Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Latest NewsEquality, diversity and inclusionPositive discriminationRace discriminationDiscrimination

Union chief calls for positive discrimination for BAME women

by Jo Faragher 23 Aug 2019
by Jo Faragher 23 Aug 2019 Barry Batchelor/PA Archive/PA Images
Barry Batchelor/PA Archive/PA Images

A union boss in Wales has called for positive discrimination in favour of black and ethnic minority women applying for jobs.

According to Welsh employment figures, BAME women are much less likely to be employed than their white counterparts, and Shavanah Taj, head of the PCS trade union in Wales, said positive discrimination is the only means to effect change.

Positive action and discrimination

Podcast: Positive action 

Positive action in recruitment: the cost of getting it wrong

Positive discrimination is currently illegal under the Equality Act 2010, although employers can take “positive action” to support those from under-represented groups.

Taj, who is Wales’ first Muslim woman to lead a union, said: “Positive discrimination should not be a dirty word. Where are [BAME women]? They’re not in the boardrooms, they’re not on the boards of organisations. There are no BAME women assembly members.

“It’s not that people are incapable or don’t have the training or skill set, but there’s clearly some barriers that we’ve got to overcome.”

Taj said she had left Wales in order to get experience to progress in her career. BAME people make up 5% of the Welsh population, although the figure is higher in certain cities such as Cardiff, where the statistic is 18.4%.

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that Pakistani and Bangladeshi people had the lowest rates of employment, and revealed that BAME women were more likely to be ‘economically inactive’ than white women.

Dr Hade Turkmen, who put together a report for Welsh equality charity Chwarae Teg, argued for more BAME women to be represented in senior jobs and government so their voices could be heard. Her report ‘Triple Glazed Ceiling – Barriers to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women Participating in the Economy’ argues for job applications to be anonymous and called for employers to do more to understand the experiences of BAME women.

She said: “Only with this detailed understanding of the unique experiences of BAME women are decision-makers able to effectively break down the barriers. It is crucial that any proposed solutions for achieving gender equality in workplace should be considered through an intersectional lens which accounts for and addresses the varied experiences of BAME women.”

Diversity and inclusion opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more Diversity and inclusion jobs

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
Drop in EU migrants prompts urgent call for immigration transition period
next post
Financial Conduct Authority discriminated against worker with kidney disease

1 comment

Avatar
andy 23 Apr 2020 - 4:00 am

All discrimination is positive according to whoever is doing it.

Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

MP demands timeline on carer’s leave legislation

13 May 2022

Employment tribunal: use of word ‘bald’ can amount...

13 May 2022

Rees-Mogg under fire from civil service leader over...

13 May 2022

Prime minister steps up calls for 90,000 civil...

13 May 2022

Spain plans menstrual leave for painful periods

13 May 2022

‘Small spike’ in minimum wage underpayment among 20-24...

13 May 2022

Tesco to pioneer office space in local stores

13 May 2022

How employers can support women during the HRT...

13 May 2022

What it really means to be mentally fit

13 May 2022

What is employee wellbeing? Gethin Nadin talks to...

13 May 2022
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

TOPICS

Economics, government & business
Employee Relations
Employment law
Equality & diversity
Global HR
HR practice
HR strategy
Learning & training
Occupational health
Pay & benefits
Recruitment & retention
HR Tech
Wellbeing
All HR topics

WHAT’S HOT

Apprenticeship levy
Brexit
Covid-19 coronavirus
Gender pay gap reporting
Gig economy
Holiday pay
HR tech
IR35
Immigration
People analytics
Zero-hours contracts

JOBS

Post a job
Why advertise with us?
Change Management
Compensation & Benefits
Diversity & Inclusion
Employee Relations
Employment Law
Health & Safety
HR (General)
HR Business Partner
HR Director
HR Consultant
HR Shared Services
HR Systems
People Analytics
Learning & Development
Training
Occupational Health
Organisational Development
Payroll
Performance & Engagement
Recruitment & Resourcing
Talent Management
Wellbeing
Workforce Planning

ABOUT

About Personnel Today
Contact us
Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022
RSS feeds
Advertising specifications
Email Newsletters
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards

Employee Benefits
Employee Benefits Awards
Employee Benefits Live

Forum for Expatriate Management

OHW+
OHW+ membership

Whatmedia

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+