Research: British Muslim Women 71% more Likely to Be Unemployed
British Muslim women are around 70 percent more likely to be looking unsuccessfully for work, according to the University of Bristol’s Nabil Khattab, who spoke at the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in Glasgow, The Independent reported.
The recent national Labor Force survey showed the unemployment rate among Muslim women was 18 percent, compared with 9 percent for Muslim women and 4 percent for white Christian women. This has previously been attributed to Muslim women being less well educated and less fluent in English, but Khattab says his data shows the discrepancy is also likely to be explained by employer discrimination.
Khattab analyzed a sample of 2,643 from the national Labor Force survey to compare the rates of those looking for work without success. He adjusted the sample in order to compare women with similar educational level and language abilities and controlled for marital status, children and strength of religious belief.
He found that Muslim women were 71 percent more likely than white Christian women to be unemployed, even when they had the same educational level and language skills. Muslim women were 57 percent more likely to be unemployed than white Christian women.
“Economic activity among Muslim women in the UK remains considerably lower and their unemployment rate remains significantly higher than the majority group even after controlling for qualifications and other individual characteristics,” Khattab said.
He added that the conspicuousness of Muslim women’s religious background was likely to be a key factor in explaining their exclusion. “They wear the hijab or other religious symbols which makes them more visible and as such exposed to greater discrimination.”
Source: FNA
