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Are Black British women's stories told in our history?

29th September - 06th October 2023

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58470

Total votes

15594

5-11 votes

42876

11-16+ votes

To mark the beginning of Black History Month, voters considered the stories they know about Black British women, in keeping with this year’s theme of “Saluting our Sisters”. All voters considered the question: “Are Black British women’s stories told in our history?”

child

5-11 voter

"Yes but only on special occasions such as Black History Month."

teenager

11-16 voter

"As a class we hadn't heard of any of the Black women that we learned about today and so it is very clear that there needs to be greater awareness of the contributions of Black women in British History."

student

16+ voter

"Very few of us, including the staff, could name very many significant black British women. For most of us, this lesson was a big part of our learning about black British women."

70% of young people voted that Black British women's stories are not told in our history.

  • In total, 70% of the young people who took part in the vote argued that Black British women's stories are not told in our history.
  • Broken down, this worked out as 58% of 5-11-year olds, 73% of 11-16-year olds and 83% of those aged 16+ voting 'No'.
Lots of young people said they had been unaware of many significant Black British women before taking part in the lesson.

  • Many voters argued that they hadn't heard of the significant Black British women included in the lesson for this VoteTopic.
  • Others argued that whilst we do learn about the stories of Black British women, it is often only during awareness events, such as Black History Month.
  • Some voters explained that whilst they knew the stories of some significant Black women, weren't usually British.
42% of Primary pupils voted 'Yes' to the question, "Are Black British women's stories told in our history?"

  • Our highest 'Yes' vote came from Primary pupils, with just over 40% arguing that we do hear Black British women's stories in our history.
  • One voter explained that whilst we don't always learn about these figures in a historical context, they have learned about Black British women through other subjects, such as PSHE.
results

Feedback from our Impact Partners

Thank you very much to our Impact Partner, the Global Equality Collective, for commenting on this important topic.

Nic Ponsford, CEO of the Global Equality Collective, said:

"At the GEC, we believe that hard data helps drive action. The results of this Votes for Schools #BlackHistoryMonth23 poll is insightful. Students considered the stories they know about Black British women, in keeping with this year’s theme of “Saluting our Sisters”. What is clear from the 58,470 young people who took the vote in the UK, is that Black British women are not consistently taught as part of our national curriculum - for some, they learn about these role models and changemakers as part of of their history lessons, but others it is part of diversity and inclusion awareness days or through the wider curriculum (like PSHE). For me it was of note that the older students clarified that they might learn about Black women, but not all are British.

Following this important research, we would suggest that curriculum leads consider the diversity of the role models they share - and why. That they reflect on the 'ideals' and stories that their young people learn from, identity with, are inspired by. Thanks Votes for Schools!"

see previous week's results