for the first time the combined impact on BAME women of cuts in a range of areas including employment, housing, welfare benefits, health, social care, education, legal aid, violence against women and voluntary organisations.

Campaigners are deeply worried given that BME women are already more likely to be poor and receive a higher proportion of their income from benefits and tax credits.

Report author Kindy Sandhu from Coventry Women’s Voices said:

Our report shows that BAME women are among the hardest hit by public spending cuts across many areas. Now the spending review is making a bad situation worse. BAME women will lose more jobs, more money and more services. This is a big issue for Coventry since a third of our population is BAME, but it will be the same for BAME women across the country. We did not cause this situation, but we are paying the price for it. “

Report co-author, Dr James Harrison of the Centre for Human Rights in Practice said:

The combined impact of cuts to benefits and services will disproportionately affect many of the poorest and most vulnerable BAME women in Coventry. Public authorities both nationally and here in Coventry have legal obligations under the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act to promote equality and protect human rights. They need to take these obligations very seriously when making decisions about budget cuts.”

This report follows a similar report last year Professors Anthony Heath who estimated that 25 percent of the ethnic minority unemployment rate for both men and women could be explained by prejudice and racial discrimination.

The report also highlighted government research from 2008, which found that those with an African or Asian sounding name needed to send twice as many job applications to secure an interview.

Simon Woolley