Do we seem to keep forgetting that black women exist ?
This blog will be looking at the lack of representation of ethnic minority women, more specifically black women, and suggestions needed to improve the issue. Contemporary societies are built on patriarchal norms that do not acknowledge the rights of women. With the help of the United Nations(2019); We would assume in a contemporary society there would be a sense of gender equality, a space where the needs of any gender is being treated with equal importance and that everyone is entitled to the same opportunities, right?
WRONG!
Women have been fighting for a platform to express their experiences for years. In 1918, the British parliament passed the Representation of the People Act which allows women to positively engage in political matters. Suffragettes pushed a successful feminist movement, or did they? Black women did not receive the right to vote until 1928 with the introduction of the Equal Franchise Act , nearly 10 years later (BedsSU, 2020). Suffragettes played a crucial for women, but the leaders held white supremacist morals that worked against the freedom of Black women (Knott-Dawson,2019). Neither politics nor society at the time welcomed ethnic minorities.
Data Via House of Commons Library (2020)
Looking at the statistics, ethnic minorities make up 16.1% of the UK population. The black community makes up 3.8%. I know the population is small, but you would think from previous prejudices committed against black people, the UK would be more accommodating to hear and aid the black community. A large stepping stone for the black community was the civil rights movement. However, this movement wasn’t recognised when three black women formed the movement. It wasn’t until later when the movement was dominated by men (Knott-Dawson, 2019). The Black Lives Matter movement highlights the discrimination of the black community within America and ways to address issues (Clayton, 2018). It would be important for the black issue to be heard and protected within the UK too. Our voices need a platform. The UK arguably mentions that they cater to all marginalised groups but fail to recognise black women are discriminated in more than one way; race and gender (Strolovitch,2007). This issue cannot be resolved by dealing with intersectional issues separately, but to address the different factors altogether. It is important for society to see the struggles a black woman can face being a part of more than one disadvantaged intersectional subgroup. When individuals educate themselves to understand the experiences of a black woman; the increase in political activities can grow.
As James brown would say … ‘it’s a mans world’ – cue the music.
But why is the number of black women participating in politics so low?
Look at how long it took for women of colour to have the right to vote! How would young black women and girls be motivated to participate when our government fails to acknowledge our issues and accommodate to them. The under-representation of black women and our issues needs to be addressed in parliament in order for things to change.
Data Via House of Commons Library (2020)
With the figures shown in this table, there is slightly lower levels of ethnic minority women participating in parliament. This shows that there have been improvements over the years with the amount of ethnic minority women in Parliament. However, there are only 12 black females in parliament out of 220 women (Aworo,2020). There are just not enough black females with political positions in parliament for there to be change in the community, this is the result of feminist movements fighting in favour of white women. Yes, there is more Ethnic minority women being represented in politics in comparison to the past few years. However, Individuals forget to address that intersectionality is able to point out the inequality an individual can face. Black woman will not just have to deal with the discrimination of their race but also their gender.
In order for politics to run positively; MPs must have the ability to influence and advocate for the interests of people they are representing (Aworo,2020). So, bring black women in! Society needs to be able to open doors for us and allow our experiences to be heard. Individuals believe that in order to improve political engagement for black women; ‘quotas’ need to be introduced. The quota system is designed to recruit discriminated individuals into political positions (International IDEA, 2021). This can positively push the numbers of women participating in politics and give them the representation they deserve. Nevertheless, is the quota as useful as we think when tackling intersectional barriers? Quotas imply that politicians are only elected because of their gender rather than their qualifications and strive for change (International IDEA,2021). The quota system is not able deal with our issues, and it is not guaranteed that the quota will represent us. A democratic system should promote equal representation, the protection of ones rights and voice to express. Quotas cannot do much for us, instead why not look at our issues, embed human right laws that protect us against the majority and promote citizenship education to black girls, so they know it is okay to be heard.
It’s just that easy!
Image Via Young and McMahon (2020)
Bibliography
Aworo, E. (2020) We need more black women in British politics. [online]. Available at:https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/we-need-more-black-women-in-british-politics (Accessed 20th March 2021).
BedsSU (2020) Black Suffrage: The fight for the right to vote [online]. Available at:https://www.bedssu.co.uk/articles/black-suffrage-the-fight-for-the-right-to-vote (Accessed 20th March 2021).
Clayton, D. M. (2018) ‘Black Lives Matter and the Civil Rights Movement: A Comparative Analysis of Two Social Movements in the United States’. Journal of Black Studies. 49(5). Pp. 448–480. Doi: 10.1177/0021934718764099.
House of Commons Library (2020) Ethnic Minorities in Politics and Public Life. [online]. Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01156/ (Date accessed: 21st March 2021).
International IDEA (2021) Gender quotas database [online]. Available at: https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/gender-quotas/quotas#what (Accessed 20th March 2021).
Knott-Dawson, S. (2019) The Suffragettes Were Not Allies to Black Women, They Were Racist [online]. Available at: https://educationpost.org/the-suffragettes-were-not-allies-to-black-women-they-were-racist/ (Accessed 20th 2021)
Strolovitch, D.Z. (2007) Affirmative Advocacy: Race, Class, and Gender in Interest Group Politics. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
Un.org. (2019) OSAGI Gender Mainstreaming – Concepts and definitions. [online] Available at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm (Accessed 20th March 2020).
Young, R. and McMahon, S. (2020) SayHerName Puts Spotlight On Black Women Killed By Police [online]. Available at: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/06/16/black-women-deaths-protests (Acessed 23rd March 2021).