Veiled Muslim women less likely to get a job in Germany

The employment chances of a Muslim migrant woman in Germany who wears a headscarf are lower than a native German candidate with the same qualifications, according to the findings of a new survey released on September 20.

Hawzah News Agency-The findings of the study, which was published by the Institute for the Study of Labour (IZA), in Bonn, reveals a significant bias against migrants and women with headscarves.

Experts prepared fake resumes and sent them out to nearly 1,500 companies across Germany seeking office personnel.

The resumes were based on three different profiles, but with almost the same qualifications. The experts also attached photos to the resumes – a common practice in Germany.

The first profile had a typical German name, Sandra Bauer. The second profile was a Turkish name (Meryem Ozturk) with a bare-headed photo. The third profile had the same Turkish name, but included the photo of the same woman wearing a headscarf.

Callback rates to the applications revealed a high level of discrimination against female migrants wearing headscarves.

“The results show that Turkish migrants [signalled by a Turkish name] are discriminated against at a significant level, in particular when their photograph shows them wearing a Muslim headscarf,” IZA research fellow Professor Doris Weichselbaumer wrote in the 27-page preliminary summary of the research paper.

“Everything else [being] equal, a female with a Turkish name who wears a headscarf has to send 4.5 times as many applications as an applicant with a German name and no headscarf to receive the same number of callbacks for interview,” she concluded.

Germany has a total population of 81.1 million and around 5% are Muslims. Among the approximately four million Muslim residents in the country, three million are of Turkish origin.

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