to have no idea what my childrens' ethnic group is

[atthecarwash]

Just received the census and I'm already stressing abou filling it in.

I'm half french half british.
DH is half english half indian

What are my children?

I would say white and asian under mixed/multiple ethnic groups - the same as your DH.

There are boxes for 'other' and then you can give more specific info underneath, no? My Ds doesn't have his own box either, presume it's mighty common nowadays :)

I think there's a 'mixed White European/Asian' option. But you can put whatever you want because it's your perception that counts, not some kind of colour chart :)

Mixed race, I'd guess.

None of what you have written relates to ethnicity, but nationality.

One can be French and caucasian (i.e. white), British and black, Asian etc etc.

I'll guess you should put white, mixed race or other!

But don't stress - it doesn't really matter that much!

Maybe White and Asian under the mixed groups header? or you could try and explain in the Other White Background box. Or maybe you think they are Asian British?

You just have to decide how you want to define them.

Aren't they then 1/2 British, 1/4 French, 1/4 Indian? That's probably not much help as I suspect there isn't a box for that lol But if they were born in Britain and have citizenship isn't there one for British mixed or British other? I suppose you need to pick whatever you are comfortable with

Is it asking for nationality or race? THey are two separate things. You are European (and white?) your dh is mixed nationality (if born before 1984-after that "you are, where you're born").

If you're children were born in Britain, they're British. Unless you're asking about race, in which case they are mixed.

they are mixed raced as f=being french is not a race its the country were you come from

a half french white and half britsh white equals white

Egyptian isn't one that ticks a specific box either..

It's black african, nor white african, it's not arab, not mediterranean, even thou X'H' is from coastal city.

I use Mixed British/white with other.

ok it's a bit clearer now.I guess it would be right to say they are white and asian? Even though they are only 25% asian?

It's not just for the census....I got asked to fill in a form at the hospital the other day and I struggled. Can't even remember what I ticked. I suppose I wanted to include my french roots but as someone pointed out, french white is white so I don't have to take that into account.

Agree with Rabat's solution. It matters a bit to try to get this right - health issues vary by ethnicity, so tracking ethnicity changes helps predict changes to health needs. eg South Asians have higher rates of diabetes than caucasians.

Nationality is irrelevant. In terms of ethnic origin they are 25% Indian, 75% caucasian (European). So put them in the mixed white/Asian category

I really struggle with this. For myself, I always tick other and explain the ethnic mix underneath because none of the options are suitable. The Mrs tells me that it's fairly important for medical stuff (eg predispositions to verious conditions/ailments). I look for the box entitled 'mongrel', but there usually isn't one :)

Always been happy ticking the 'other' box for myself, but was speaking to the Mrs about what to do for our children. They are effectively 3/4 west european (although very mixed west European), 1/8 asian, 1/8 afro-caribean.

I guess the right answer is white european mixed with a bit of detail added underneath. Never really sure to be honest.

yanbu

i dont even know my own ethnic origin

my great great grandparents are from india, my great grandparents, grand parents and parents were born in south africa, my mum used to always tick african other, but we are asian imo?

but if my ethnic origin is indian on account that my great great grandparents are from india, then how can someones ethnic origin be pakistani of bangaldeshi when at the time their parents were born those countries didnt even exist? isnt that a nationality and not an ethnic origin anyway? and a lot of people in those countries migrated from india?

and my childrens dad is pakistani, so what are my kids, there is normally mixed asian and white asian and black etc but no mixed asian and asian?

so i normally pur prefer not to say or alternatley start ranting about my origins and tell them to tick what they like if they insist.

The form isn't asking people to describe their ethnic origin, nationality or race. It is asking people to describe their ethnic group. What ethnic group a person feels they belong to is up to them. Some people may feel that their ethnic group is connected to their nationality. Others will feel that it is connected to their skin pigmentation, others will feel it is connected to their ancestry.

For example, a white person born in England might have Irish ancestors who were from Northern Ireland at a time when Northern Ireland did not exist as a separate political entity from the rest of Ireland. That person can tick in section A (white) the Irish option.

Somebody else with the same ancestry may feel that their Irish ancestry has no relationship with their ethnic group now, and they may choose to tick section A (white) English.

The form gives a lot of the most common categories, and if you feel your ethnic groups is something other than that, you can put down any ethnic group of your choice.

but as an asian i cannot tick a box that says english otherwise i would.

fyi i left that question blank for me and there wasnt enough space in my kids to tick asian other and write mixed pakistani and indian in the boxes so i had to write it underneath the white boxes...

Nailak I agree with your Mum, by your logic I would be French and I've never ever been to France, my parents went on one holiday though. Don't know about your DC's my head hurts trying to figure it out lol

If you consider your ethnic groups to be Asian English, then you choose section C - Asian/Asian British. You then tick the fifth box - any other Asian background. Underneath you write in the space - Asian English.

what is the point of this question anyway? not just in the census but everywhere? i mean if i can just write what i want, ranging from african to english then what does it show?

It shows what ethnic groups exist in the country.

Hey this is my area of research! How exciting.

The statistics are needed for the census in order to measure what numbers of ethnic minority populations we currently have, so for example, when mixed heritage started to be measured we could see that this was a very rapidly growing part of the population. We need to know this as different ethnic minority communities may have different needs, so if we know that there are a large and growing number of black carribean people in a certain area and we know black caribbean boys tend not to do as well in education, we might put in some additional resources to help make sure they are not being discriminated against (except that all that kind of support is being cut anyway).

However, social scientists point out that categories for different ethnic minority groups are always changing: used to be just African or Asian, then African and Asian got split down. Sometimes we include Turkish, sometimes not. When do French get seen as white, what if someone is French but of North African origin?

The one category which never changes is: white. So social scientists ask, is it all done in order to define the all-important category of white? Some argue that we should not measure ethnicity because it just feeds into the construction of different ethnic categories, when we are working hard to remind ourselves that we are all one human race.

For those who argue that there are medical reasons for measuring ethnicity and that some conditions are specific to particular ethnic groups, remember that we may all be much more mixed than we realise. My Dad is an absolutely typical white bufton, yet a few years ago he was diagnosed with a condition which is usually only found in Asian people. Many generations back, he has an Asian forebear, I don't think he's particularly unusual but most of us don't realise this may be back in our family's distant past - especially as racial politics of the time will have covered it up where possible.

In spite of all this, I still think it is important to measure ethnicity. There is racism operating, so it's important that we have these large sets of figures which can show us that, for example, people from black communities are more frequently employed in jobs well below their qualification level.
It's an artificial measurement of who we are, so I think we should select the ethnic category that will help show up any need for public service support we might have as a result of belonging to that ethnic group.

Ha this reminded me of when Boris Johnson discovered his Grandfather (I think) was Turkish on Who Do You Think You are. His reaction was quite funny.

my point is that if i could legitamitely think african other or asian other and so could a lot of people then it doesnt really represent much does it as its subjective? i know a women who has never been to pakistan in her life or has no family there but ticks pakistani coz she feels like a pakistani...

so realistically what does it show? because tbh i wouldnt see myself as belonging to any ethnic group, because i dont, and other is not a group.

What ethnic group somebody belongs to should be subjective though. It is based on somebody's personal experiences.

If you don't feel a sense of common experience with any particular group, then I don't see an issue with writing 'no ethnic group' on the form.