Muslims: the reality of discrimination at work

Specialist in social issues, Marie-Anne Valfort analyzes the reality of discrimination in the company, of which Muslims are victims, and their impact, including on the smooth running of companies.

What is the origin of your research on the integration of Muslim immigrants into Western societies and especially in France?

In 2008, a CV testing internally carried out by the Casino group showed that the French of extra-community (Asian, African, Maghreb) are systematically discriminated against the French of French origin.However, the intensity of the discrimination they undergo seems to be very dependent on the region from which they come.Thus, of the three aforementioned origins, it is the Maghreb origin which is the most discriminated.This particular status of candidates of Maghrebian origin suggests that it is not only the extra-community origin which is a source of discrimination on the part of recruiters.The probable belonging to the Muslim religion of French of Maghreb origin (the Maghreb being with a large majority Muslim) seems to constitute one more handicap for him.

It is this hypothesis that I wanted to test with two American colleagues, Claire Adida (University of San Diego) and David Laitin (Stanford University).We thus launched in 2009 a research program funded by the National Science Foundation whose objective was to answer the following two questions: (i) are individuals more discriminated against when they are perceived as Muslims rather than Christians?(ii) If so, what are the springs of this discrimination?

Are Muslims discriminated simply because they are Muslims?

The answer is "yes", unfortunately.In 2009, we led a CV testing which was the first to test the existence of discrimination due to religion.More specifically, in order to be able to award any differences in response rates between fictitious candidates in our testing to their only differences in religious affiliation, we have assigned these candidates the same country of origin (Senegal).Our testing on CV allowed us to conclude that belonging supposed to the Muslim religion rather than to the Christian religion is an important factor of discrimination on the French labor market.Thus, with equivalent CV, a Frenchman of extra-community origin (Senegalese in this case) has between 2 and 3 times less likely to be summoned to a job interview when he is perceived as Muslim rather than Christian.

What are the springs of this discrimination?

In order to identify these springs, we have conducted a survey of 500 households of Senegalese origin living in France, endowed with the same departure characteristics upon their arrival in France, with the exception of their religion (part of these households isChristian, the other is Muslim).We also organized "experimental games" during which French people without recent migration past have interacted with immigrants of Senegalese Christians and Muslims.The combination of these data highlights a vicious circle which can be described as follows:

Muslims differ in relation to their Christian counterparts (and a fortiori in relation to the French without recent migration past) according to their religious norms and their gender norms: they attach more importance to religion and have a more traditional visionroles incumbent upon men and women;These cultural differences constitute a source of discrimination on the part of employers who fear, by recruiting a Muslim candidate, to be confronted with more religious demands but also with more conflicts between different sex employees.But these cultural differences also feed less rational discrimination on the part of the French without recent migration past as a whole.The latter indeed make the amalgamation between `` attachment stronger to religion '' and `` rejection of secularism '' and between `` more traditional vision of the roles which fall to men and women '' and `` oppressionwomen''.In other words, they perceive the presence of Muslims as a cultural threat likely to call into question at least two main principles to which they are particularly attached: the independence of politics in relation to the religious and gender equality.This amalgam leads the French without recent migration past to be less cooperative with regard to the people they perceive as Muslim, including when they do not expect any particular hostility from these people when theyinteract with them;

Muslims perceive more hostility from the French without recent migration past than their Christian counterparts perceive.This perception does not encourage them to erase the cultural differences which separate them from their host society, and pushes them on the contrary to emphasize these differences: these differences are widen from one generation of immigrants to the other more than theydo not fade;

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This tendency to the withdrawal of Muslims in turn exacerbates the discrimination they undergo in France.

How to combat discrimination against Muslims on the job market?

It is essential that companies train their staff in non-discrimination.The objective of these training courses is double.They consist in explaining to participants decision-making biases (taste for the inter-self, using stereotypes...) which generate discrimination, and to convince them of the need to resist these biases.Because the fight against discrimination, in particular ethno-religious, is beneficial for the performance of the company.

First of all because it reduces its legal risk.Discrimination due to origin and religion is indeed illegal and sanctioned, if it is proven, of high fines.In order for this threat to the sanction to be credible and therefore leads to companies to limit their discriminatory behavior, an increased control of their recruitment practices should be established.Thus, one could imagine that a public institution such that the defender of rights is embarking on both more frequent and more systematic testing operations.Manuel Valls' speech of March 6, 2015 on "La République en Actes" goes to this effect.

The fight against discrimination, beneficial for the company

Furthermore, commitment to the fight against ethno-religious discrimination allows the company to display itself as socially responsible, a "plus" to attract investors.But it is still necessary that the company can measure its ethno-religious diversity in order to set objectives aimed at improving it.If progress has been made in recent years in terms of gender equality or integration of disabled people into the company, it is precisely because the proportion of women and disabled people has been measured andConsidered by certain companies as a full -fledged performance indicator.

It is therefore essential that the company can collect, with the support of the CNIL, objective data at least on the nationality and the place of birth of employees and their parents.It is only in this condition that the company will be able to communicate on the representativeness of the ethno-religious composition of its employees compared to the employment area in which it is located (information on the national origin ofresidents of the employment area and their parents have been available via the Employment Survey (INSEE) since 2005)...And that it will therefore be encouraged to engage actively in policies aimed at improving this representativeness.

Diversity, a performance lever

Finally, it is important to remind companies that the rare studies that have succeeded in estimating the impact of ethno-religious diversity of teams on their productivity have so far shown that this impact is positive.Ethno-religious diversity is a performance lever for the company because it allows the pooling of a set of skills and richer experiences.It is still necessary that all of the employees and managers of the company give a good reception for new recruits from "diversity".We can doubt that the simple fact of following training in non-discrimination is enough to achieve this objective.To be effective, these training courses should be accompanied by the demonstration, by top management, of its commitment to policies to promote ethno-religious diversity.As such, we can only encourage large companies to show an example by having executive committees and boards of directors more representative of the ethno-religious diversity of our country.