The Invisibility of Black Women in Mental Health Services
| Pages | 22-24 |
| Date | 01 March 2002 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200200006 |
| Published date | 01 March 2002 |
| Author | Khatidja Chantler |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
The Invisibility of Black Women in Mental
Health Services
Khatidja Chantler
Independent Researcher
Focus on…
his article sets out the issues that need to be
taken at policy and practice levels to ensure that the
needs and experiences of black1and minority ethnic
women are taken into consideration in delivering
accessible, sensitive and relevant mental health
services.
Traditional approaches to increasing black women’s
accessibility to services have been flawed as they
habitually split ‘race’ from gender. Examples of this
include the structures created by the equalities legisla-
tion which have led to a separation of ‘race’ and
gender and which tend to privilege the interests of
white women (in relation to the Sex Discrimination Act
1975) and black men (in terms of the Race Relations Act
1976). This separation has also heavily influenced the
development of equal opportunities or diversity
policies in local authorities and the NHS, rendering
the needs of black women invisible.
Within the mental health field, evidence of racism
within services is well documented (for example,
Ahmad, 1992; Fernando, 1991; Littlewood &
Lipsedge, 1982), yet on the whole the literature fails
to identify the specific needs and concerns of black
women (Aitken, 1996; Burman et al, 1998). There is a
risk that the forthcoming Women’s Mental Health
Services Strategy and the equivalent one for black and
minority ethnic communities might both fail to take
full account of the needs of black women. The
creation of a women’s strategy needs to be inclusive so
that the similarities in experiences within the category
‘woman’ are recognised and worked with, while at the
same time attending to issues of racism. Similarly, the
development of a black and minority ethnic communi-
ties strategy needs both to recognise similarities of
experiences based on racism as well as inequalities
based on gender, class and other oppressions.
THence, it would seem that the very policies and
developments that are intended to facilitate change
can themselves replicate particular forms of inequality
and disadvantage by failing to work at the intersec-
tions of ‘race’ and gender. Indeed, one of the key
themes emerging from our study of service responses
to South Asian2women’s attempted suicide and self-
harm highlights the many ways in which issues of race
and culture take precedence over issues of gender,
leading to risky and unsafe assessments for the treat-
ment and care of South Asian women and this form of
distress. In the rest of the article, I draw on our study
to illustrate this point further.
Privileging ‘race’ and culture over gender
Practitioners in the ‘caring’ services have not been
immune to the criticisms levelled against provision
which is universal or ‘colour blind’. In an effort to
rectify these criticisms, many practitioners have made
attempts to engage with the issue of ‘colour’.
However, one of the consequences of this has been to
over-emphasise issues of culture at the expense of
other oppressions.
Within our study, in discussions with white
workers, it was sometimes said that Asian women are
more oppressed than white women and that this is
part of Asian culture. It was also expressed in some of
the interviews that there is a fear of discussing issues
of race and culture openly. White practitioners and
managers seem reluctant to challenge the oppression
of South Asian women on cultural grounds. Hence,
‘culture’ becomes reified, and unequal power relations
based on gender are seen as acceptable (as part of the
culture) within South Asian communities.
Understanding other cultures is a common theme
22 The Mental Health Review Volume 7 Issue 1 March 2002 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2002
1The term ‘black’ is used as a collective term to refer to visible minorities eg people of African, Caribbean and Asian descent who experience racism on the basis of skin colour and culture.
2The term ‘South Asian’ refers to people whose family or cultural heritage originates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.
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