Has the French population become insensitive? “on the fight against racism and, more generally, on the various forms of discrimination that minorities experience in their lives in general and in their professional lives in particular” † This is the question Ifop wanted to answer in a study published on March 21, 2022 for MakeMyCV [1]†
However, as the far-right is gaining ground in the voting intentions of male and female voters, the Ifop survey indicates that the fight against racism and discrimination remains a key concern, according to those polled. 62% of them believe that a “Strong fight against racism is necessary in France”† A percentage that is almost the same as previous surveys conducted in 2012 (62%) and 2002 (59%).
However, as Ifop points out once again, the majority of voters in France do not agree “powerful struggle” the core of their voting intention. “This low weight of discrimination issues in the voice of the French people is undoubtedly due to the fact that discrimination based on origin (e.g. geographical, ethnic, religious, etc.) affects little of the majority population today, but mainly of racialized minorities ‘ (…) especially in their access to work”Ifop further specifies.
Indeed, in the world of work, racialized (or non-white) people believe that they are more victims of discrimination (50%) than the average observed among the entire French population (33%). These behaviors or comments can take place during a job interview but also once in the post. This mainly concerns religious minorities (58% of Muslims) or employees with a foreign nationality (69%).
Discrimination in the workplace also affects other minorities such as homosexuals (46% versus 29% of heterosexuals for example), disabled (49% versus 29% of able-bodied individuals), obese (40%) or women (37% versus 27% of the men).
The challenge of recruitment
The recruitment phase represents a major challenge in the fight against discrimination. The proportion of workers who have already been victims of this type of behavior has almost doubled since 2008, from 8 to 13% in the market sector and to 12% in the non-market sector.
Despite the initiatives already in place, this Ifop research indicates that the fight against discrimination must remain a priority within companies.
[1] As indicated by Ifop, the general audience survey was conducted on a sample of 2,000 French people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over. The employee survey was conducted among a sample of 4,026 employees, representative of the French employee population aged 18 and over. The representativeness of the sample was ensured by the quota method with regard to socio-demographic, socio-professional and geographical criteria.