‘If not me, then who?’ Meet the women reshaping local politics
Women of colour have long been underrepresented in public office across the UK, but that is gradually changing
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Zainab Asunramu, 36, never planned to enter politics. Raised in Thamesmead, in the south London borough of Bexley, she envisioned a career working for international human rights organisations. But after years spent working as a researcher, and frustrated by what she saw as a lack of opportunities and progression in the field, she decided to change lanes.
“I took everything I learned in terms of advocacy, campaigning and fundraising, and applied it all to politics,” she said.
In 2022, Asunramu was elected as a Labour councillor in Bexley, the first Black Muslim woman in the borough’s history to hold public office. Since then, she has become the deputy leader of the council’s Labour group and shadow cabinet member for children’s services and education.
Asunramu’s election was a groundbreaking moment. Bexley has a long and regrettable history of racism. It was home to the far-right British National Party’s headquarters in the 1990s. And in 1991, just over the border into Greenwich, a 15-year-old Black British boy named Rolan Adams was murdered in a racist hate crime.
“Bexley council does not have many Black people or people from ethnic minority backgrounds on it,” says Asunramu. “So I thought to myself: ‘If not me, then who?’”
According to a December 2024 report by the Muslim Women’s Network (MWN), women from racially minoritised communities make up just 3% of local councillors, despite representing roughly 18% of the UK’s female population. A growing number of women like Asunramu, however, are now transforming local politics in the UK.
Welsh Liberal Democrat councillor Bablin Molik’s journey into politics was via a similarly roundabout route. Molik, now 40, was completing her PhD when she first got involved with the party. Later, she worked with empowerment projects in her local community, such as the charity Women Connect First — but eventually concluded the best way to push for real change was by standing for office.
“People will only follow if you take the lead sometimes,” says Molik. “I stepped into politics to address the inequalities that exist in our communities, particularly gender inequality, and then, of course, race, religion. All that came into it.”
The road ahead was not smooth. Molik first stood for office as a Lib Dem candidate in the Cardiff council elections of May 2012 — and lost. A few months later in November 2012, she ran — unsuccessfully again — to become an MP in the Cardiff South and Penarth by-election. But in 2017, she was finally elected as a councillor for the Cyncoed ward of Cardiff, and six years later she became the first woman of colour to be appointed lord mayor of Cardiff.
“It was a proud moment,” she says. “It felt like I had proven my worth and that people appreciated me for what I had done since being elected.”
Getting elected is only the first hurdle of a life in local politics. Scottish National party councillor Fatima Joji, who in 2022 became the first Black Muslim woman to sit on Aberdeenshire Council for the Westhill and District ward, describes the battle to be heard in such traditionally male-dominated spaces.
“I have a certain privilege as I’m a product of this town,” she says. “But I’m still visibly Black, Muslim and a woman, so I always understood my experiences of being a politician would be completely different from others.”
The obstacles aren’t just external. Some Muslim women in politics face resistance from their own communities. Molik recalls her husband being questioned about why he had “allowed” her to run for office.
“Encouraging support from my community was a struggle and continues to be,” she says. “I’ve stood in elections twice now, but I still don’t think people are fully convinced in our community. I thought by trying to lead the way, those that I’m fighting for would follow. It was perhaps a naive expectation on my part, and that’s what hurts you most when you’re not successful.”
For some, the pushback is even more direct. Dr Khursheed Wadia, a professor of sociology at the University of Warwick and the author of the MWN report referred to above, found that many face verbal abuse, online harassment and even physical threats.
“One of the things that surprised me was the height of the barriers, how fixed and how common they were,” says Wadia. “Wherever I interviewed women, whether it was England, Scotland or Wales, they came up with the same stories.”
Despite the challenges, these women know that their presence is a statement. For Joji, one of the most rewarding parts of being a councillor is being able to advocate for her constituents.
“Seeing the relief on people’s faces after you’ve made their situation less difficult is a really rewarding thing and something I look forward to in my job,” she says.
Asunramu agrees. “It’s the impact that I can make that makes me stay,” she says.
In 2023, the first Eid in the Park was held in Bexley, followed by a second one in 2024. Asunramu was invited to speak at both.
“When you look at the history of Bexley, the fact that we’re able to have something like that was so rewarding. I had young girls coming up to me, saying they were glad I was in my position to make a change,” she says.
But these women aren’t just inspiring change: they’re also demanding reform. The MWN report outlines key recommendations — including fair selection processes to prevent tokenism, legal protections against gendered and anti-Muslim discrimination, salaried councillor roles and paid maternity leave to make politics more accessible, particularly for working-class women.
For Joji, Asunramu and Molik, the goal is not just to occupy spaces that have long excluded women like them, but to reshape them.
As Asunramu puts it: “There will always be resistance to us. But the important thing is to keep showing up.”
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