Minority ethnic women in the North of England face a lifetime of inequalities that stretch from childhood and maternity care to employment, mental health and later life, according to a new report co-led by a University of Liverpool researcher.
The report, ‘Woman of the North: Closing the health gap for minority ethnic women’ , published by Health Equity North, found that racial discrimination, poverty and regional underinvestment combine to produce significantly worse outcomes in the North than elsewhere in England, while major gaps in data continue to conceal the full scale of the problem.
Co-led by Dr Oluwaseun Esan, University of Liverpool, and Dr Nasima Akhter, Teesside University, alongside over 50 other contributors – the vast majority of whom are minority ethnic women themselves – the report shows that poor data and limited research obscure how ethnicity, gender and place shape lives.
Key findings include:
- Black and Asian people are twice as likely to be in poverty than White people, with over three times as many experiencing persistent poverty
- Minority ethnic women in the North of England report substantially lower levels of good health than those in the South and London – 77.4%, compared to 88.5% and 82.9%, respectively
- Almost 1 in 5 (18.1%) minority ethnic women in the North have a long-lasting limiting illness, compared to 14.2% in the South and 15.8% in London. These conditions include cardiovascular disease, stroke, renal disease, some cancers, and poorer mental health outcomes
- The risk of obesity-related diseases among Bangladeshi women was three times higher for women living in the North than those living in London.
- There are significant ethnic inequalities in severe mental illness and Schizophrenia, with minority ethnic women are 2 – 6 times more likely than White women to be diagnosed with non-affective psychosis.
- Significant ethnic inequalities persist in access to and treatment for mental health problems, with barriers including limited trust, culturally insensitive services and delayed diagnosis.
- Women from minority ethnic groups are more likely to have cancer diagnosed at a late stage. Women from African, Caribbean and Asian ethnicity have higher odds of being diagnosed late with breast cancer and ovarian cancer
- Older minority ethnic people are 3.81 times more likely to experience loneliness than their White British peers.
- 45% of minority ethnic women report having experienced online abuse, and technology is increasingly documented as a coercive tool deployed within honour-based or community-monitoring contexts.
- Women from minority ethnic groups are more likely to be arrested, serve longer sentences and receive disparate treatment in Magistrates’ Court decisions including pleas and remand decisions, compared to White people.
Read the report here.
Dr Oluwaseun Esan, Lecturer in Public Health, said: “Our research found that minority ethnic women living in the North are from diverse backgrounds and not a monolithic group. Despite the structural inequalities of decades of underinvestment in the North, gender, and racial discrimination they experience, they effectively organise themselves within their local communities and often in mixed ethnic group settings. These trusted relationships sometimes help to navigate financial hardship, transport problems, poor communication and culturally insensitive services where statutory services have not effectively reached minority ethnic women.
“The UK Government’s rediscovered emphasis on prevention and the shift from hospital to community-based care is welcome, as is the renewed Women’s Health Strategy. These must be designed with minority ethnic women and the trusted community organisations that already understand and support them, rather than imposed without them.
“That means sustained funding that is scaled up in proportion to local need and for community-led services, culturally competent and genuine involvement at every stage from research and policy design to delivery and evaluation, and genuine involvement at every stage from research and policy design to delivery and evaluation.”