Seventy Years of Struggle and Achievement Life Stories of Ethnic Minority Women Living in Wales

Edited and Selected by Meena Upadhyaya and Chris Weedon, Narrative editor Kirsten Lavine, Foreword by Julie Morgan and Jane Hutt, Introduction by Prof Terry Threadgold, previous Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University. The stories of women from Wales’ minority communities are seldom heard. This book comprises the life stories of 40 Black Asian Minority Ethnic women that were finalists/winners for the Ethnic Minority Welsh Women Achievement award (2011-2019). The women featured include some from long-settled, often mixed families and women from various parts of South and East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Their life experiences are a fundamental part of the history of multi-ethnic Wales. Individual stories testify both to the struggle and to the remarkable contribution that minority women have made to the many sectors of Welsh society.

Prof Meena Upadhyaya OBE obtained her PhD from Cardiff University and completed a fellowship with the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath). She is a Fellow and Council member for the Learned Society of Wales and the Royal College of Pathologists.She is an avid advocate for promoting equality, diversity, community cohesion, and integration. She is the founder and Chair of the Ethnic Minority Welsh Women Achievement Association (EMWWAA) and the Ethnic Minority Women in Welsh Healthcare (EMWWH). Kirsten Lavine is an author, editor, teacher and oral historian originally from Canada. For over twenty years, she has worked extensively on a variety of oral and local history projects and publications throughout the UK. A keen traveller and a passionate supporter of wildlife, Kirsten currently divides her time between Canada and the UK. Prof Chris Weedon has taught in the UK and Germany and currenlty teaches at Cardiff University since 1984. In 2010 she announced £4m funding for a project on multiculturalism at Cardiff University that would fund four PhD students, and the research would look at the challenges to culture for both white and black citizens.