Here's a short, sharp look at the overt and covert discrimination felt by Muslims in the workplace or just hoping to find one. With more space* I might have argued that the point about alcohol in out-of-office activities and networking should be no more a problem for those with a faith-related objection than it is for people who simply prefer not to drink. The photo shows Louis Reynolds, main author of the report I discuss ...
It is a familiar lament among Muslims in the West.
However tough job-hunting may be in strained economic times if your name is Martin, Manfried or Michel, imagine what it must be like to sign your application Mohammed.
From the authors of a new British report comes a bold remedy. They say David Cameron’s government should make anonymous CVs compulsory for major employers.
Called Rising to the Top, the report from Demos, which describes itself as the UK’s leading cross-party think tank, identifies a number of obstacles to advancement by British Muslims. Its findings could be applied to other European countries and the broader western world.
It says:
* British Muslims are much less likely than members of any other religious group to hold professional or managerial jobs (16 per cent occupy such posts compared with an average of 30 per cent);
* they are disproportionately likely to be unemployed and economically inactive, with women having the lowest female participation rate of all faiths;
* some industries and organisations continue to discriminate against ethnic minorities in the recruitment process; and
* opportunities for career progress may suffer from the difficulties Muslims find in engaging with workplace social activities and networking involving alcohol.
There is plenty of food for thought in the list of problems. But how effective or indeed enforceable is the headline-grabbing idea of anonymous CVs?
Mindful of the failure of comparable countries to implement such a change, the authors decided on a late change of wording, restricting their proposal to “large-scale workplaces” in public and private sectors
They do not explain how even this would stop unscrupulous and prejudiced employers ignoring the spirit of any new law. The backgrounds of applicants would surely become evident at some later stage of the selection process.
Yet the report hails some success with “sophisticated” voluntary recruitment policies. Certain employers now adopt a “CV-blind” approach in which assessors interview candidates without knowledge of their educational backgrounds. Other use a “contextual” refinement that takes account of the economic and personal circumstances of applicants. Such measures “can reduce the opportunity for subjective assessment and subconscious bias”, the report says.
Some improvements in the past decade, especially in education, are acknowledged and the authors urge the reinforcement of this process, promoting “tangible economic and political benefits” of integration rather than emphasising the importance of values or countering extremism.
The report adds flesh to the bones of Mr Cameron’s speech to the annual conference of his ruling Conservative party this month, when he championed social mobility as a means of overcoming discrimination and poverty. Too many people were “unable to rise from the bottom to the top, or even from the middle to the top, because of their background”, he said.
He also pre-empted the Demos report by deploring evidence that “even if they have exactly the same qualifications, people with white-sounding names are nearly twice as likely to get call backs for jobs than people with ethnic-sounding names”. One case he cited – a young black woman who changed her name to Elizabeth before anyone offered her an interview – was “disgraceful in 21st century Britain”, he said.
Yet there are sceptics galore, decision-makers among them, who see the Demos report, and Mr Cameron’s implied support for its thrust, as naive wishful thinking, unworkable in practice.
If Muslims are to get a fair deal, Mr Cameron must rise above the misgivings of reactionaries within his own party to turn his vision into reality, whether by adopting the ambitious road map set out by the report – as underlined by his own words – or by an alternative route.
* From my work for The National, Abu Dhabi, in this case a comment piece published at the newspaper's website today http://www.thenational.ae/authors/colin-randall and appearing in the print edition tomorrow.
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