A Third Of Black And Minority Ethnic Scots 'Have Experienced Discrimination'
Around a third of black and minority ethnic (BME) Scots have experienced discrimination within the last five years, according to research.
Around a third of black and minority ethnic (BME) Scots have experienced discrimination within the last five years, according to research.
And nearly 35% agree that discrimination is a widespread problem'' in Scotland, the study found. The survey was led by Dr Nasar Meer, of the University of Strathclyde's School of Social Work and Social Policy, and the polling company Survation.
Dr Meer and his colleagues asked more than 500 BME respondents across Scotland a range of questions exploring whether racial discrimination was an issue in their lives.
Around one in three reported facing discrimination across various aspects of life.
In terms of employment, 36% of those quizzed said they had experienced discrimination when it came to getting a job, while 31% said it had affected their promotion chances. Some 35% of respondents reported experiencing discrimination in education or while using public transport.
More than four-fifths (82%) of those who said they had experienced discrimination felt this was due to their perceived ethnicity. Some 42% felt it was due to their perceived religion.
Some BME groups reported higher levels of discrimination than others, the study found.
Nearly 45% of respondents with a black African Caribbean heritage, compared with 29% of Asian heritage and 23% of the mixed heritage respondents, said they had experienced discrimination in Scotland in the last five years.
The research also found 60% of respondents who had experienced discrimination did not report it to any kind of authority. This was despite 82% of the whole sample saying they would encourage a friend or family member to make a formal complaint if they thought they had experienced discrimination.
Some 21% of those questioned said they felt incidents of racial discrimination had become more frequent, while 22% said they had become less frequent, over the last five years.
Over half (54%) and nearly a quarter (24%) agreed and disagreed respectively with the statement, The Scottish government is doing enough to tackle discrimination in Scotland''.
Dr Meer said: The way we statistically measure experiences of discrimination varies from one survey to another, but this is the first survey that is focused exclusively on BME experiences in Scotland.
What it shows is that there is clearly a perception of both low-level and more obvious experiences of racial discrimination in Scotland, but also of under-reporting, and much more research is needed to show how and in what ways this may be occurring.
We certainly know from other fieldwork that racial discrimination occurs across the UK - for example, that BME applicants are less likely to be successful in applying for a job even discounting differences such as age and education. As this survey shows, we cannot assume this is not an issue in Scotland too.''
The study was carried out through a research fellowship awarded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.