Intersectional Inequalities: Evaluating Income Mobility Among Subsequent Generations of Ethnic Minority Women in the UK

Stratification research has consistently demonstrated significant improvements in the socioeconomic status of women in the UK in recent years, following the implementation of various gender anti-discrimination initiatives (see Breen & Salazar, 2010; Foliano et al., 2024; Manning, 1996; Zabalza & Tzannatos, 1985). Although gender pay gaps remain persistent, especially among college graduates, the observable trend is indicating levels of gender convergence in the British Isles. However, some questions remain to be answered as to whether these advancements apply to every ethnic minority and their descendants, as previous research has explored (Karlsen, Nazroo & Smith, 2020; Li & Heath, 2018).

Since most of the ethnic minorities in the UK originate from migrant families, another socioeconomic trend authors have evidenced is that subsequent generations of minorities tend to experience upward mobility following initial 'first-generation setbacks' (Li & Heath, 2016; Li, 2018; Platt, 2005, 2007). So, this study aims to evaluate whether this pattern remains valid for the second and third generation of women from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK, with the addition of an innovative life course approach that will help understand how inequalities develop, as advantages or disadvantages can display cumulative effects with age progression.

To achieve this, this study uses the Harmonized British Household Panel Survey-Understanding Society (BHPS-UKHLS), which encompasses up to 28 waves of repeated measures, which facilitates more robust and comprehensive longitudinal analyses compared to those datasets employed in previous research. Estimations were conducted through multilevel growth models and post-hoc analyses. Results indicate that, when evaluating the intersectionality of gender and ethnicity, life course inequalities in the labor market tend to exacerbate for women belonging to certain ethnic groups.