Employment discrimination faced by Muslim women wearing the hijab: exploratory meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

This study tested the hypothesis that Muslim women who wear the hijab are disadvantaged in employment processes relative to their counterparts who do not wear the hijab. A meta-analysis synthesized the findings of seven studies published between 2010 and 2020. The sample-weighted, pooled estimate among the most internally valid, experimental studies suggested that the chances of being hired and so gainfully employed were 40% lower among Muslim women wearing the hijab than they were among, otherwise similar, Muslim women not wearing the hijab: relative risk (RR) = 0.60 within a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.54, 0.67. This religion-based discrimination effect was deemed hugely significant in human, public health and policy senses. Immigration trends suggest that millions of Muslim women in the west likely experienced such employment discrimination over the past generation, and millions more are bound to similarly suffer over the next generation if policy status quos are retained. It seems that much of the relatively greater employment discrimination experienced by Muslim women who wear the hijab is due largely to potential employers' prejudicial reactions to the hijab itself. Practice and policy implications and future research needs are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Employment
• discrimination
• hijab
• headscarf
• Muslim women

Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the library science support of Sharon Munro, Leddy Library, and for the editorial support of Nancy Richter, School of Social Work, University of Windsor.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.