More than one in three young people (37%) aged 18 to 34 report having experienced a “situation of discrimination or discriminatory harassment” in the context of their job search or career.
This is the finding that emerges from the 14th barometer on the perception of discrimination in employment, published this Tuesday by the Defender of Rights Claire Hédon.
The 18 to 34 year olds seem "particularly exposed" to this discrimination, as the study reports.
Almost one in five young people even say they have been confronted with it on several occasions.
This discrimination can occur both during recruitment (34%), in daily work (33%), during career development (23%) or even when accessing an internship (18% ).
According to the study, these facts can be illustrated through prejudices, stereotypes, but also relations of domination.
More than a third of the 3,200 people questioned consider that discrimination constitutes a "massive phenomenon in French society".
4 in 10 young people prefer to remain silent
The subjects of this discrimination are multiple: 68% of those polled believe that they have been attacked on the basis of their origin, color or nationality.
For 63%, it is about their physical appearance and 61% believe it is their gender.
In addition, 60% of those questioned say they have been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, 54% because of their disability or 57% because of their religion.
Beyond the repercussions on the career, the consequences of these stigmatizing remarks or remarks can have “harmful and lasting effects on mental health”.
In fact, 85% of people who have experienced discrimination feel anger at the time of the incident, and half of them experience it for a long time.
However, many prefer to remain silent: more than 4 in 10 people, mainly women, have not said anything following these facts.
How to explain this non-recourse?
First, by the fact that half of the victims (50%) think that it would not have changed anything for them, because they did not know what to do (for 34% of them) and because they had fear of reprisals (26%).
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Thus, the Defender of Rights denounces in her conclusions "the insufficient mobilization of public authorities" on the issue of discrimination.
It also calls for the creation of a “Discrimination Observatory” in order to better prevent and punish those at fault and calls for dissuasive sanctions by the courts as well as specific measures combating discrimination affecting young people.
Also, this awareness must also be done at work by implementing a "phase of diagnosis and investigation" to better identify these risks, she believes.
The survey was conducted among a representative sample of the population of young workers aged 18 to 34 (3,201 people) from July 7 to 26, 2021 by the Ipsos institute.