UK needs around 1,000 Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority women councilors

Being a councillor is still seen as a white, middle class hobby for men according to new research by the Government Office of Equality and the Fawcett Society. Responding to the findings, Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equalities, has called for more ethnic minority women to take up roles in public life and wants the number of Black, Asian and ethnic minority women councillors to rise to around 1,000 to make councils fully representative and strengthen local democracy. Currently, there are 19,689 councillors across England and only 168 of them are ethnic minority women, which is less than one per cent (0.9%) despite the fact that ethnic minority women make up 4.6 per cent of the UK population.