Wearing the veil is a discriminating factor for access to corporate apprenticeship, according to a study

The veil reduces the chances of getting an interview after a spontaneous application for an apprenticeship contract by “more than 80%”, according to a university study published Monday.

A clear result. The veil decreases by “more than 80%” the chances of getting an interview after a spontaneous application for an apprenticeship contract in a company, according to a university study (a PDF) published Monday December 9. This “testing” was carried out by university researchers attached to the CNRS and a data analyst, as part of the National Observatory of Discrimination and Equality in Higher Education (Ondes). The study was presented Monday by Gustave-Eiffel University (Marne-la-Vallée). His goal? Assess “penalties associated with wearing a Muslim veil on the French labor market”.

The survey, carried out between March 21 and April 1, 2024, consisted of sending a pair of CVs of young women – veiled and not veiled – born in 2005, first year BTS “Accounting and management” students, and whose first and last names – French or of North African origin – were chosen from the INSEE civil status database. Their fictitious applications were addressed to one of the 2,000 Parisian companies, drawn at random from “the files of INSEE legal units”specify the authors of the survey.

Thus, the CVs of “Sofia Cherif, Yasmine Saïdi, Sara Belkacem, Nadia Ali, Emma Martin, Léa Bernard, Manon Durand and Clara Richard” were made with photos of extras, who posed with and without veils. They have the same “skills, qualifications and experience”the same first experience and come from educational establishments judged “bons”all obtained the professional baccalaureate in 2023, have French as their native language and live in Paris, in neighborhoods that are neither popular nor wealthy.

Researchers point out that wearing the veil is not prohibited in private employment “except when an internal regulation” states the opposite. According to their testing, wearing a veil “increases the share of negative responses by 25%, decreases the share of non-negative responses by more than 30% and lowers the chances of receiving a positive response by more than 80%”it is specified.

What about the offer of an interview? Veiled women of French origin are 10.8 points (-81.4%) less likely to get one, compared to 6.7 points (-84.9%) when they are of North African origin, according to the data. “We see that the effects are very similar for the candidate presumed to be of French origin and for the one presumed to be of North African origin”continue the researchers. The authors point out that learning is “one of the main routes to accessing employment”.