'BAME' - update on our terminology
Until recently, Connected Voice has been using the term ‘BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) in our services. There has been an ongoing wider conversation about this term and in March 2021, the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities recommended that the government stop using the term BAME and recommended using the term ‘ethnic minority’ as a replacement. Some of the major criticisms of the term ‘BAME’ are that it treats non-white people as one monolithic culture, because it emphasises certain groups over others, and because the acronym is often used as a noun.
We have had a detailed consultation with our Haref Network about this. At our June Haref Network meeting, we facilitated a discussion, collected people’s viewpoints and held a live poll. We followed this up with the wider Haref Network by email explaining the process and the terms considered. We collected everyone’s feedback on an online ‘jam-board’ and poll.
The Haref Network felt that ‘ethnically minoritised’ recognises that individuals and communities have been minoritised through the social processes of power and marginalisation rather than just existing in distinct statistical minorities. It also better reflects the fact that some ethnic groups that are minorities in the UK are majorities in the global population.
We may also sometimes use the terms minoritised or marginalised communities/people if it is appropriate, but our overriding term will by ethnically minoritised.
We are well aware that any term that groups together many ethnicities and racialised groups and cultures will have its issues and that categorisation in general has a long history of being problematic. The Haref Network is composed of people from many backgrounds who all experience the world in different ways and we are committed to using specific language wherever possible (e.g. Black Caribbean, Pakistani etc.). We also recognise that language and terminology change and evolve and we will therefore revisit and review this terminology in a year.
