Fawcett launches Rosa Parks bus ad to boost black women's votes

Fifty-four years ago, one black woman made history and ignited social and political change by refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a racially segregated bus in the United States.

On Monday, 4 May 2009, five black women rode a London bus to launch a new Fawcett Society ad to encourage more black women to exercise their right to vote. They were also promoting Your Voice, Fawcett’s new guide to democracy for ethnic-minority women ahead of local and European elections on 4 June.

Fawcett’s research has found that ethnic-minority women, particularly black women, are less likely to be registered to vote than white women and ethnic-minority men. They are also less engaged in mainstream politics: there are only two black women MPs, while there has never been an Asian woman MP.

Explaining why the action is so important, Joella Hazel, Outreach Officer at the Fawcett Society said:

‘Rosa Parks took a huge risk on that bus. She sat down so that we could stand up, so that black women around the world could have the right to vote. Yet today in the UK, black women are amongst the least likely to be registered to vote, meaning our voices are not being heard by politicians. I’m taking this bus with Rosa to show how a person’s actions can make a difference.'

Notes to editors:

• On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a racially segregated bus in Alabama. Her one political action helped spark the American Civil Rights Movement; she is now recognised as a leader and the genesis of that movement.
• The bus ad and democracy guide are part of Fawcett’s femocracy campaign on ethnic-minority women and politics. The guide explains how politics relates to the lives of ethnic-minority women, and how they can register to vote and become more involved in politics.
• The European elections, as well as elections for some English local authorities, will take place on Thursday, 4 June 2009.
• Fawcett will shortly release Lifts and ladders: resolving ethnic minority women’s exclusion from power, providing more information on ethnic-minority women’s under-representation in politics.