THE voices of women of colour have been ignored for too long in the media but thanks to a new project, backed up by the Sunday National, that is changing.

Independent consultant and researcher Talat Yaqoob founded the Pass the Mic Project in 2019 to address the imbalance and to provide new voices to the media.

And following an injection of funding from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust the project will have money to help the 130-strong list of women experts in their field to find media platforms for their writing.

The Sunday National has signed up to publish articles from some of the women on the list, as have The Scotsman, Holyrood Magazine and The Courier, in Dundee.

The list includes experts from the field of teaching, medicine, economics, science, art, literature and equality campaigns.

Yaqoob said: “In just a week the Pass The Mic project has received so much interest from women of colour with expertise in economics, science, education, the arts and more; all of whom want to be, deserve to be, visible in Scotland’s media and give their input.

“The purpose of the project is to not only create that visibility but challenge the culture across the media which maintains the status quo and often closes the door to new, diverse voices.

“I don’t think the voices of women of colour have been heard fully within the media. Too often we’re talked about rather than doing the talking ourselves.

“Women of colour are time and again missing, their opinion and expertise undervalued.

“And hopefully we can dispel some myths about women of colour not wanting to be involved and having their voices heard.

“I am looking forward to working with the Sunday National and other media outlets to amplify the expertise of women of colour.”

The initiative is building support from leading figures in their field.

Lauryn Mwale, a participant in the project with expertise in mathematics and inclusion, added: “Pass The Mic is an incredible opportunity which provides a platform for the voices of BAME women.

“I am excited to participate because I love to write, want to share my perspectives with others and want to participate in the intersectional collaboration. Pass The Mic will open mindsets and hearts.”

While Cat Dunn, an expert in arts and creative history echoed her thoughts, saying: “I think it’s important to be involved so that there is not only diversity and inclusion but a multi-range of choices across each subject discourse.

“Women of colour should be given a chance to be involved in the conversation and, at the moment, while the arena is changing slightly, there are still not nearly enough marginalised voices addressing topics which have to do with us.”

And Nathalia Urban, who specialises in politics and journalism chimed in: “Pass The Mic is an extremely important initiative for us BAME women to share our knowledge and experiences, and all the partners in media willing to be part of this are showing a mature stance towards the plurality of our society.

“This project is giving space to our differences and supporting inclusion and tolerance for cultural multiplicities.”

Sunday National editor Richard Walker said he was delighted to be lending support to the package.

He said: “When we were recently reporting on the Black Lives Matter movement’s impact on Scotland we realised we did not regularly publish enough journalism from BAME women.

“We promised at the time to take steps to put that right and our involvement in this project in the first step to put that right.”