by MWNUK team

Women are often having to absorb the rising costs of living standard. The hardest hit are women from minority ethnic backgrounds. As they tend to be in lower paid jobs, that are part-time and insecure, with additional caring responsibilities. With ongoing austerity cuts, the Women’s Budget Group has warned of a 13% decline in living standards for Black and Asian women[1].

 

A recent report from Muslim Women’s Network UK (MWNUK) provides insight on the scale and contributing factors to Muslim women’s experiences of the cost of living crisis. The report finds that in 2024, one in six service users contacting MWN Helpline indicated that they were struggling to pay for basic amenities. Of those services users, over half had children and 13% had a child under the age of one. Furthermore, one fifth of those service users had insecure immigration status, which added to their restrictions in accessing financial support. That year, the helpline saw an increase of 58% in applications for hardship fund – a fund that is reserved for women in dire financial difficulty.

 

Heavily pregnant Amara called MWN Helpline in distraught. She and her 6-year old child were destitute as they had no way of supporting themselves. Amara informed the helpline that her husband had been arrested after assaulting her. She had no income as all benefit payments were going to her husband’s account - only had £20 in cash. 

The report has identified a range of socioeconomic challenges that systematically traps Muslim women into the poverty cycle. These include low levels of skills, language proficiency or having had either little to no paid employment experience. Government-imposed benefit and rent caps further restrict financial flexibility, alongside reductions in welfare benefits and the punitive impact of sanctions that temporarily halt crucial support. Additionally, lack of awareness about available support mechanisms such as council tax reduction schemes, health schemes and unclaimed benefits have been found to exacerbate the financial strain.

 

Case studies presented in the report highlight the impact of falling living standards for Muslim women, particularly of those who have escaped domestic abuse. The struggle to buy sanitary products have led to some women resorting to using cloths and rags from old clothing as substitute. Being further alienated when going to foodbanks, as one woman contacted the helpline to share their concerns regarding non-halal products being deliberated put in food parcels for Muslim families. Experiencing wage stagnation, as income is not in line with the rise of food costs and inflation has increased vulnerability to relying on payday loans to meet basic needs.  

 

Maryam told the helpline that her husband who was very controlling said that he would no longer be buying sanitary products to cut costs of the shopping bill. He told he that he did not feel it was essential and that she should ‘make do’ by using old material available in the house.

Based on the findings presented in the report, there is critical need for targeted, comprehensive support to address the widening inequalities Muslim women face. MWNUK have outlined a number of recommendations:

• Increase child benefit (and other benefits) and remove the two-child benefit cap to address poverty.
• Improve awareness amongst minority ethnic families on low income / benefits about their entitlement to free healthy food and vitamins.
• Improve food insecurity by working with supermarket chains, e.g. providing the most vulnerable women and children with discounts on essential food items including cutting costs of baby formula.
• Increase in support for victims of domestic abuse with ring fenced funding for specialist by and for charities.
• Provide more hardship funding support and expand scheme to other organisations that can distribute this funding including minority ethnic ‘by and for’ led organisations.
• Local authorities to prioritise direct support to domestic abuse victims with no recourse to public funds during the cost of living crisis and set aside emergency funds.
• Implement tailored programmes to help women back into the workforce including apprenticeships for returners to work and new skills training e.g. tech / digital training.

The full report is available to read here.

---