Experience and perception of discrimination in the Île-de-France region

In April and May of 2015, the regional Île-de-France discrimination monitoring office together with INED and the iPSOS polling institute surveyed 2,500 people on their perceptions and experiences of discrimination. This was the first survey in Île-de-France that allowed for collecting not only the prevalence of experiences of discrimination but also information on places in which discrimination occurs, strategies used to avoid it, and the effects of discrimination on victims’ life trajectories. When the results were compared with those of the 2008-2009 Trajectories and Origins survey (TeO), the findings were that ethno-racial discrimination levels have remained the same while incidents of sexist discrimination reported by women and religious discrimination reported by Muslims have risen sharply.

In addition to discrimination, the survey has brought to light some of the more discreet and seemingly mild or inconsequential types of disadvantage that “minorized” groups feel they have to deal with, including a need to work more to obtain what is given to others, a tendency to avoid certain places, self-censorship so as not to have to experience discrimination-caused failures, and a variety of voluntary dissimulation strategies (concealing one’s religion or state of health, changing one’s name) and externally imposed changes (having to change one’s last name). For example, 30% of women think they have to do more throughout their career because of their sex; 32% of Muslims think they have to compensate for the stigma of their religion to get a job; and 27% of persons belonging to a visible minority think they had to work harder in school because of their origin.

Source:Mireille Eberhardt and Patrick Simon, 2016, Expérience et perception des discriminations en Île-de-France, ORDIF [FR]

Contact:Patrick Simon, Senior Researcher at Institut national d’études démographiques

Update:December 2017