Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has welcomed a new report from Equal Opportunities Commission into discrimination in the workplace.
‘Moving On Up: Ethnic minority women at Work’ is based on two-year study and is the largest of its kind in Britain. It finds that Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean women are facing intense discrimination in getting jobs and winning promotion.
The report also finds that racism, sexism and anti-Muslim prejudice based on widespread stereotypes make it harder for ethnic minority women to integrate in the workplace and to get promoted.
Welcoming the report, Mayor Livingstone said it “further proves that discrimination is the cause of inequality of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and black Caribbean women and debunks the myth that inequality can be dismissed as the result of so-called ‘choice’ or cultural factors” adding “the pay and employment discrimination inequality being experienced by these women is unacceptable and demands action.”
The Mayor called on the Government to use the Discrimination Law Review “to introduce the changes necessary to ensure that the recommendations in the Equal Opportunities Commission’s report are given the backing of law.”
“With 70 per cent of London’s working women employed in the private sector and London’s economy dependent on women workers, the EOC’s report highlights the challenge to all employers.”
