Analysis of Poverty and Social Exclusion: Manchester LGBTQ+ Community

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the socioeconomic conditions of the LGBTQ+ community in Manchester, utilizing data collected from various sources. It examines key aspects such as age demographics, employment status, emotional well-being, and physical health, highlighting the prevalence of mental health issues, experiences of harassment, and barriers to healthcare access within this population. The analysis reveals insights into the levels of poverty and social exclusion experienced by the LGBTQ+ community in Manchester, comparing their life satisfaction levels with the general population. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for social work interventions to address the challenges faced by the community, including the implementation of action plans to combat sexual bullying and harassment and promote social inclusion. The findings underscore the importance of tailored support and advocacy to improve the overall well-being of the LGBTQ+ community in Manchester.

Running head: SOCIAL WORK
Social Work
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1SOCIAL WORK
Introduction
The United Kingdom is the abode of many people having different sexual orientation
which include lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and queer population along with
heterosexuals (Bandini and Maggi 2014). The LGBT community of Manchester, where
the particular sample size, say 500 people have been taken and analyzed in this
section. It is estimated that around 4-5% of the people in the UK identifies themselves
as LGBTQ. It suggests that Manchester alone has a population of an estimated 25000-
35000 sexual minorities where 215000 is the total sexual minorities in the entire country
(Uhrig 2015). This particular patch will focus on the socioeconomic data collected by
authentic sources (Lgbt.foundation 2017) for the purpose of analyzing the poverty and
social exclusion that occurs based on sexual orientation.
Discussion
Manchester is one of the places with highest number of homosexual and bisexual
population along with London and Brighton (BBC News 2015). The Greater Manchester
LGBT plan has been introduced with the aim to improve the lifestyles of the sexual
minorities by paving the way for opportunities and various other such measures (Aksoy,
Carpenter and Frank 2018). The responded groups who participated in the survey will
be discussed on the basis of multiple factors done by the lesbian and gay foundation in
Manchester (Lgbt.foundation 2017).

2SOCIAL WORK
Age
The table below reflects the respondents categorized by their age. The survey has been
conducted by the residents of Manchester in the year of 2012 (Aksoy, Carpenter and
Frank 2018).
Age Group Count Percentage
Under 16 2 0.3
16-21 39 7.8
22-25 46 9.3
26-30 99 19.8
31-35 106 21.2
36-40 76 15.1
41-45 56 11.3
46-49 33 6.6
50-55 21 4.1
56-60 17 3.6
61-65 5 1.1
Total 500 100
The most respondent group in this table is the age group of 26-30.

3SOCIAL WORK
Source: (Joseph 2020)
Employment Status
The employment status of the community in 2012 says that 75% of them were
employed within the respondent group of 16-65 years. This is more or less similar to the
general population including heterosexuals. However, according to (Perraudin 2019), it
has been found that 70% of sexual minorities faced sexual harassment at workplaces.
27% of the people surveyed in that research have reported to receiving unwanted
verbal sexual advances (Perraudin 2019). Even far more reports have been made by
black and minority ethnic women who faced greater sexual advances cases along with
the community of disabled men and women in their workplaces (BBC News 2015).

4SOCIAL WORK
Emotional wellbeing
Almost all of the respondents have experienced mental taxation and emotional
upheaval related to their sexuality in their lifetime. The table below will show the
approximate mental illness they have suffered which will indicate the rate of mental
health issue among the LGBT community (Mordaunt 2019).
Emotional wellbeing
issue
Count Percentage
Low self-confidence and
low self-esteem
267 73
Anxiety 201 55
Depression 218 60
Eating disorders 69 19
Feeling of isolation 204 56
Self-harm 67 18
Suicidal thoughts 154 42
Attempted suicide 60 17
None of the above 25 7
From the above data, it can be concluded that 7% of the population said they never
experienced mental health problem (Mordaunt 2019). However, the majority of them
have faced some kind of these mental health issues which might have originated from
bullying, harassment and stress. The respondents were also asked about whether they

5SOCIAL WORK
sought emotional help or not (Bandini and Maggi 2014). A 20% of them gave a negative
reply while the rest of the people have asked for help to their friends, families or
psychologists.
Physical health
The health conditions of the sexual minorities in Manchester were also accessed where
the key findings according to (Lgbt.foundation 2017) were –
 Around 80% of the respondents had accessed or tried to access healthcare
services.
 54% of the sexual minorities reported that they have disclosed or discussed their
sexual orientation with healthcare staffs. The percentage of people who stayed
away from disclosing this fact thought it would either be irrelevant to their disease
they have come to treat, and the rest 14% thought of having a negative reaction
from the healthcare staffs (Uhrig 2014).
 40% of transgender respondents reported that they have experienced negative
comments while opting for healthcare (Uhrig 2014). 21% of them also said that
their particular needs were ignored and not taken into account as a result of
negative reaction (Lgbt.foundation 2017).
Poverty and sexual orientation in Manchester

6SOCIAL WORK
While dealing with this context, the respondents also shed light on how it as affected
their material disadvantageousness (Lgbt.foundation 2017). The respondents were less
satisfied with their life than the average satisfaction level of the general population. The
score for the sexual minorities for this instance is 6.88, whereas the same as that of the
general population are 7.66 (Kingston and Smith 2020).
Conclusion
The above analysis backed by the survey reflects the condition of LGBTQ community
residing in the Manchester region. Most of the people have suffered from mental health
problems which is one of the significant problems within the sexual minorities. The
LBTQ Action Plans and other such associations are uniting in the aim to strengthen the
communities and raise voice against the various problems persistent to them. Since
Manchester is the most accepted LGBTQ community in the UK, the issue of social
exclusion is not a very persistent problem. Instead, plans have been set up for sexual
minority communities where they would prevent and take proper steps regarding sexual
bullying and harassment at academic institutions for protecting them from awkwardness
leading to social exclusion (BBC News 2015). The data of the United Kingdom will vary
to some extent as it also reflects a part of the country with the highest number of sexual
minorities.

7SOCIAL WORK
References
Aksoy, C.G., Carpenter, C.S. and Frank, J., 2018. Sexual orientation and earnings: new
evidence from the United Kingdom. ILR Review, 71(1), pp.242-272.
Bandini, E. and Maggi, M., 2014. Transphobia. In Emotional, Physical and Sexual
Abuse (pp. 49-59). Springer, Cham.
BBC News (2015). LGBT centre plan for bullied pupils. [online] BBC News. Available at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-30846563 [Accessed 4 Feb. 2020].
Joseph, A. (2020). Map reveals Britain's gay capitals. [online] Mail Online. Available at:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4427710/Map-reveals-Britain-s-gay-
capitals.html [Accessed 4 Feb. 2020].
Kingston, S. and Smith, N., 2020. Sex counts: An examination of sexual service
advertisements in a UK online directory. The British Journal of Sociology.
Lgbt.foundation (2017). LGBT Foundation - Evidence Exchange - National LGBT
Survey. [online] Lgbt.foundation. Available at: https://lgbt.foundation/evidence/national-
lgbt-survey/21 [Accessed 3 Feb. 2020].
Mordaunt, P., 2019. LGBT Action Plan: annual progress report 2018 to 2019.
Perraudin, F. (2019). Survey finds 70% of LGBT people sexually harassed at work.
[online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/17/survey-finds-70-of-lgbt-people-
sexually-harassed-at-work [Accessed 3 Feb. 2020].

8SOCIAL WORK
Uhrig, S.C., 2014. An examination of poverty and sexual orientation in the UK (No.
2014-02). ISER Working Paper Series.
Uhrig, S.N., 2015. Sexual orientation and poverty in the UK: A review and top-line
findings from the UK household longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Gender
Studies, 5(1), pp.23-72.