Shop worker Emma, from St Neots, Cambs., booked a place at the playgroup six weeks ago after it was recommended by a mixed-race friend. She said: ”The first thing I was asked about was my nationality and when I said I was British I was told we had to leave. She said are you not aware this is for foreign people only? I said I knew it was trying to integrate people into the community but didn’t realise that meant British people and their children were banned.
”I felt humiliated. It shouldn’t matter what nationality you are we shouldn’t be discriminated against. You wouldn’t get away with a British-only mum and children’s group. We want to welcome other nations to the community but turning British people away is not the way to do this.” Roger Owen, administrator for Making Links, said that the group is not a ”typical” playgroup and is funded entirely for women from other nationalities.
He said: ”We believe there are plenty of other alternatives for British mothers in the town. We have had an issue with men turning up before and back then we told them the group is strictly for mothers so it’s nothing to do with racial discrimination.” A spokeswoman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said under the Equality Act 2010 it is not unlawful to set up a group especially for a particular ethnic or national group. Under the act discrimination based on colour is unlawful.
3 comments:
Integration of foreigners and ban on natives are contradictory ideas, I think. Maybe the purpose of the group is to integrate foreign mothers into the immigrant community? Perhaps it's meant to be the first step before venturing into the more advanced groups where there are also British mothers and later even... fathers!
I guess it depends. If they're offering specialized services such as English-language training, teaching people how to access services, stuff like that which would be specifically oriented to newcomers, and there are a limited number of spaces, I can understand restricting it.
Otherwise, what Insolitus said :)
L, I suspect the group is for immigrants, black or white, and British people, black or white are banned. Scottish and Welsh are also British people, if I have understood the terms correctly. If she were Irish, she would have been an immigrant, a foreigner and thus allowed into the group.
Also, it's quite silly to argue it's unfair if one is not allowed to participate in everything that uses taxpayer money. People without children still pay for schools, for example. My friend with cerebral palsy moves around the city in a taxi with taxpayer money while I'm not allowed to do that. I'm banned from the taxpayer funded mammograms my country provides. And that's how it should be. If everyone had the right to everything, nobody would get anything. It's neither discrimination nor unfair, it's sensible.
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