London’s BAME women who are working are being deeply affected by a harsh reality that is not being addressed, says the Global Shapers London Hub.
The Global Shapers London Hub is part of the Global Shapers Community which is an initiative created by the World Economic Forum. It is a highly selective network of change makers under the age of 33, working together to address local, regional and global challenges. The Shapers have released a report publishing their research on intersectionality and pay and held a Twitter conversation #EqualPayUK in which users participated sharing their experiences of intersectionality and how this impacts pay. EY, NHS, Mishcon de Reya, The Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion and New Entrepreneurs Foundation are amongst the organisations to have shared open letters in support of the campaign.
Intersectional work aims to be inclusive of everyone and respecting of all parts of others’ identities which is what the Shapers’ latest campaign is based on. An intersectional lens is a critical factor when evaluating full equality. Unfortunately, equality isn’t always looked at through multiple lenses on important topics like pay.
As most organisations are not collecting or publishing any kind of intersectional data on pay, there is a hindrance on the wider community’s ability to have data-driven conversations on this issue. This is what makes the Global Shapers London Hub’s work so crucial. Although discussions of issues like equal pay have received considerable public attention and media scrutiny over the years, the response from employers and policy makers has fallen short, says the organisation behind a revealing study into intersectionality which aims to tackle the issue by starting the conversation via qualitative evidence.
Co-curator elect of the Global Shapers London Hub, Claudine Adeyemi, said, “We as Shapers are committed to working on projects that deal with impact in new ways. When looking at ways that we could address making London more inclusive, we discovered that many were not even aware of the concept of 'intersectionality' let alone how to address it and create change. In the context of 'pay gaps' it seemed to us to be a great opportunity to raise awareness about it and start conversations to push for change.”
Furthering this example, even though white women experience sexism, they generally have more power and unearned privilege than Black women. Intersectionality describes all types of overlapping forms of marginalisation, helping us understand the wide range of an individual's experience based on demographics including sexual orientation, religion, disability or race.
