In recent years, Conservative ministers have sought to debunk institutional racism, with the government-ordered Sewell report concluding that its existence in Britain is “not borne out by the evidence”. Yet the evidence is incontrovertible, particularly in health. A recent example comes from a report published by the women and equalities committee, which finds that black women are almost four times more likely to die as a result of childbirth than white women. MPs behind the report have rightly denounced the government’s failure to address this gulf.
The statistic is not news. Racial inequalities in maternal healthcare have been documented for at least two decades. Serena Williams recently drew attention to this phenomenon in the US when writing about the birth of her daughter. The tennis player, who was at risk of blood clots, was told when requesting a scan that medicine was making her “talk crazy”. Once the scan was granted, it revealed what Ms Williams had suspected. The clots had returned. The resistance she faced is not uncommon. Research from the US shows how racist assumptions that black patients can endure more pain have resulted in doctors being less likely to grant them adequate treatment. In Britain, black women report being denied pain relief, feeling unsafe and seeing their concerns ignored by midwives and doctors.
