Women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are being disproportionately affected by austerity measures, according to new data.



Researchers who produced the report, "Intersecting Inequalities: The impact of austerity on BME women", have said that as well as the discrimination faced by women and black and minority ethnic (BME) people, there was a specific disadvantage that comes with being a woman from one of those backgrounds, particularly in the labour market.

The research was carried out by two organisations specialising in gender and race research, the Runnymede Trust and the Women’s Budget Group, and has been released on the same day as Theresa May's race equality audit. The prime minister warned last week that her audit will “hold up a mirror” to British society and “reveal uncomfortable truths”.

While both organisations have welcomed the audit, they said the challenge for the prime minister now is to act on its findings and those outlined in their report.



"Intersecting Inequality" provides an economic analysis of the cumulative impact of austerity policies since 2010, taking into account changes to taxes, benefits, and public spending.



Researchers found austerity is hitting the poorest hardest, women are losing out more than men, and BME households are losing out more than white households. This intersection of poverty, race, and gender means that many BME women are seeing a dramatic fall in their standard of living, which researchers said was having a "devastating" impact.

Specifically the research found that Asian women in the poorest third of households are forecast to lose on average 19% of their income by 2020 – more than £2,200 a year – compared with what they would have had if the policies in place in May 2010 had continued to 2020. Similarly, black women in the poorest households will lose on average 14% of their income, which equates to more than £2,000 a year.

In the 2015–16 financial year 50% of Bangladeshi households, 46% of Pakistani households, and 40% of black African/Caribbean households were living in poverty, compared with 19% of white British households.