Search Result

Labels, acronyms, gender pronouns, and symbols

BME, BAME and BEM

Government, statutory and other organisations use a range of systems to record and refer to ethnicity in the United Kingdom. Recording information in this way helps to monitor the uptake of services and employee recruitment in organisations.

BME, BAME and BEM are three acronyms (abbreviations) you may have heard of - perhaps in the news, when filling out surveys, or when applying to use a service.

"Black and minority ethnic"- BME
"Black, Asian and minority ethnic" - BAME
"Black and ethnic minority" - BEM

Using categories are the subject to criticism and debate; for example, the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship between ethnicity, race, and nationality. While they can be catchy and convenient, acronyms are not necessarily widely understood and can have negative and hurtful undertones.

"Should BAME be ditched as a term for black, Asian and minority ethnic people?" was the headline from a BBC News 17 May 2018 article, and "Six in 10 UK health workers killed by Covid-19 are BAME" was the headline from a Guardian 25 May 2020 article. More recently, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 welcomed the findings from the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity saying UK broadcasters commit to avoiding catch-all term (BBC News, 8/12/21) in favour of the use of more specific terms to describe ethnicity. The report concluded there "was a lack of trust" around the term BAME.

Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom | Wikipedia
Institute of Race Relations (IRR)
Ethnicity facts and figures | GOV.UK

Related internal links to other parts of this website

↑ Back to top