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| Model Eunice Olúmidé, Scout Scottie Brannan |
‘The way the media presents and packages Scotland to the world is as if it’s a completely white country, [but] walk down the street and you’ll see every single race of person on the planet.’ Edinburgh-born Nigerian model Eunice Olúmidé[1] makes up part of the diversity she espouses, her dark brown skin displaying Scotland’s visual contrast beyond its streets through the international fashion campaigns she poses for. Such a glamourous career was not an initial life choice for Eunice as a school student growing up in the city’s Wester Hailes council estate. So when a model scout approached her aged 15 walking down Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, she first thought it was a joke having never been previously told she was attractive or pretty, quite the opposite from her racist school peers. Regardless, the afro-crowned sporty tomboy was eventually signed by Scottie Brannan, apparently determined to make her ‘Scotland’s Next Top Model’. It was certainly a unique way to gain employment, having it passively handed to you versus actively pursuing various companies to land your dream role as the vast majority of job seekers must do. However, doing so is ordinarily more difficult for workers such as Eunice because ethnic minorities are ‘more likely to be unemployed or in low-paid work, and are under-represented in senior management roles’.[2] This despite people of colour largely having better academic attainment compared to white Scots, demonstrated by Eunice’s own impressive qualifications[3] with a first-class BA in Communication and Mass Media, MA in Film Studies and another MA in Metaphysics through a scholarship she was awarded. (Yip, with that amount of educational achievement, she definitely comes from a Nigerian household!) Undisputedly, the odd racial disparity in the Scottish workforce is therefore due to "significant barriers" rooted in racism.
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| Journalist & author Yasin Kakande |
The disparity in unemployment rates[4] has increased since 2013 when 13.2% of ethnic minorities were out of work versus 6.9% of whites. In total, ‘only 57.4% of BAME people were in work compared with 73.8% of white people’. Moreover, even though 5% of modern Scottish apprenticeships were targeted towards ethnic minorities, only 2.1% filled those posts. More current numbers show that, even though the Scottish BAME population is approx. 7% (increasing in bigger cities like Glasgow to 12%), only 2% of the Scottish public sector are employees of colour. What’s more, the disparity is twice as high for BAME women.[5] According to 2019 research by policymakers Close the Gap[6], part of the reason for this is that, ‘47% of BAME women had experienced racism, discrimination or racial bias when applying for a job’,[7] in part because of the well-known phenomenon of ‘name privilege’. Ugandan migration expert and Reuters journalist Yasin Kakande revealed that UK job applicants from African countries change their names to sound more anglicised, for example ‘Salama’ shifts to ‘Sarah’, or ‘Dafari’ becomes ‘David’ (Rẹ̀mí for Rab C. Nesbit?) This ‘whitening’ of international CVs[8] from Nigeria, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast can also include using a false UK residential address to mask their true nationality. Another action that up to 90% do to obscure their ethnicity as long as possible to evade the “colour cull” of racist employers is either to not include a profile photo on their application, or if they do, use photoshop to lighten their skin apparently to better fit the European aesthetic.
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Glasgow-based jobseeker,
Joseph Amouzou |
|
Discriminatory recruiters are also an issue for UK-based BAME applicants[9] like Glasgow-based Togolese jobseeker Joseph Amouzou. Being fluent in English and French, a volunteer sports coach with Shettleston Harriers athletics club, and Scotland's former under-20s triple jump champion, his 2015 CV surely read like a dream. But upon leaving school he recalls, “a white, Scottish friend and I would go out together looking for work. We would hand in our CVs, but even though we had the same qualifications, he got the calls. I thought putting my picture on my CV would show I'm smart and presentable. But then I started to wonder if having my picture - and name - on my CV made the difference.” The early revealing of his ethnicity seemingly worked against Joseph and others at the application stage, but the same would ultimately be true if their application had been taken to the interview stage.
Yasin Kakande’s research found that, ‘many African professionals were on course for a job until the interview stage when they noticed a distinct cooling in enthusiasm form their potential employer’.[10] This also correlates with Close the Gap reporting that 41% of BAME women had experienced racism, discrimination or racial bias during an interview.[11] One aspect of this is undoubtedly being an audio minority, and not benefiting from the ‘accent privilege’ afforded by a UK dialect, leading to epistemic racism[12] regarding who is able to produce/channel knowledge. To ‘remedy’ this, some job seekers across the African continent have undergone elocution lessons to sound more ‘British’.[13] This wasn’t an issue for Joseph Amouzou having grown up in Glasgow, or Eunice Olúmidé whose Edinburgh twang comes as a welcomed surprise down south in London. However, the principle aspect of job denial is being a visual minority and thus not ‘fitting the aesthetic’.[14] The model recounts that she has always struggled to find jobs in her own industry in Scotland where she has ‘never been given any opportunities’, causing designers and models of colour alike to move to England.
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| Rejected ring model, Nadiya Hussain |
Though even there she has met with obstacles, as had Bangladeshi chef Nadiya Hussain who before winning the 2015 Great British Bake Off applied to be a hand model for rings. When she arrived for the interview, the room of white faces fell silent then the interviewer approached her to say, “I’m sorry I didn’t know you were black…Black hands don’t sell jewellery”[15] (…to which she later decided to model a different finger!) One equally melanated Nigerian woman reported arriving at a temp position at a large company and being told to work at reception…only a few hours later for a senior manager to angrily approach the floor supervisor and shout, ‘WHY DID YOU PUT A BLACK WOMAN WITH BRAIDS ON RECEPTION??’, apparently affronted at the ‘unsavoury’ image this natural African woman conveyed to existing and potential clients.
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The African continent leads the world in female inventors
|
The more sinister side of not fitting the aesthetic however is the racist notion of therefore not ‘fitting the intellect’[16] of any given workplace. Yasin’s research exposed that, despite their CV ‘whitening’ efforts, a mere 5% of African job applicants were offered positions with UK corporate employers. Many more of these academically brilliant professionals were therefore instead forced to accept minimum wage positions in manual labour or the care sectors, considerably below their cognitive abilities. A broad indicator of this being that Africa has the highest number of female inventors (many with long, voluminous, bouncy braids) in the world[17], so why are Black females amongst the highest unemployment demographic in Scotland? This illogical yet prevalent ‘anti-Africa’ mindset of Britain’s largest companies however make sense to Yasin who says their attitude of ‘Africans should stay where they are until needed’ is a remnant from the colonial era, and this is also pervasive in the workplace itself.
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| Author Malorie Blackman |
For those who secure employment, signing their contract surely inspires satisfaction. However, such sentiment is surely tainted upon finding out BAME workers do not get equal pay for equal work.[18] In fact, ‘Scotland tends to have wider pay gaps, where non-UK born employees in the ‘other’ ethnic group category earned 20.5% less than their white counterparts’. Renowned Barbadian author Malorie Blackman and former UK children’s laureate revealed this applied to her during the 2020 #PublishPaidMe twitter campaign saying, ‘never in my life [have I] received anything like the sums being posted by some white authors’.[19] However, Black African women are the most disenfranchised with a 19.6% pay gap with white British men[20] across the UK. The unfair salary allocations are an extension of the discriminatory attitudes to be found in the workplace itself with 72% of Close the Gap respondents saying they had experienced racism or racial bias at their job.[21] This included co-workers naming them something ‘easier to pronounce’ (what, like Torquil?) or negatively assuming they held low-paid positions like a secretary or cleaner (that last one has indignantly happened to me often). Furthermore, ‘bullying, harassment or victimisation’ had been experienced by 42%, of which 52% chose not to report to their employers.[22] Reasons for this was not believing their line manager wouldn’t back them; that reporting it would make no difference; that their grievance wouldn’t remain confidential; or that complaining would actually make things worse.
Examples of
keeping quiet about workplace racism[23] are prevalent in the hospitality industry with one lady reporting that her supervisor would make fun of her accent, which she chose to 'not understand' rather than openly confront. Equally, some racist customers would tell her to 'get back to her own country' if their drink wasn’t served quickly enough. She would respond with nothing beyond a ‘look’, not wanting to be aggressive or start trouble perhaps fearing further problems to come from protesting such ignorant behaviour.
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Discrimination & abuse
towards BAME NHS staff
|
The extent of such conduct is likely higher than actual official stats according to Coalition of Racial Equality and Rights (CRER)’s Jatin Haria. He recounts that ScotGov posed the question about racism across various sectors such as firefighters and NHS Grampian, without any investigation they just responded ‘there’s no racism in our organisation’ and ScotGov just believed them(!) Oudwin Griffith of the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHSGGC) BAME Staff forum however reports a different story in the medical sector with ethnic minority trainees receiving less patience from their supervisors than white trainees to become proficient in medical skills. Similar impatience is displayed by white patients towards their BAME carers, which at times became openly abusive. On one occasion, a staffer of colour was called ‘Taliban’, but when this was reported to their white supervisor, the response was, ‘he’s not racist, he’s just confused’…surely describing their own befuddled mindset. The support from white colleagues in this case was not clearly good enough and aptly demonstrates a scenario which
Close the Gap research also revealed:
of the BAME workers who did speak up about racism, just 23% were content with how their grievance was dealt with.
[24]
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Products for darker skin colours
|
Similar issues could again be seen in the modelling industry with Eunice Olúmidé reporting that during fashion campaigns for Prada, Vivienne Westwood, Scot Christopher Kane and many others,
‘the racism was just normal. I definitely felt isolated, but I got used to it and became desensitised to it all’.
[25] The discrimination came early in her career when she ‘wasn’t getting basic work such as catalogues because Scotland wasn’t ready for women of colour as models.’ Then during a photoshoot for a high-end Scottish store when she was 19, a
make-up artist inexperienced with Black models hadn’t brought products suitable for Eunice’s mocha brown skin.
[26] She therefore used eyeliner pencils to painfully scribble over Eunice’s face, which the model later complained about. Her reasonable objection however did not result in a policy of requiring all make-up artists to come equipped with products for all skin shades, but instead with Eunice being seen as ‘difficult to work with’. Rather than fix the problem, their ‘solution’ was to avoid it as the Nigerian model was never booked by that client again and essentially ostracised in Scotland. Oh, the irony of ‘throwing shade’ because of a model’s shade…
This indirect complicity with racism from bosses is little to no different from when they themselves are directly delivering racism. The Trade Union Congress (TUC)’s 2017
Is Racism Real report showed that, whereas racial verbal abuse (xenophobic opinions, remarks and jokes) mainly came from colleagues,
racial bullying or harassment principally came from managers, as did actual assault or physical violence(!)[27] With this being the mindset of many in managerial positions, ethnic minority employees are faced with further barriers when it comes to career development.
As has been the trend with all stages of employment, Close the Gap research also found that ‘49% of BAME women believe they were overlooked for a workplace development opportunity’.[28] Their executive director Anna Ritchie Allan said, ‘Exclusionary workplace cultures and biased employment practice prevent Scottish BAME women from entering/progressing at work, hindering their career opportunities, and contributing to their higher levels of poverty.’[29]
This occurrence has been present throughout the Scottish Racism Project series. In education[30], teachers of colour had ‘reduced access to workplace opportunities’ and ‘nearly half had experienced being overlooked for promotion’ and thus pay progression. In football[31], former professional Black players with all the qualifications to start a second career in coaching never land an opportunity to manage young players at or near the professional level, instead watching such positions go to people who had never even played professionally. In medicine[32], Black doctors experience career hinderance as they are promoted less than their white colleagues, leading to a shocking lack of diversity in senior positions across the NHS. In policing[33], there are no top ranking BAME officers, with only 1 BAME superintendent and 1 chief inspector out of 446 senior officers, and 69 BAME staffers out of 5,963 in all. In the legal system[34], highly qualified Black lawyers in Scotland like Maximus Asante have a hard enough time trying to simply getting hired never mind then being promoted through the ranks and shifting to the judiciary. In the arts[35], 50% of BAME creatives say their ethnic background was a barrier to career progression compared to just 5% of white creatives, meaning commissioners and others in arts governance are disproportionally white.
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| Senior Lecturer Dr Dumiso Moyo |
Part of the problem is yet another well-known phenomenon of ‘moving goalposts’[36] as University of Dundee’s Dr Dumiso Moyo from Zimbabwe is unfortunately well acquainted with. The Architecture and Urban Planning lecturer has been in higher education for about 16 years because he enjoys the job which involves interacting with great students with whom to share knowledge, and amazing colleagues with whom to brainstorm ideas. However, his job satisfaction hits a brick wall when it comes to career progression. In order to be recognised as a qualified academic, he was told to reach certain goals. Goal 1 was that he needed a PhD, which he obtained but then inexplicably had ‘no value’. Goal 2 was needing experience in teaching…but ordinarily he couldn’t get this without being a recognised academic in the first place(!) After moving institutions he was able to start teaching, but still wasn’t fully recognised. Goal 3 was needing to develop certain modules/courses which he then did many times over, but it still wasn’t enough. Goal 4 was needing to develop full undergrad & postgrad degree programmes which he did but again it wasn’t enough. Goal 5 was needing to have run the degree programmes himself. Recognition time? Not on your nelly…
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University of Dundee
|
Goal 6 was needing more experience beyond the university, so he ran programmes combined with other institutions...nope! Goal 7 was needing an actual teaching qualification, so he was accredited by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) as a Senior Fellow…nae even. Goal 8 was needing to supervise PhD students, which he happily then did 7-8 times over…no dice. Goal 9 was needing to get chartered membership of Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI)…STILL not enough! Goal 10 was being told to set up his own strategy as he had already achieved all other goals set for him…but then he was told ‘that’s an own-goal’ and had ‘no value for career progression’. After 16 years of this scholastic wild goose chase, Dr Dumiso concluded that in Scotland, African academics are considered ‘perpetual novices’ by default, no matter their qualifications/attained goals. (The automatic classification was clearly on display when a new colleague asked all students to leave an event…including his dark-skinned colleague and clearly got antsy when the ‘impetuous student’ wouldn’t depart with the others as instructed.) For white academic candidates, Goal 1 of a PhD would most likely be the finish line/defining achievement, but not for their Black counterparts.
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Zaffir Hakim sacked for bringing discrimination claim
|
Parallel trends could be seen in the housing sector with Edinburgh-based Bangladeshi Ahsan Khan. In 2008 in his role as Loreburn Housing Association Chief Executive, he applied for a senior head of housing post with Angus Council. But even though he had extensive experience, his application did not pass to the interview stage.[37] When Ahsan mentioned the job criteria was indirectly discriminatory, the council produced a short leet for interview, curtailing its recent experience requirement specifically to the Scottish local authority scene. Though had this been specified in the original job ad, Ahsan would have included his again extensive experience in that area. In contrast, the white candidate who went on to secure the position had no housing experience whatsoever and his application in general ‘did not meet or significantly fell below the requirements of the person specifications’. Even the Scotland Trade Union Congress (STUC) displayed similar behaviour in 2014 when Zaffir Hakim, their former Equality Development Officer, failed to be promoted despite 11 years at the organisation.[38] He then raised a racial discrimination claim that STUC feared could possibly jeopardise bids for anti-racism project funding such as One Workplace Equal Rights (OWER), which Zaffir was working on at the time. When the OWER’s funding later ran out the following year, the 11-year veteran was unnecessarily made redundant when ‘other options could have been explored’. A stunned Zaffir said of his ordeal, ‘the lack of support for members by trade unions in STUC equality structures is alarming…Trade unions cannot move forward on equality issues and protecting workers if they are unable or unwilling to challenge their own practices, and supporting individuals who have carried out a protected act.’ Racial discrimination against the Equalities Officer…can I get a double take with a satirical ‘huh?’ for this serious WTF moment to the 12th power!?!!
Despite the substantial barriers to career progression, people of colour are at times indeed promoted. However, when this happens, they still run into issues such as their achievements not being recognised or tokenism, finding their role as purely ornate with any suggestions or recommendations they make usually overlooked[39] as is often the case across the arts sector. The dismissal of opinion/input is one thing, the ongoing racism directed at them is quite another. NHSGGC BAME Staff forum’s Oudwin Griffith shared that a large percentage of ethnic minority staff are on lower rungs of NHS pay scale e.g. band 2/3/4/5 with people rarely promoted to band 6/7/8/9 up to the realms of senior management. But those staffers who do get promoted have to deal with being undervalued as was the case with a Ghanaian specialist in cardiothoracic surgery. He was called for consultations all around Scotland, such was his recognised expertise. However, after 11 years, he never once got a wage increase and he decided to move away from the region, taking his life-saving medical talents with him. In other cases, promoted BAME staff experienced more exposure to racism in their ethnically isolated posts from white subordinates, peers & supervisors. As a result, some have actually requested to be demoted again, prioritising being more ethnically comfortable over financially comfortable(!)
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Workplace racism affected Anne Giwa-Amu's mental wellbeing
|
Regardless, those who regress in their career still have to deal with racism to the extent that 57% of Close the Gap respondents said it had affected their mental wellbeing.[40] 41% wanted to quit their job all together but could not afford to do so, but for another 37% it was all too much and they handed in their notice due to racist behaviour. A textbook example of this occurred to Nigerian-Welsh Administration Officer Anne Giwa-Amu in the organisation supposed to help positively facilitate post-career life versus negatively lead to and indeed afflict it: the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
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Institutional racism in the DWP
|
In 2016, Anne was the only recruit and trainee of colour in her cohort at her DWP branch. From the outset of her employment, DWP staffers treated Anne “in an insulting way deliberately intended to humiliate [her] and create a hostile environment for her”.[41] The abuse included using racist language like 'P***-lover' around her, being repeatedly accused of stealing ice cream, and using body spray on themselves while sitting beside her (even though it was their own behaviour which in fact reeked to high heaven). One putrid DWP official had even laughed at her and told co-workers that he had “touched her bum”, compounding the racism with sexual harassment with perceived impunity. The abuse unsurprisingly affected her mental health and she in March 2017 went on sick leave before later being unlawfully dismissed that October for being unable to return to work. Her final pay cheque was then withheld, leaving her economically destitute living off £55 per week. Equal Justice[42] lawyer Lawrence Davies did not mince words, saying the DWP had intentionally set out to “destroy the confidence and wellbeing of a black employee”. In the wake of the mistreatment, none of the racist perpetrators were disciplined and some were even promoted up the DWP ranks. Whilst these events occurred in Caerphilly branch in south-east Wales, the Department for Work and Pensions operate right across the UK, including Scotland. All this overt prejudice in the state benefits system is very worrying considering the DWP serves a high number of BAME claimants who will most likely suffer similarly from institutional racism within the organisation.
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BAME pensioners are worse off than whites
|
The issue of pension-related racism[43] is indeed systemic according to research from workplace retirement income providers The People’s Pension (TPP). Their 2020 report Measuring the Ethnicity Pension Gap[44] revealed the ‘average ethnic minority pensioner’s retirement income is 24.4% less than the average white pensioner’. As is the trend throughout employment racism, the disparity is even larger amongst BAME women who on average are 51.4% worse off in retirement than white male pensioners. These figures indicate that there are several barriers in place ‘hindering the opportunities for Black people to save for retirement’ that need to be addressed.
Taking into account the sheer onslaught of racial prejudice permeating throughout the Scottish employment scene, the diverse range of racial groups Eunice Olúmidé sees walking down Edinburgh’s streets face a truly hard time trying to make a living for themselves up north. Even with the intellectual brilliance they bring to the table, their melanated aesthetic, as beautiful as it is, means BAME workers are glossed over from the prospects and indeed respect they deserve, making Scotland quite literally the inverse of a land of opportunity…
So now we know of the racism against people of colour in Scottish workplaces across all job sectors, what can be done about it? Let’s break it down step by step.
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Eunice Olúmidé became an AAI EmployAbility patron
|
Regarding job applications & interviews, Yasin Kakande’s attributes the prejudice at this employment stage to unconscious bias against Africans[45], which means all employers across the UK should undergo training to address their underlying racial bias and recognise skills & talent without the ‘whitening’ of CVs. Equally, so not to ‘whiten’ their appearance, the Halo Collective have launched ‘the UK’s first
Black hair code for schools and workplaces to prevent discrimination based on hair style or texture.’
Another way to add more BAME people into the work force is creating initiatives to get them onto the career ladder such as the Empower Women for Change ‘Thistles & Dandelions’ heritage project.[46] It provides a year of training which builds transferable skills to then enter the heritage sector or laterally to another industry. There’s also Adopt An Intern (now AAI EmployAbility) arranging ‘paid internships for graduates of all ages, the unemployed, underemployed and for BAME women wanting to return to work.[47] Since its 2009 inception, 13.5% of AAI facilitated internships, including returnships for those re-entering the workforce, have been people of colour. (For such great work, Eunice Olúmidé gave the 2017 keynote speech at an Edinburgh event before becoming an AAI patron.) What’s more, there’s also Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiatives to get BAME job seekers into the workplace[48] as was the case with Joseph Amouzou. After a year of job searching, they helped him finally land a position at North Glasgow Housing Association.
 |
Initiatives to reduce the ethnic and gender pay gap
|
Regarding job environments, to address the disparity in salaries, the Fawcett Society have started an annual ‘Equal Pay Day’ event to spotlight and thus help counter the gender and ethnic pay.[49] It is an initiative similar to that of 'Black Women's Equal Pay Day'[50] in the US where certain job sectors are also getting proactive on the issue. In June 2020, employees across the publishing industry went on strike, donated a day’s pay, and served the Black community (e.g. working only on books by Black authors) in a bid to help address systemic racism.[51] Indeed, in addition to conducting equal pay reviews, ‘gender-sensitive employment practices, such as offering flexible and part-time work at all levels of the organisation needs to be developed’.[52] Such actions would reflect the attitudes that need to permeate throughout the Scottish employment sector in order to give clout to Business, Fair Work and Skills Minister Jamie Hepburn’s words: ‘We believe individuals from different ethnic backgrounds enrich Scotland socially, culturally and economically. The Scottish Government is taking a number of actions to advance race equality and tackle racism within society and the labour market, and to ensure better outcomes for people from ethnic minority groups.[53] It must be our aim to ensure that each and every person in Scotland has the opportunity to work towards their goals and be supported towards securing fulfilling meaningful employment.’ In doing so, there are various benefits to employers in enhancing equality and diversity including better staff morale; improved innovation in product and service design; heightened productivity; and being able to hire from a larger talent pool.[54]
 |
Close the Gap E.D. Anna Richie Allan
|
But what happens when BAME employees are met with overt racism in the workplace? Immediate steps should be taken to ensure
job wellbeing charity Scottish Hazards’
[55] 5 dimensions of Fair Work; effective voice, opportunity, security, fulfilment and respect to promote workplace health, safety, equality and wellbeing are restored. However,
Close the Gap Executive Director Anna Ritchie Allan insists, ‘the lack of confidence in employer complaints procedures is a critical problem.
We need to see strong leadership from employers on tackling discrimination and implicit bias, and systems put in place to meaningfully address concerns about racism.’
[56] Otherwise there are certain steps to follow when
dealing with racial discrimination[57] such as collecting evidence of the racism (emails, letters, audio recordings, etc); raising the issue informally within the organisation’s complaints structure (also asking the Citizens Advice Bureau or Equality and Human Rights Commission [EHRC] for support and guidance); then if all else fails taking the organisation to court (see following examples).
 |
CRER chairwoman Sandra Deslandes-Clark
|
Regarding job progression, when it is clear there is career hinderance on racial grounds, affected workers should take legal action against the employers. This was the case with Ahsan Khan where an employment tribunal instructed Angus Council to pay him £26,054 in damages.[58] Similarly, Zaffir Hakim was awarded almost £16,680 in compensation from the STUC[59] for being unfairly dismissed and subjected to victimisation in the wake of his claim of racial discrimination. Following the initial verdict, CRER chairwoman Sandra Deslandes-Clark said: “We hope that this judgement will convince the STUC of the need to take specific, appropriate action to address the procedural, policy and personal issues underlying their treatment of Mr. Hakim, but until such time as we see evidence of action, we are unable to continue our support for the STUC…It is our responsibility as an anti-racist organisation to take a stand against victimisation, even where our own interests are at stake.”[60] (What was odd mind you was that the STUC’s own Black Workers Committee[61] said nothing about the racial discrimination and equalities related case, which seems contradictory to their supposed function…) Alternatively, workers of colour could approach UNISON Scotland Black Members Committee regarding the great work they do to address racial challenges and speak to their chair, Rakiya Suleiman.
 |
| Initiatives needed to reduce systemic racism in pension industry |
Regarding job pensions, the
DWP should root out systemic racism and not reward racist employees by letting them keep their jobs.
[62] In the wake of Anne Giwa-Amu’s treatment, whilst the employment tribunal judge awarded her £386,060 in damages and ordered her former employers to undergo diversity awareness training from the EHRC, Anne insist the DWP were only “paying lip service to the equality legislation”. By protecting offenders and promoting them to higher positions, they were in fact promoting a culture of racism. Only by dismissing such bigots will a serious message against xenophobia be sent, which will in turn lessen any prejudice towards the DWP’s BAME claimants.
There should also be more diversity within the pension industry itself[63], as is the goal of the Breaking the Mirror Image campaign launched in 2017 by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) as well as a five-year diversity and inclusion strategy launched in May 2020 by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). This would then help lead to going beyond looking at race as an isolated issue and instead consider how to assist in societal factors. For example, unwarranted lower salaries that disproportionately affect people of colour and by extension negatively affects their post-retirement income. ‘Now, more than ever, is the time to examine and take efforts to remove the overt and implicit barriers to retirement saving, and to career progression within the pensions industry itself, facing ethnic minorities.’
Empowering BAME Communities
Whilst these initiatives will advance the future employment prospects and work situation of BAME employees across all job sectors, what of those who find themselves perpetually unemployed or under-employed despite their excellent qualifications? This was the case with Fife Centre for Equalities (FCE) board member Sidique Akbar’s parents who in the 1950s were invited to UK from Pakistan as were many across the British Commonwealth because there was so much work to be had rebuilding the ‘mother country’ after WWII. However, they soon noticed that BAME people were getting paid half what white people got paid for the exact same work. So if they weren’t going to be paid equal rates for equal hours, they decided to be self-employed and many started their own businesses.[64] In Sidique’s parents’ case, this was a corner shop which gave the family good security…to the point that when local whites became unemployed in bad economies, they became jealous and hateful of their recession-proof self-employed South Asian neighbours, leading to more racism than usual being directed at them. Regardless, this strategy is still being exercised by many people of colour in Scotland, including Ghanaian entrepreneur Tzaritsa Asante.
 |
| Entrepreneur Tzaritsa Asante & her fashion designs |
As a typical woman of African origin, she is highly educated with a BA in Media & Communications, an MA in Politics & Communications as well as a PhD in Community Development. Though after graduating, Tzaritsa was only offered low level positions. At one entry-level job, she had the same qualifications as a white co-student from her course, but Tzaritsa was inexplicably on lower pay. She began noticing that she and other BAME applicants were always rebuffed for managerial positions even when having more qualifications & experience. At one job, they did indeed recognise her impressive abilities and skills, and thus increased her duties accordingly, but there was no corresponding increase in pay. After these and many more consistent let downs in the Scottish job market, she no longer wanted to be pigeonholed by white restrictions for a BAME career path. So securing funding from ‘Scottish Enterprise’ in Oct 2019, she decided to set up her own fashion & jewellery business called Tzari.[65] In her promotional video, she said that some refer to the town of Slamannan where she’s based as ‘the place where dreams come to die’, but she then definitely added, ‘but mine won’t!’ With that level of conviction, Eunice Olúmidé might very well be soon wearing some Tzari designs for her next fashion campaign, perpetuating each other’s job security/fulfilment and providing inspiration for other entrepreneurs of colour to follow suit.
Yes, Scotland has a long way to go before resolving its issues with racism in employment, and only with a concerted effort will progress be made.
~ by Abiọ́dún Ọlátòkunbọ̀ Abdul
Confronting Epistemological Racism,
Decolonizing Scholarly Knowledge: Race and Gender in Applied Linguistics (15th
June 2019)
Black Women's Equal Pay Day Hits
Reality in the UK (2nd Aug 2017)
Publishing
has ignored and pigeonholed black authors for too long (9th Jun
2020)
Equal Justice Solicitors UK
What are the employment experiences
of Black and minority ethnic women in Scotland? (7 Mar 2019)
