TMP Online

The final report of Different Women Different Places, the study of ethnic minority women working in different leadership positions across Europe carried out by the Diversity Practice and Katalytic, has just been published.

DWDP was born out of the belief that being a black or Asian woman meant different things to different people but there was a lack of research, few role models and barely any work that did not talk solely about problems and barriers for black and Asian women, according to the study’s authors.  The study evolved from the discussions and experiences of a small network of successful women into a wide ranging online survey.

Commenting on the final report, Zohra Moosa, Senior Policy Officer of the Fawcett Society, said:
“This important report demonstrates what a contribution ethnic minority women leaders can make in the workplace when they are able to tap into all of their talents.”
“The study confirms what Fawcett’s Seeing Double project on ethnic minority women has found – that organisations are not served well by identikit workers. The ‘cultural barriers’ that ethnic minority women face are often not their own, but that of organisations that maintain outdated stereotypes of what a successful worker looks like.”
“Government and employers need to do much more to enable all ethnic minority women to excel.”

The DWDP study is the result of a partnership between the Diversity Practice, which works with organisations across the private, public and voluntary sectors to leverage the potential inherent in the diversity of their employees, and Katalytik, an organisation working for inclusion and engagement in science and technology education and employment.