Muslim women are the most economically disadvantaged group in British society, according to a report by MPs. Ministers must introduce a plan to tackle the inequalities before the end of the year, the Women and Equalities Committee said. Figures suggest they are three times more likely to be unemployed jobseekers than women generally, and twice as likely to be economically inactive. The government said it was committed to making Britain “work for everyone”.

Progress has been made, with 45% more Muslim women in work than in 2011, but ministers “know there is much more to do”, a government spokesman added. Many Muslim women in Britain face a “triple penalty” impacting on their job prospects – being women, being from an ethnic minority and being Muslim, the committee suggested. It cited Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures for 2015, which found 35% of all Muslim women from 16 to 64 were in employment. By contrast, 69% of all British working-age women were in employment between March and May this year.

The starkest comparison was in the proportion of women who are classed as economically inactive – that is, unemployed and not seeking work. The 2015 ONS figures found that 58% of Muslim women were economically inactive. By contrast, 27% of all working-age women in the UK were economically inactive between March and May. The percentage of Muslim women unemployed and seeking work was 16%, the ONS found – compared with 5% of women nationally.

The unemployment rate is calculated as a percentage of those who are economically active. The figures suggest Muslim women are the least economically successful group in British society, the report added. The report cited Demos’s analysis of the 2011 Census which found that nearly half (44%) of economically inactive Muslim women are inactive because they are looking after the home; this compares with a national average of 16% of women who are inactive for this reason.

Source: BBC