New research published by the Fawcett Society and the Government Equalities Office reveals that ethnic minority women leaders need to overcome significant institutional obstacles to achieve success.

New forms of discrimination

The Routes to Power research study interviewed 23 of the most high profile ethnic minority women in politics and the public, private and voluntary sectors in the UK, including politicians, CEOs and Directors [3]. It found that the gap between policy and practice is so wide that two new forms of organisational discrimination are developing:

Tokenism:: organisations are placing ethnic minority women in senior roles to improve their organisations' equality credentials. As a result, senior ethnic minority women are facing widespread assumptions that they are not in their roles because of their own merit or abilities.
Typecasting:: ethnic minority women are being streamed into equality and diversity roles even where their training and professional skills lie elsewhere. This represents a huge mismanagement of resources in the labour market.
Tokenism and typecasting: is seen as more prevalent and pronounced in the political and public sectors. The private and voluntary sectors were seen to be more progressive by the women in the study.

Other Key Findings

Family and caring responsibilities

Ethnic minority women are struggling to juggle their family and working roles. Colleagues' personal prejudices and internal working cultures are limiting their options for balancing these roles. The opinions of partners and families also influence what choices women feel able to take. Family responsibilities are thus deeply effecting ethnic minority women's recruitment, career progression and quality of working life.

Added value

Ethnic minority women bring distinct experiences, skills and competencies to organisations that are otherwise dominated by white, middle class men:

Cultural capital: they have direct knowledge about the norms, cultures and perspectives of their communities.
Bi- and cross-cultural competencies: they are able to bridge different working cultures and work successfully in very diverse environments.
Values orientation: they bring a different approach to managing people that stems from a strong association with values (equality, social justice, human rights and empowerment), which affects how they understand 'power' - they aim to lead through inclusion, collaboration and facilitation.

Commenting on the findings, zohra moosa, Senior Policy Officer Race & Gender, Fawcett Society said:

"The time for business as usual is well past. Leading organisations will only be able to stay ahead if their working cultures catch up to the realities of today's workforce - including being tough on prejudice and discrimination. Not making the most of the skills and abilities of ethnic minority women means missing out on a huge pool of specialist talent. The Routes to Power research shows that organisations across all sectors are struggling to reward expertise when it's found in ethnic minority women."

In her interview about what it's like being one of so few senior black women leaders Carol Lake, Managing Director at JP Morgan said:

"The biggest obstacle is having to create on your own. We're going up that mountain on our own, we don't know where that next cliff is. You're going to fall off, no one has gone before and with others the ropes are already there. They're being pulled up and that's my sense of frustration."

In her interview about what needs to change Valorie Todd, Managing Director at Transport for London said:

"You've got to have good managers who really do manage their people and manage them effectively, so they think about their development needs, think about how to get the best out of them, and how to get them to enjoy work and think about flexible working at work. It's not rocket science but the lack of flexibility does deter a lot of women."

The individual women interviewed were:

Nina Amin, Tax Partner, KPMG
Baroness Amos, Former Leader of the House and Life Peer, House of Lords
Dawn Butler MP, Member of Parliament, House of Commons
Shami Chakrabarti, Director, Liberty
Naaz Coker, Chair, St George's Healthcare NHS Trust
Althea Efunshile, Executive Director, Arts Planning and Investment, The Arts Council
Baljeet Ghale, President, National Union of Teachers
Irene Zubaida Khan, Secretary General, Amnesty International
Brenda King, Member/Director, European Economic and Social Committee/A/C Diversity
Mei Sim Lai OBE DL, Partner, Lai Peters & Co
Carol Lake, Managing Director, JP Morgan
Pinky Lilani, Founder, Asian Women in Achievement Awards
Nahid Majid OBE, Deputy Director, Area Initiatives and Communities Division, Department for Work and Pensions
Zahida Mansoor CBE, Ombudsman, Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales
Gloria Mills CBE, Director and National Organiser Equalities, UNISON
Danielle Walker Palmour, Director, Friends Provident Foundation
Ruby Parmar, Tax Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Angela Sarkis, Former National Secretary, YMCA England
Maggie Semple, Chief Executive, The Experience Corps
Srabani Sen, Former Chief Executive, Alcohol Concern
Sukhvinder Stubbs, Chief Executive, Barrow Cadbury Trust
Valerie Todd, Managing Director Group Services, Transport for London
Baroness Uddin, Labour party politician and life peer, House of Lords

About the Research

Routes to Power analyses the issue of ethnic minority women's under representation in decision-making positions from a pipeline perspective and in conversation with women directly. It examines twenty-three senior ethnic minority women's pathways into power by tracking their routes into, through and up to their current ranks. It profiles and compares their backgrounds and motivation, delves into the nature of their experiences within organisations as they have moved through their careers, and evaluates the distinct contributions they have made.

The report includes analysis of three focus groups with ethnic minority women who are currently becoming more high profile and senior as local councillors, grassroots activists, and in public appointments.

The research was funded by the Government's Equalities Office, which is being led by the Minister for Women, Harriet Harman QC MP.

Routes to Power was conducted by the Fawcett Society's Seeing Double programme on ethnic minority women with the help of ETHNOS Research and Consultancy.

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