Researching the lives of ethnic minority women: the innovative use of arts-based methods

1. Researching the lives of ethnic minority women:the innovative use of arts-based methods BERNADETTE STIELL Centre for Education and Inclusion Research (CEIR) Sheffield Hallam University

2. Background • Part of 'Gender and Employment in Local Labour Markets' (GELLM) project led by Prof Sue Yeandle, 2003-2006 • Overall GELLM programme: comparative analysis of women and employment across 11 LAs • Multi-strand, multi-method, multi-level • Ethnic minority women strand in 5 LAs • Focus on the local level

3. Aims of ethnic minority strand To gain an understanding of: • The circumstances of ethnic minority women in 5 localities • The role of paid and unpaid work • Their (employment) experiences, achievements and aspirations • (Mis)match between their skills and employment opportunities • Their support needs in accessing/progressing in the labour market

4. Mixed methods approach • Statistical analysis of women's labour market circumstances in 5 LAs (2001 census) • Existing knowledge from local agencies, including information on recent immigrants • Qualitative investigation – arts-based methods

5. Rationale for arts-based approach • Innovative way of attracting and engaging 'hard-to-reach' research participants, including new immigrants • Creative alternative to traditional interview or focus group • Not wholly reliant on language skills & confidence • Another way of 'giving voice' to women • Tapping into & expressing life experience

6. Arts based methods Designed in partnership with LA, local voluntary and community organisations, community artists and local women in: • Somerset - puppet making & collage • Newcastle - poetry, Mandala art, video • Leicester - collage & presentations • Southwark - collage & African drumming • Camden - 'Snakes and Ladders' & Gantts charts

7. Format of workshops • Mainly 1/2 day workshops run over 3-4 weeks • 5-15 local women in each • Mixed groups: new immigrants, settled communities • Community artists & participant observers • Building trust, rapport, reciprocity and continuity • Confidence-building, participative, creative, interactive • Informal language support • Confidentiality and anonymity

8. Art/research focus • Women's past, present and future lives • The role of paid and unpaid work • Skills, experiences and aspirations • Barriers in accessing or progressing in employment • Support needs • Policy recommendations

9. Puppets and collage-making in Somerset

10. Mandalas and creative writing in Newcastle

11. Sometimes my skills dissolve in the grey Eroded and worn away They melt like wax, distorted and reformed And then I’m lost again – This room is a prison as well as a palace. (From untitled composite poem – Poetry workshop) I feel like a foreigner ever day Living in the tide of your superiority, your insecurity Your arrogance, your ignorance. Once, I believed in democracy, in hope Now I trade in opposites Here, I am wordless, useless, miniscule Anger consuming me like a fever I am reduced to a number, a thing A subject in someone else’s drama (From untitled poem – Poetry workshop)

12. Collage and presentations in Leicester

13. African drumming and collage making in Southwark

14. Gantts charts and 'Snakes and Ladders' in Camden

15. Outcomes for local women • Opportunity for social contact • Sharing common experiences • Having their voices and concerns heard – locally and nationally • Learning new arts-based forms of expression • Practising English • Building confidence and self-awareness • Sharing and collecting information on local support services • Challenging assumptions

16. Outcomes for local authorities • Closer departmental working • Closer working with local VCS organisations • Filling gaps in local intelligence • First-hand experience and understanding of local issues • Challenging stereotyped assumptions • New outreach opportunities for promoting local services • New approaches and resources for community consultation • Triangulated evidence for local policy development • Learning from other GELLM local authorities • Equality standard, Gender Duty, local targets & indicators

17. Outcomes for local community organisations • Raised their local and national profile • Explored potential for new confidence building and self-awareness methods • Additional/deeper understanding of local women’s lives and needs • Triangulated evidence of local needs • Potential for further funding to develop ideas & meet local needs • Closer working with LA and other local agencies

18. New research methods – new understanding? Themes and issues • Aspirations and confidence in relation to paid work • Work experience, job search and recruitment practices • Support networks • Engagement in voluntary activities • Access to training • Language fluency and access to language support • Racism, discrimination and harassment • Family pressure/culture/patterns of migration and settlement

19. New research methods – new understanding? Research/policy partnership • New approaches to partnership working • New local knowledge and understanding • Engaged local policy makers with locally-focused, relevant research findings • Gender mainstreaming strand – embedding gender and ethnicity focus at the local level • On-going contact

20. New research methods – new understanding? Arts-based methods • More inclusive, engaging and less threatening • Less verbally demanding • Balance between art and research • ‘Heineken effect’ • Reciprocity • Redressing power imbalance • Small scale findings

21. Proceed with caution... • Resource and time intensive • High levels of research skills • Informed consent • Indicative, not representative • Over-interpretation • Rigour and robustness • Constraints of the media • Working with community artists – leading/appropriation

22. Further information Gender and Employment in Local Labour Markets - Locality reports available from: http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/ceir/outputs-gender-locality.html Stiell, B.; Tang, N.; Bennett, C. Price, C. (2006) ‘Building Policy/Research Relationships: Using Innovative Methodologies to Engage Ethnic Minority Women’ Local Economy 21(2): 211-218 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a747859498 Bernadette Stiell Senior Research Fellow Centre for Education and Inclusion Research Sheffield Hallam University b.stiell@shu.ac.uk 0114 225 6060