Why it's time to improve BAME women representation in business - Ismail Mulla

The Black Lives Matter protests have rightly put the spotlight on racial injustices ethnic minorities face across the world.
People during a protest calling for the removal of the statue of 19th century imperialist, politician Cecil Rhodes from an Oxford college.People during a protest calling for the removal of the statue of 19th century imperialist, politician Cecil Rhodes from an Oxford college.
People during a protest calling for the removal of the statue of 19th century imperialist, politician Cecil Rhodes from an Oxford college.

While the debate rages around statues symbolising slavery, this is the ideal time for meaningful change when it comes to representation of black and ethnic minority women in business.

Prior to Ramadan, I had a moment of self-reflection. I asked myself the question 'what is it that you have done to help improve representation of ethnic minorities?'.

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I thought I would be able to draw a well-balanced list of both male and female Muslim business leaders.

I was wrong. While I had a good list of male business leaders, I had clearly failed to reach out to female Muslim entrepreneurs.

During my time as a business reporter, I have seen businesses make great strides on gender equality.

Granted those great strides are still not enough and a lot remains to be done but the movement is heading in the right direction.

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However, in order to continue this progress, representation of black and ethnic minority women has to be central to the conversation.

Anyone who thinks they are not missing out by overlooking this group needs to only spend half an hour talking to Griselda Togobo.

The CEO of Forward Ladies is not only an example of a brilliant businesswoman but clearly has a handle on what women of colour can bring to the table.

In recent months, I've had the opportunity to speak to some exceptional women from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

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It's clear that BAME women are not a homogeneous entity. Each person has their own challenges.

Some have talked about needing to take a career break for childcare reasons. Others have spoken about socio-economic challenges that they've faced.

And then there have been those that have had to battle stereotypes.

Evidently, a lot of BAME women that I speak to have made it to one extent or another. Take Karen Finlayson for example. She's the only black female partner at PwC outside of London.

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The Doncaster born immigrants' daughter is a great role model for young women from BAME backgrounds.

There are others who also fit into that role model category. Noushin Raja abandoned her business career to make a difference in the charity sector.

When young Muslim women see her, they can identify with Ms Raja. She comes from a similar background to them but is helping rescue migrants from boats as well as helping local communities in the UK.

There's no getting away from the fact that BAME women are painfully underrepresented in the upper echelons of business.

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Before the killing of George Floyd sparked mass protests, I spoke to Aisha Khan, founder of Leeds-based Consilio Marketing.

The former marketing operations director for Jaywing said: “We are still having a debate on diversity from a gender perspective. It’s incredible that in 2020 we’re still having that dialogue.

“The case of even talking about ethnic diversity doesn’t come into it because we’re still at that fairly early stage of saying we need more diversity.

“More conversations need to take place around diversity being more than just gender. It has to encompass everything.”

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It feels like we’re at the apex of change and businesses must cease the opportunity to change for the better.

Yes, sharing stories of role models is good but that can only take you so far in raising aspirations among young BAME women. If they keep knocking on impenetrable doors, then they aren’t going to break through.

Besides, why should BAME women be expected to work harder than other groups to achieve the same level of success?

The first step for firms is to engage with the BAME community. It’s good to see that some are already doing that. Media giant Sky’s outlined meaningful strategy for doing so earlier this week. Others seem to be following suit.

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But if your company’s board is lacking in BAME women, then ask yourself why this is the case?

There are those that say positive discrimination is not the way forward. But to not do anything and just accept the current order of things would be to somehow imply that BAME women don’t have what it takes.

That is simply not true when you look at the remarkable achievements of those that have broken through the glass ceiling.

Change will only start with conversations and end with meaningful action. It’s time we all looked at changing, myself included.

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