Ethnic and religious discrimination? : a multicultural analysis of Muslim minorities in the West

Using a discrimination approach, this paper analyzes the consequence of religious affiliation on the status of female migrants in the labor market. Available literature emphasizes the fact that the combination of a set of major sources of discrimination such as gender, migration, ethnicity, and religion makes more severe the existing discrimination. In order to examine this relationship, the paper utilizes the statistical method of logistic regression to determine the effect of religion while other competing determinants such as ethnic and migration characteristics as well as human capital and family characteristics are held constant in the analysis. Accordingly, it is proposed that the analysis undertaken in this paper has a good potential to advance the existing knowledge on the role of religion and ethnicity from a discrimination perspective. Key findings of this empirical investigation suggest that employment differentials tend to be mainly the consequence of achieved characteristics such as human capital and length of residence in the country of destination rather than the act of discrimination in the labor market per se, arising from characteristics such as migration status, religion, and ethnicity. However, further collaborations especially qualitative studies are required to shed further light on the complicated issue of ethnic and religious discrimination.