Bangladeshis in London : a challenge to welfare - article ; n°3 ; vol.2, pg 135-150

Se. Curtis, P.E. Ogden

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Revue européenne de migrations internationales - Année 1986 - Volume 2 - Numéro 3 - Pages 135-150
Los inmigrantes originarios de Bangladesh en Londres : Las concentración residencial, desafio a los politicos en materia de salud y de ayuda social.
S. E. CURTIS. P. E. OGDEN
Los inmigrantes originarios de Bangladesh establecidos en Gran Bretaña son una proporción relativamente limitada de la populación procedente del Nuevo Commonwealth. Sin embargo, constituyen un grupo extremamente distintivo, particularmente por su concentración geográfica en ciertos barrios de Londres. Esta ponencia tiene dos propósitos : primero, apoyándose en los datos del censo de 1981, de trazar la distribución de estos inmigrantes en el contexto national y dentro de la región de Londres ; segundamente, de examinar algunas de las consecuencias de dicha concentración para el suministro de servicios sociales, especialmente de servicios médicos, en uno de los distritos más pobres de Londres.
L'immigration des originaires du Bangladesh à Londres : La concentration résidentielle, un défi aux politiques sociales.
S. E. CURTIS et P. E. OGDEN
Les immigrés originaires du Bangladesh installés en Grande-Bretagne représentent une proportion relativement faible de la population qui vient des pays du Nouveau Commonwealth. Ils constituent cependant un groupe bien distinct, notamment par le caractère concentré de leur répartition géographique dans certains quartiers de Londres et de sa proche banlieue. Cet article se propose, à partir des résultats du recensement de 1981, de préciser la distribution de ces immigrés à la fois à l'échelle nationale et dans la région de Londres ; puis, d'examiner certaines incidences de cette concentration sur la fourniture de services sociaux, notamment de services médicaux, dans une des circonscriptions les plus désavantagées de la capitale.
Bangladeshis to London : a challenge to welfare.
S. E. CURTIS and P. E. OGDEN
Immigrants of Bangladeshi origin living in Britain are a relatively small part ofthe population from the New Commonwealth. They are, however, highly distinctive, particularly in their degree of residential concentration within parts of inner London. The paper has two aims : first, using 1981 census data, to plot immigrant distribution within a national and London-wide context ; second, to explore some of the implications of this concentration for the provision of welfare services, particularly health, within one of the city's most deprived boroughs.
16 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Informations

• Publié par: REVUE_EUROPEENNE_DE_MIGRATIONS_INTERNATIONALES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1986
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Se. Curtis
Philip E. Ogden
Bangladeshis in London : a challenge to welfare
In: Revue européenne de migrations internationales. Vol. 2 N°3. Décembre. pp. 135-150.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Curtis Se., Ogden Philip E. Bangladeshis in London : a challenge to welfare. In: Revue européenne de migrations
internationales. Vol. 2 N°3. Décembre. pp. 135-150.
doi : 10.3406/remi.1986.1116
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/remi_0765-0752_1986_num_2_3_1116Resumen
Los inmigrantes originarios de Bangladesh en Londres : Las concentración residencial, desafio a los
politicos en materia de salud y de ayuda social.
S. E. CURTIS. P. E. OGDEN
Los inmigrantes originarios de Bangladesh establecidos en Gran Bretaña son una proporción
relativamente limitada de la populación procedente del Nuevo Commonwealth. Sin embargo,
constituyen un grupo extremamente distintivo, particularmente por su concentración geográfica en
ciertos barrios de Londres. Esta ponencia tiene dos propósitos : primero, apoyándose en los datos del
censo de 1981, de trazar la distribución de estos inmigrantes en el contexto national y dentro de la
región de Londres ; segundamente, de examinar algunas de las consecuencias de dicha concentración
para el suministro de servicios sociales, especialmente de servicios médicos, en uno de los distritos
más pobres de Londres.
Résumé
L'immigration des originaires du Bangladesh à Londres : La concentration résidentielle, un défi aux
politiques sociales.
S. E. CURTIS et P. E. OGDEN
Les immigrés originaires du Bangladesh installés en Grande-Bretagne représentent une proportion
relativement faible de la population qui vient des pays du Nouveau Commonwealth. Ils constituent
cependant un groupe bien distinct, notamment par le caractère concentré de leur répartition
géographique dans certains quartiers de Londres et de sa proche banlieue. Cet article se propose, à
partir des résultats du recensement de 1981, de préciser la distribution de ces immigrés à la fois à
l'échelle nationale et dans la région de Londres ; puis, d'examiner certaines incidences de cette
concentration sur la fourniture de services sociaux, notamment de services médicaux, dans une des
circonscriptions les plus désavantagées de la capitale.
Abstract
Bangladeshis to London : a challenge to welfare.
S. E. CURTIS and P. E. OGDEN
Immigrants of Bangladeshi origin living in Britain are a relatively small part ofthe population from the
New Commonwealth. They are, however, highly distinctive, particularly in their degree of residential
concentration within parts of inner London. The paper has two aims : first, using 1981 census data, to
plot immigrant distribution within a national and London-wide context ; second, to explore some of the
implications of this concentration for the provision of welfare services, particularly health, within one of
the city's most deprived boroughs.135
Revue Européenne
des Migrations Internationales
Volume 2 - N° 3
Décembre 1986
Bangladeshis in London
a challenge to welfare
S.E. CURTIS and P.E. OGDEN
The degree of residential segregation of immigrant groups
in London, and the social and economic processes which underlie the formation of
immigrant communities, pose a number of questions for the administration of
social policy. This paper addresses the particular case of Bangladeshi immigrants in
the East End of London. It begins with a simple statistical portrait of the Banglad
eshi community and then shows how a very high degree of residential segregation
influences the provision of welfare services, particularly health-care. The paper
relies partly on the results of the 1981 census of population (') and partly upon
more specific social surveys.
BANGLADESHI IMMIGRANTS TO LONDON
Immigrants from Bangladesh form a relatively small proportion of the total
population of New Commonwealth and Pakistani origin in Great Britain (2). They
are, however, a very distinctive part of that population and also of the wider Asian
community. Their high degree of residential segregation in inner London, detailed
below, is related to their particular characteristics. The majority come from Sylhet,
a rural part of Bangladesh and their mother tongue is a local dialect of Bengali.
Immigration during the initial phase in the 1960s was heavily male-dominated,
although later arrivals of women and children, and a growing number of children
born in Britain, have created a distinctive Bengali community. Immigrants are
generally without large capital resources, are unskilled or semi-skilled and are
unaccustomed to urban living. Concentrated in parts of the East End of London,
employed especially in the workshop manufacture of clothing, they have come to
one of the poorest parts of the city with a range of existing social, environmental
and housing problems. There are linguistic and cultural barriers to integration in
the host society, especially for women. The literacy rate among women is low and a
survey in 1982 showed that 76 % could speak English only slightly or not at all (3). SE. Curtis, P.E. Ogden 136
Their religion is Islamic and, for women in particular, life is strongly focussed on
the house and family. The extreme concentration of Bangladeshis in parts of the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets has made them the subject of intense concern
and scrutiny by those providing services in the Borough. The racial intolerance and
violence which they endure has also focussed a certain amount of national atten
tion upon them (4).
The difficulties of establishing precise statistics for immigrants and their
dependents in the United Kingdom are well known. The principal source used here,
the 1981 census of population, records information based on birth-places and upon
membership of an ethnic minority household, defined by the place of birth of the
head of household. A limited number of cross tabulations is available. The fact that
Bangladesh came into existence only in 1973 complicates the issue, both with
respect to comparisons made with the 1971 census and with the degree of under
recording and mis-recording of birth-place (5). The paper presents information for
a number of geographical scales : for the London boroughs based upon published
material ; and, using unpublished small-area data, for the wards of the borough of
Tower Hamlets and for the enumeration districts of the ward of Spitalfields,
concentrating therefore in turn upon the areas of greatest concentration of immi
grants (6).
At a national level, the 1981 census recorded some 48,517 people living in
Great Britain who had been born in Bangladesh, of whom some 67 % were male.
Using the wider definition of the population of Bangladeshi 'origin', that is those
people living in households whose head was born in Bangladesh, the figure rises to
65,000. As Table 1 indicates, this group is relatively small, compared to the overall
population of New Commonwealth and Pakistani origin and a small group too
within the population from South Asia. However, the Table shows that the Ban
gladeshi community has the smallest proportion of its members born in the UK,
reflecting its more recent immigration, and also the most imbalanced sex structure.
TABLE 1 : Population in households with head born in New Commonwealth
and Pakistan by birth-place of head of household, Great Britain 1981
Birthplace of Population % Born in Females Per
Household Head UK 1000 Males (thousands)
India 674 38.8 978
Pakistan 832 295 40.0
Bangladesh 614 65 26.2
Illustration non autorisée à la diffusion
West Indies 546 50.1 1058
East Africa 181 26.9 972
Mediterranean 170 46.6 979
Far East 33.1 894 120
Other 156 37.0 948
TOTAL 2207 40.6 956
Source : 1981 Census, after S, Castles. Here for good. Western Europe's new ethnic minorities,
1984 Pluto Press, London, p. 114. :
in London a challenge to welfare 1 37 Bangladeshis
Thus, whilst the dominant social issue amongst other black groups in Britain is
increasingly the fate of the second generation ethnic minorities born in Britain, the
Bangladeshi community is still characterised by features associated with primary
migrant groups. Not least amongst these is the number of dependents in Bangla
desh seeking entry to the United Kingdom.
The regional distribution of the Bangladesh-born population shows very mar
ked concentration in the South-East region, particularly in inner London, a more marked than amongst other ethnic minorities. More than
28,000 Bangladeshis are in the South East (58 %), with smaller concentrations in
the West Midlands (14 %), in and around Birmingham, and the North
West (11 %), around Manchester. The degree of spatial concentration is sharply
evident within inner London, which itself accounts for three-fifths of the South-
East region's total. Table 2 again reveals details of the population of varied ethnic
origins, defined by birthplace of the head of household, and shows the Bangladeshi
population in a similar light to that in Table 1. Figures 1-3 reveal