Ethnicity

Question 1

Work and employment

Answer 1

1.Highest rate of unemployment for women were Arab (64%) Bangladeshi (61%) Pakistani (60%) or Gypsy Traveller (60%).
2.Bangladeshi and Gypsy Traveller women were the most likely to work fewer than 30 hours a week.
3.Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2007) states that ethnic minority graduates, particularly women, find it harder to gain high-level positions in work.
4.Davidson (1997) used the term ‘concrete ceiling’, meaning women from ethnic minorities will not reach promotion due to discrimination. White women have seen to, at times, be able to break through their glass ceiling, but this concrete ceiling ethnic minorities have is unbreakable.

Question 2

Income and wealth

Answer 2

1.Office for National Statistics (2014) says two fifths of people from ethnic minorities are in low-income households, twice the rate of white people
2.The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2007) found ethnic minorities have lower earnings than White groups
3.Rowlingson and McKay (2012) found that White British people in manager occupations had greater wealth than other ethnic groups in the same positions
4.The National Equality Panel (2010) showed that White British households had the greatest level of wealth in 2006/8 (on average £221,000) but this was closely followed by Indian households

Question 3

Poverty

Answer 3

1.2011 Census states one in three Bangladeshi and Pakistanis in England and Wales were living in deprived neighbourhoods compared to one in twelve White British
2.Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2007) report ‘Poverty and Ethnicity in the UK’ found that Pakistani and Bangladeshi households rely on social security benefits such as House Benefit and Jobseekers Allowance more than other ethnic groups. They are much more associated with poverty and fall below poverty lines.
3.The Runnymede report (2010) found ethnic minorities are up to three times more likely than white people to experience poverty in retirement. They also found older people from ethnic minorities experienced language barriers and could not access the pension system
4.Acock (1997) says ethnic minorities experience exclusion and isolation due to material deprivation.

Question 4

Social mobility

Answer 4

1.Platt analysed the 2001 Census and found Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups performed less well than other groups in terms of occupational achievement.
2.Ami Sedghi (2014) said even though ethnic minorities achieve well in education they still face social mobility barriers. The report she studied stated that Chinese, Indian, Irish, Bangladeshi and black African students are outperforming their white British peers in obtaining 5 or more GCSE’s A*-C and ethnic groups have seen improvement in access to degree qualifications.
3.Research also found White men and women are far more likely to move up the socio-economic class to their parents compared to Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women.
4., Black African and black Caribbean experienced a fall in full time work when White women stay stable. Also, the rates of part-time employment for Chinese and Indian men have doubled in the last ten years. Furthermore, Muslim women suffer more from employer discrimination, particularly for those who wear the hijab