Women of color in the Netherlands still experience many obstacles in daily life, in the job market and in healthcare (see our article on gender inequality in healthcare).
In this article, we focus on the job market. According to research conducted by DPG Recruitment in 2020 among more than 2,100 respondents, 55 percent of respondents say they have ever been discriminated against during the application process. After age (53 percent), discrimination due to ethnicity follows with 27 percent. Among job applicants with a Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese or Antillean background, that percentage is highest at 76 percent. This shows that women of color face additional barriers when entering the job market. They are thus more likely to face discrimination: after all, there are two different points at which they can be excluded; woman and color.
Should there be a “click”?
When applying for jobs, you often hear from recruiters that there has to be a “click. However, that “click” is heavily influenced by what you recognize about yourself in another person, which can bring unconscious biases. Sharita Boon of DPG Recruitment tells MT/Sprout that she encourages her team members to use the “flip-it” technique: “If you’ve spoken to someone and you have a certain feeling about them, try to strip it of preconceptions. Imagine if a man had given that answer, or a white person, would you have felt the same way about it as you did about a woman of color?” Therefore, it is important for organizations to ask themselves if and what biases are present within them.
Jobs in IT or at the top are often male-dominated and difficult for women to access. For women of color, this is even more difficult. Prejudice plays an important role in this. Leadership roles are often linked to qualities labeled as masculine, such as dominance, decisiveness and thoroughness. As a woman of color, you have to meet these expectations. However, research shows that women actually tend to be better leaders. It is often thought that this is because women are more empathetic and caring. But like the supposed “masculine” qualities, these are stereotypes.
In addition to the IT sector and top jobs, where women of color are underrepresented, they also experience discrimination and unequal opportunities in sectors where they are instead highly represented, such as healthcare and education. In the healthcare sector, for example, women of color face more stereotyping and are less likely to be promoted to leadership positions.
Women need to prove themselves extra as leaders
Professor of leadership Janka Stoker wrote in Het Parool, “Women do better because they have to prove themselves as leaders first. While men, even with mediocre qualities, easily climb up based on attributed leadership potential. “He is a man, so he must be a vigorous, good leader, is the thinking here.”
This works through once a woman of color is hired. She has to prove herself much more than her white male colleagues each time and try extra hard. Where white men get away with mediocre performance, women of color simply cannot afford it. Their work is constantly under a magnifying glass and they have to walk two steps harder for the same appreciation. And then also for a lower salary.
In addition, micro-aggression plays a role in the workplace. These are subtle, often unconscious comments or behaviors that can have a negative impact. Consider assumptions about someone’s language skills, culture or suitability for certain positions. Often under the guise of “a joke. This contributes to an unsafe work environment for women of color.
Partly because of this, many women of color experience poor mental health and burnout. Women of color have already had to overcome many obstacles to get hired. From home, they are often told to work extra hard. That is why it is extra important to assess women of color objectively and to put prejudices aside.
Employers and policymakers can actively address this. Initiatives such as diversity training can contribute to a fairer and more inclusive labor market.
View our list of training courses we offer for business at this link: https://bureaugelijkebehandeling.nl/bedrijven-en-organisaties/
