The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research

Aysha Ismail
Doctoral Student

Tel:
Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 4722
Email: aysha.ismail@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk 

 	Room  G45
	CCSR
	School of Social Sciences
	Kantorovich Building
	Humanities Bridgeford Street
	University of Manchester
	MANCHESTER
	M13 9PL

Research Interests

Current Activities

Research project: ‘Barriers to Employment for South Asian Women’

Consultancy: ‘Faith & Enterprise: Barriers to Employment for Muslim Women’ Action Research Project for SEDI (Social Enterprise Development Initiative).

Barriers to Employment for South Asian Women

Funded by the ESRC & DfES (the Economic & Social Research Council and the Department for Education & Skills).

Supervised by Professor Angela Dale, Dr Mark Brown (CCSR) & David Drew (DfES).

Project Details compiled by Angela Dale

Research Aims and Outcomes

The project will provide and increased understanding of the barriers to employment faced by South Asian women. The experiences of Indian women will provide a basis for comparison with those of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women. Multivariate models, based on analysis of census data, which will include both individual and area-level effects, will provide information on the relative importance of difference factors for the two groups of women in 1991 and 2001. These results will be complemented by qualitative interviews with women and employers.

Context of Project

Research under the ESRC’s ‘Future of Work Programme’ has highlighted the increased uptake of higher qualifications amongst young South Asian women and particularly those of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women (Dale et al 2000). Amongst the latter, the research has highlighted the fact that younger, UK-educated women, value the opportunity to take paid employment as providing some economic independence and self-identity. Women who had obtained higher qualifications expressed particular determination to pursue a career as well as having a family. However, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women with higher qualifications have higher rates of unemployment than unqualified women - a pattern which is quite contrary to the majority white population. Pakistani and Bangladeshi women’s levels of unemployment are also much higher than those of Indian women. However, this difficulty in gaining employment cannot simply be explained by qualifications or language ability. Comparative analysis of employment patterns for Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women may help to shed light on these differences. For example, can the situation of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women be best understood by timing of migration? Or are the differences explained by the characteristics of the local labour market? Whilst religion has been shown not to influence economic activity, there is some qualitative evidence that an obvious Muslim identity for example - wearing a hijab - may deter prospective employers who do not ‘see’ the person behind the headscarf. The new question on religion in the 2001 Census will be valuable in this respect.

Data and Methods

The project will use a range of data sources, including the 1991 and 2001 Census, to establish the extent of change in South Asian women’s labour market activity, unemployment and occupational distribution in relation to qualifications, and household and family characteristics. The work will identify different labour market outcomes for groups with different qualifications. The 2001 Census will, for the first time, record a full range of qualifications. It will also record full details of economic activity and occupation. This will support a wide range of outcomes. The Census offices will derived the National Statistics Socio-Economic Class and, in addition, we plan the Cambridge Occupational Scores, the Standard International Prestige Scores (SIOPS) and the International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI) – as well as mean hourly earnings derived from the New Earnings Survey. The Individual SAR in 2001 will, we hope, have a 3% sample and allow all but the smallest local districts to be identified. This should support some modelling work to include the local effect of labour markets as well as giving a lager sample size for analysis of ethnic differences.

Our experience with the ESRC-funded ‘Future of Work’ project demonstrated the value of combining qualitative interviews or focus groups with analysis of census and survey data. Although this is time-consuming, we would plan to include some qualitative work with South Asian women and their employers. In particular, it will be valuable to include and employer’s perspective that allows comparison of Indian women with Pakistani and Bangladeshi women.

Fieldwork

Target groups for focus groups and individual interviews:

  1. Young, single, graduates: Indian (Hindu, Sikh, & Muslim) .
  2. Young, single, graduates: Muslim (Pakistani, Bangladeshi & Indian).
  3. Women with young children: Indian (Hindu, Sikh, & Muslim).
  4. Women with young children: Muslim (Pakistani, Bangladeshi & Indian).
  5. Early school leavers: Indian (Hindu, Sikh, & Muslim).
  6. Early school leavers: Muslim (Pakistani, Bangladeshi & Indian).
  7. East African South Asians
  8. Mirpuris
  9. Urban Pakistanis
  10. Miscallaneous

Links

CCSR, Ethnic Differences in Employment Patterns: Gender & Generational Change www.ccsr.ac.uk/research/ethnic.htm

Cabinet-Office, Ethnic Minorities in the Labour Market www.strategy.gov.uk

Home-Office, Religious Discrimination in England & Wales www.homeoffice.gov.uk

ONS, Office of National Statistics www.statisitcs.gov.uk

DfES, Department for Education & Skills www.dfes.gov.uk

CRE, Commission of Racial Equality www.cre.gov.uk

EOC, Equal Opportunities Commission www.eoc.org.uk

CASAS, Centre of Applied South Asian Studies www.art.man.ac.uk/CASAS/

SEDI, Social Enterprise Development Initiative http://www.sedi.org.uk/

University of Manchester CCSR