Asian women talking

A few years ago I uncovered the main reason for the under-performance of pupils of Pakistani descent in our schools. GCSE results among this group are well below average.

The reason? So many mothers of Pakistani descent (many of whom have only lived in Britain for a few years) speak limited English and cannot therefore help their children at school, or with their homework. Many fathers of Pakistani descent work long hours and are not at home during the time children need help with their homework.

So I applied successfully for a grant for the teaching of English to women from our Asian community in Lye. The programme started last summer and is ongoing.

Last Friday I met some of the women who had committed themselves to the English classes. I chaired a discussion on what their lives in Lye were like, their hopes and fears for the future and what they thought of the influence of religion in their community.

I should say that there were approximately twenty five women present almost all of whom were Asian, but there was also representation from the Somali and Albanian communities.

I have arranged the views expressed by theme and as far as possible in the words of the women themselves.

On employment

This was the most emphatic and surprising finding. How many of the group had any form of paid employment outside the home?

One. And she was one of the Somali women present, not a representative of the Asian community.

I followed up by asking how many of the group would like to take some paid employment outside the home?

Everyone. Without exception every woman present wanted a job outside the home. Why? For the same reasons that drove many western women out to work as soon as they got the chance:

• For extra money
• For stimulation
• For company
• But first and foremost, to gain more independence

Everyone had benefitted from the English lessons but learning English well enough to impress a potential employer is an uphill struggle and a long one. A woman present from the Halesowen Job Centre stated that employers did not realise how productive an employee whose English was limited could be and much potential was being wasted as a result. If only employers would offer women with limited English a ‘work trial’ for no payment they would realise the many skills they might be able to access.

On the family

We discussed husbands, daughters, divorce, domestic violence and the difference between living in Lye and living back in Pakistan.

“Some husbands are OK”

“In Pakistan we could wear what we liked, we come here and it’s more restricted”

Forced marriage was not seen as a problem in Lye, I mentioned that it was in other parts of the country but no one knew of any recent examples in our area.

I asked about the women’s aspirations for their daughters. Everyone who had daughters, without exception, agreed with the woman who said:

“What we didn’t get we hope they will have, a good education, confidence, a job and some choice about what they do with their lives”

There was a general awareness that domestic abuse is a problem locally and a strong feeling that victims are reluctant to report it. Women wanted advice on what to do about it and more information about the help that might be available to them.

Abuse can take many forms of course. One woman was in tears during the discussion as she had foregone her schooling to raise her younger brothers and sisters. She felt seriously disadvantaged owing to her lack of education.

Outside of the general discussion two women came to discuss the abuse they were suffering. Many of us in the west have a great respect for Asian family life. We see that it embodies many of the traditions now seen less in Western Society. But the flipside is that it can be very isolating. Abuse can go undetected for longer as the taboos of raising such a matter outside the family are a serious disincentive to taking action.

On integration

I was surprised to be told how polite and considerate English people are. Normally I hear about anti-social behaviour, abuse and so forth, so although I find most people in Stourbridge friendly and pleasant it comes as a surprise to hear it from others!

The English are nicer to us than our own people are. If you go in to a white owned shop people will speak slowly and make a big effort to understand you, when I go in to an Asian shop they laugh at me because of my English.

There were reports of racism but it does not appear to be too bad in our area. Another encouraging response.

Undoubtedly the main barrier to integration as far as the women are concerned is the language barrier. With the knock on effect it has on the employment chances of these women.