Women of colour: the double whammy

‘Racism has many faces: working class racism is very different to the middle class racism I’ve experienced at work. Some of my middle class colleagues are totally sound, but there are others who treat you in a way that makes you feel totally unwanted. They don’t make eye contact or address you directly. It’s a lot of things. Things that only a black person notices, things that on their own don’t seem much but, put together, make you feel very angry and isolated,’ says Irene Shah, a 25-year old consultant.

Factory worker, Bindiya Trivedi has noticed that men, who joined the firm after her and know less about the job, have been promoted ahead of her and to higher posts. As to why this happens, she says, ‘I don’t know, maybe it is because I wear a sari to work or don’t talk loudly enough.’ She continues to wear saris, not as a point of principle, but because her husband forbids western clothes. The prospect of taking up an assertiveness course interests her, though she confesses that she did not know such training existed.

Back to basics
The original ambitions that inspired families to leave their home countries have not been forgotten. Education remains a prestigious asset to gain. ‘The idea always was to get a good education, make some money and then go home, but things didn’t go according to plan,’ says Mrs Bedi, 61. Women’s business campaign group, Opportunity Now, reports that females of African origin are twice as likely as white women to possess qualifications above A-level standard, while, as a whole, women from ethnic minorities hold more qualifications than their white counterparts. Enrolment rates for black women onto further and higher education courses currently range from about 40% to nearly 80%. For white women the figure stands at 25%.

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