Muslim Woman Seeking Work: An English Case Study with a Dutch Comparison, of Discrimination and Achievement

Abstract

Abstract:The measurement of discrimination in employment is a key variable in understanding dynamics in the nature of, and change in "race relations". Measuring such discrimination using 'situation' and 'correspondence' tests was influenced by John Rex's sociological analyses, and earlier work, begun in America, was continued in England in the 1960s, and further replicated in Europe and America in later decades. This literature is reviewed, and the methodologies of testing for employment discrimination are discussed. Recent work in Britain and the Netherlands is considered in detail in the light of changing social structures, and the rise of Islamophobia. Manchester, apparently the city manifesting the most discrimination in Britain, is considered for a special case study, with a focus on one individual, a Muslim woman seeking intermediate level accountancy employment. Her vita was matched with that of a manifestly indigenous, white Briton. Submitted vitas (to 1043 potential employers) indicated significant discrimination against the Muslim woman candidate. Results are discussed within the context of Manchester's micro-sociology, and Muslim women's employment progress in broader contexts. We conclude with the critical realist comment that the "hidden racism" of employment discrimination shows that modern societies continue, in several ways, to be institutionally racist, and the failure to reward legitimate aspirations of minorities may have the effect of pushing some ethnic minorities into a permanent precariat, with implications for social justice and social control in ways which may deny minority efforts to "integrate" in society's employment systems.

Methodology of Correspondence Testing for Employment Discrimination Involving Ethnic Minority Applications: Dutch and English Case Studies of Muslim Applicants for Employment

“…Differences in acceptance could have been related to gender and qualifications of the applicants. Our method of testing using real applicants who actually were looking for employment, each accepting one of the posts offered, also seems to be unique in the literature on measuring ethnic employment discrimination (Bagley and Abubaker 2017); but this method also limits the sociological scope of the enquiry, and of the search for explanatory models. There was a significantly higher "net discrimination" against the Muslim woman in Manchester than for the Muslim man in Rotterdam, who accepted a senior accounting management post at 70,000 Euros per annum in his home city of Rotterdam.…”

“…In exploring this methodological issue, we submitted only a single vita (either an 'English Christian-name' candidate or 'Muslim-name candidate') to advertisements, until we had sufficient numbers of applications to ensure that the two candidates were applying to organisations whose 'modal' characteristics were similar (Bagley and Abubaker 2017).…”

“…We submitted the vitas individually until the contrasted groups of companies were similar, on average, on a variety of factors such as the company's size, trading purpose, geographical location, and role requirements for the advertised vacancy (Bagley and Abubaker 2017).…”

“…According to a recent review of research (Bagley and Abubaker 2017), discrimination in access to employment on grounds of "race", ethnicity or religion occurs to a significant degree in England and The Netherlands; that, is despite legal statutes forbidding employment discrimination on such grounds, these laws are rarely enforced, and a number of systematic studies have shown, using "correspondence testing" (submission of personal details of a CV to a potential employer), that black and ethnic minority applications (particularly Muslim women) are much more likely than applications from white European candidates to have their applications rejected. The discrimination considered in this earlier review was at the level of recruitment, although other kinds of discrimination may pertain even after hiring, in terms of levels of appointment, pay, and promotion (Deitch et al 2003).…”

“…The rise of Islamophobia in Britain and The Netherlands (Fekete 2008;Fekete and Sivanandan 2009;Van der Valk 2015) has paralleled hostility to Muslims as employees, especially women who dress modestly, and wear the hijab, or head covering (this evidence is reviewed in detail by Bagley and Abubaker (2017)). Muslim women, it appears, bear the heaviest "ethnic penalty" in seeking employment in the British labour market (Modood and Khattab 2016).…”