Ethnic Minority Women Councillors' Taskforce

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women are still under-represented in the democratic life of this country. 

Only two women MPs come from minority ethnic communities and BAME women account for less than one per cent of England's 20,000 Councillors while they make up more than 5 per cent of the population.

To create a more representative picture the number of BAME women councillors needs to increase more than five-fold – from just 149 to nearer a thousand.

A cross party BAME Women Councillors' Taskforce was established in May 2008 and ran to July 2009 to help make local councils more representative of the community. Members were women from a wide range of backgrounds and experience from every region in England and from Scotland and Wales.

The Taskforce explored and developed practical ways to encourage BAME women to become councillors (find out about reasons to be a councillor) and champions of their communities.  It worked closely with a number of partners including the political parties to successfully deliver its objectives as well as a series of events around the country to attract and engage women. 

Operation Black Vote in partnership with the Taskforce, developed a mentoring scheme funded by the Government Equalities Office to demystify the functions of local government. The programme provides tailored support to BAME women who are taking the first steps to become active in political life. In addition to this work, BAME women were given the opportunity to gain a Certificate in Community Leadership. The course is being delivered by SOLACE.

A total of 60 women have been selected nationally for the mentoring scheme.  Regular updates will be posted on the OBV website.  An evaluation report on the overall Taskforce programme which will cover both the mentoring and the leadership course will be published in Spring 2010.

You can view a list of our taskforce partners and useful links.