Aleisha Omeike talks BAME role models in Scottish Politics, and the need for increased representation

Aleisha is 20 years old and is going into her third year of studying psychology at the University of St Andrews. She is an intersectional feminist who feels strongly about empowering women of every race, religion and sexual orientation. Although unsure of what career path she will take, she knows for certain that she wants to be able to be a voice for marginalised people everywhere.

I’ve always been a people person. I thoroughly enjoy interacting with and engaging with others. I’ve always wanted to work in a job that allows me to help others and secure positive outcomes in people’s lives. In politics, it is my belief that you are able to do this to a great extent.

Working as a councillor gives people the ability to cater to and improve the lives of the people in their local community. In Parliament, there is an opportunity and the ability to influence governance and make changes that can help millions of people. I love the idea of possessing the potential to better someone else’s situation.

Growing up as a mixed-race woman, I feel there is a severe lack of role models in positions of political power for myself and other young BAME women and girls in Scotland.

I was never completely sure of the career path I wanted to undertake growing up. I explored multiple careers, including one in politics. I’ve always been incredibly ambitious since I was very young, however, as a mixed-race woman from a low-income family and attending school in a deprived area, I became wary of how much I would struggle to achieve my goals.

I remember searching for role models when I was looking into building a political career. Icouldn’t find many at all. And when I finally found BAME women in politics, who were extremely inspirational, I still did not feel that there was enough role-models for young minority ethnic women growing up in Scotland, like myself.

I recall friends who were interested in politics, discussing how they felt excited about Scotland’s political future with the election of Ruth Davidson and Nicola Sturgeon. Whilst I felt a similar sense of optimism, I couldn’t help but feel slightly discouraged as these women still do not really resemble young women who looked like me.

I feel that going into politics takes a certain level of bravery and determination. As a BAME woman, I am aware that I’d have more hurdles to overcome and barriers to break down. I knew of the great difficulty I would have to go through to become politically active and involved. This led me to become detached with Scottish politics for a while.

I feel that if I had received further encouragement and if I’d been given the opportunity to develop the skills necessary for a political career and to break through the barriers faced by BAME women, I’d have pursued a career in Scottish politics – much earlier.

I wish for Scotland to make it easier for BAME women like myself to have a successful career in politics and to be elected into parliamentary positions. Having a more proportionate and ethnically diverse Scottish parliament will have a wide range of benefits. For example, it provides a more diverse selection of role-models for the whole Scottish population, to be inspired by. Furthermore, the lived experiences of BAME women can only be properly understood by BAME women themselves. It is time for Scotland to listen to us so that significant and much needed changes can be made.

While I do not currently study politics or anything politically related, I have reignited my interest in Scottish politics by working with the Parliament Project and I am much more optimistic about having a parliamentary career. I hope that in the future, I can become a political role model for BAME women across Scotland.