Black Northern Women strives to campaign for racial and gender equality and as such, will campaign on issues that help to bring this about. This page details our latest campaign.

Stop Using the Umbrella Term BAME or BME to Categorise All Ethnic Minorities

Different minority groups face different issues, challenges and have different needs. Lumping them together under one category does not help to distinguish which particular groups are disadvantaged or advantaged in differing situations.

Each group has a different lived experience and a one size fits all approach masks inequalities that exist for the different groups.

Describing each group individually would be fairer and allow for a more targeted approach in order to address inequality.

In June 2020 Black Northern Women submitted a petition application in respect of this on the Government’s petition website. The petition was rejected on the basis that ‘The Government is not responsible for determining how ethnic minorities are referred to. The Government’s guidance on writing about ethnicity already states that it does not use BAME or BME for a number of reasons: https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/style-guide/writing-about-ethnicity‘

Despite the Government style guide saying not to use the umbrella categorisation of BAME or BME when writing about ethnic minorities, these terms still appear on the gov.uk website. A search of the term BAME on the website returned over 400 entries. As a result, an appeal was submitted and on 24 August 2020, the petition was approved and published.

Please support this campaign and sign the petition by clicking on the button below.

#StopUsingBAME