How wide is the power gap for ethnic minority women?

Ethnic minority women lack access to power – from the grassroots to the Government. They are severely underrepresented in senior and governance positions across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Research

Fawcett has published a thinkpiece on how organisations can learn from Seeing Double's research into the experiences of ethnic minority women at work called Harnessing the power of difference - race, gender and the future workplace. Download a copy from the downloads box on the right.

Fawcett research has found that there are no ethnic minority women chief executives or chairs in the top 50 UK charities (as measured by turnover by the Charities Commission). Click on the excel file in the downloads box for more details.

The programme

The Seeing Double programme is exploring why ethnic minority women's participation in decision-making positions is under-par and how this can be changed through our:

Accessing Power roundtable series: In 2007, Fawcett hosted two roundtables on ethnic minority women’s access to governance and senior decision-making positions in the private, public and voluntary sectors.

Routes to Power research study: The Routes to Power research study summarises some key facts, differences between women, key challenges, pathways to success, the distinct value ethnic minority women bring to their roles, lessons for organisations, and recommendations for increasing representation.

Lifts and Ladders: The Lifts and Ladders: Resolving ethnic minority women's exclusion from power brings together all of Fawcett's existing research on why ethnic minority women are excluded from power in the UK and prepares the ground for a fresh analysis. It then pools and builds on Fawcett's most recent work on ethnic minority women and puts forward business, legal and ethnical imperatives for resolving ethnic minority women's exclusion from power, plus recommendations.

You can find out more about all of these projects by following the links below.

Lifts and Ladders: Resolving ethnic minority women's exclusion from power
Fawcett has published a report on why ethnic minority women are excluded from power in the UK.

Routes to Power: research on ethnic minority women and decision-making
Details about the Routes to Power research study on ethnic minority women's access to decision-making positions in Britain.

Case Studies: Routes to Power
Learn what it takes to achieve what you want and make your career a success.

Final report of Routes to Power
Read the findings of our innovative Routes to Power research study on ethnic minority women's access to decision-making positions in Britain.

Interim report: councillors
Read the interim report of our innovative Routes to Power research study on ethnic minority women's access to decision-making power in Britain.

Meet the women from Routes to Power
Read the biographies of the successful women involved in our Routes to Power research study.