Asian (Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian) Women:
All Asian groups were more likely to be married than any other ethnic group, however Asians who are lone parents' ranged between 8% and 11% (Social Trends, 2005) but the least likely to live alone often with more than 5 people. (EOC,2004)
Bangladeshi and Pakistani Women:
Poverty for Bangladeshis and Pakistanis is the highest in the country; Bangladeshi and Pakistani were the most likely groups to be unemployed but also the more than three times as likely to be looking after the home and family than any other group.
Indian Women:
Indian women were only third out of ethnic women to be unemployed (EOC, 2004) however Indian families, although higher rates of poverty than white households their earnings were on a par with white workers. however the jobs mainly undertaken by these women were sewing machinists, packers bottlers, canners and fillers. (Social Trends, 2005)
Black African and Black Caribbean Women:
Black Caribbean and African women were the least likely to be working part time. (EOC, 2004) Black Caribbean women were the only group in which employment levels were similar to their male counterparts, and were the only women to have lower unemployment levels than their male counterparts. They are also least likely to be at home caring for family or home at just 8%. (EOC, 2004) Both groups had the highest number of lone parents, more than double white women they also had the lowest proportion of marriages. (Social Trends, 2005) Black African and Black Caribbean women achieve the least number of GCSEs (EOC, 2004) but were more likely to carry on their education than white girls. (Census 2001)
Chinese:
After Asian ethnic groups, Chinese were the most likely to be married and had a lower rate than white groups of lone-parent hood. (Social Trends, 2005) Chinese girls were more likely than any other group to gain five or more A*-C GCSEs and the most likely to continue their education. (EOC, 2004) Unemployment rates were average and they were the most likely to be self-employed. (Social Trends, 2005)
Discussion and Conclusion:
What is apparent is that there are clear distinctions between the lives and living conditions of ethnic women. New labour want to tackle poverty, discrimination, poor housing but it is less clear how the new deal and employment will apply universally to different women and their circumstances. Research has shown that an increase of women into paid employment has not led to equal status with men either socially or economically. (Pillinger 1992, Lewis, 1993) Thus paid employment via the new deal can be said will not alleviate poverty for women. For example Chinese and Pakistani ethnic groups are more likely to be married and self-employed yet there is a recognisable difference between them in terms of poverty. A study by Graham (1986) found that as well as inequality in pay, women are more likely to have lower status part time jobs, due to the expectations on women within society as primary carers. (Alcock, 1993) Morris (1991) argues that women perform double shifts in the form of paid and unpaid work. (Morris, 1991) The implications of this in terms of economic poverty are that due to the lower status and part-time positions available to women they have fewer employment rights and benefits. (Alcock, 1993:39) However Black African and Caribbean women were working full time thus it is not jobs they need but help at home and possibly education as they account for the majority of lone-parents.
Women’s poverty is not just linked to their exclusion from the labour market but to their caring and family status. This is truer for Bangladeshi and Pakistani women, although not for Indian women and it is not clear why there are differences within the groupings of Asian women. The distribution of the resources within the home may be uneven (Graham 1986) but much of this is disguised and hidden in the private sphere and away from policy. (Pahl 1989) For example Women will often go without heating, food and clothes to protect their families from poverty. Also women spend twice as much time doing unpaid labour in the home, () carrying out work that is monotonous, tiring and emotionally draining leaving them feeling a sense of loss of control. (Alcock, 1993) As it is women who provide the majority of unpaid caring work, mean that they miss out on securing economic security by not having the chance to invest or generate savings. (Joshi, 1988 and 1992) This would be especially true for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women who had the highest rates of staying at home to care for the family, reinforced by traditional values of the older generations. The older generations of ethnic minorities who were not born in the UK could face barriers to paid work through lack of qualifications and languages. (Dale, 2002)
The reason that only low paid, part-time positions are offered to women is the assumed idea that women depend upon men or the welfare state to support them, however this can be a cause of poverty and not the answer to it. (Alcock, 1993) For example black women who live in poverty were working and lone-parents, but Asian were still in poverty despite having a high percentage being married and not working.
The struggle for women to be interdependent economically can make their experience one of being trapped into marriage, poverty or both. (EOC, 2004)
Distinctions between religion and tradition were made by younger generations of Asians rejecting the view that religion prevents them from working whilst the older generations were more inclined to take the view that women should not work outside the home using religion to justify this. Older generations of Bangladesh families were found to have traditional views and may think college or universities will lead to a lapse in religion with implications for family honour and marriage chances. This is likely to impact upon women's educational attainment. (Dale et al, 2002) Despite higher qualifications ethnic women still experienced barriers to gaining employment. For example they also have to deal with the traditional views of their older generations and family life that may mean the independence gained through education is lost. (Dale et al, 2002) This also means that these women may not have as much pressure on them to get a job, as there would be on black women as their values are different. (Dale et al, 2002)
There needs to be a lot more research on the differences between ethnic women to establish their employment needs. The New Deal may offer individual advise but it appears not to be relevant to the needs of women in particular but more relevant to the needs of employees’ in general.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Books:
Alcock, P (1993) Understanding Poverty. Macmillan
Joshi, H (1992) ‘The Cost of Caring’ in Glendinning, C Women and Poverty in Britain: the 1990s. Harvester.
Groves, D (1992) ‘Occupational Pension Provision and Women’s Poverty in Old Age’ in Glendinning, C Women and Poverty in Britain: the 1990s. Harvester.
Lewis, J (1993) Women and Social Policies in Europe: Work, Family and the State.
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Lister, R (1990) The exclusive society: citizenship and the poor. CPAG.
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Morris, L and Ruane, S (1989) Household Financial Management and the Labour Market. Gower.
Morris, L (1991) ‘Women’s poor work’, in Brown, P Poor Work: Disadvantage and the Division of Labour. Open University Press.
Pahl, J (1989) Money and marriage. Macmillan.
Pillinger, J (1992) Feminising the Market: Women’s Pay and Employment in the European Community. Macmillan.
Journals:
Dale, A et al (2002) ‘The Labour Market prospects for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women’ in Work, employment and Society. Vol.16 (1) Sage
Joshi, H (1988) The Cash Opportunity Costs of Childbearing. Centre for Economic Policy Research, Discussion Paper 208.
Lister, R (1990) ‘women, Economic Dependency and Citizenship’ in the Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 19 no. 4
Millar, J (1989) ‘Social Security, Equality and Women in the UK’. Policy and Politics, Vol. 17, no. 4.
Welshman, J (2002)'The Cycle of Deprivation and the Concept of the Underclass', in Benefits, 35, 10, 3 199-205 The Policy Press.
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Oxfam (2005) Poverty in the UK.
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Poverty in the UK
UK
