In the final evidence session of its inquiry into Muslims and employment the Women and Equalities Committee will take evidence from three Ministers: 

Baroness Williams, DCLG; Nick Boles, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Priti Patel, Department for Work and Pensions. Likely areas of questioning include: The impact of the Government’s work to engage with Muslim communities; What actions Government and universities are taking to widen access to top universities; What the Government is doing to tackle islamophobia in the workplace and society. A 2015 analysis from the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that of all religious groups, Muslims have the lowest employment rate at 47.2%, and the highest pay gap compared with those of no religion, earning 22.5% less.  The 2015 Demos report ‘Rising to the Top’ found that 16% are in managerial and professional roles, against an average of 30% per cent of the general population. The Committee has heard evidence that contributing factors include the under-representation of Muslims at top universities, the high levels of economic inactivity among Muslim women, and the over-representation of Muslims in particular low-paying sectors. 

Committee Chair Maria Miller said: “Too many Muslim people in Britain face problems getting a job and reaching their full potential in the workplace, particularly women; the evidence we have seen suggests that culture, faith and race all play a part. At a time when so much of the Government’s visible work around Muslim communities is focused on tackling extremism, we want to ask what the Government is doing to reduce employment inequality too. The Committee want to find out how the Government plans to address islamophobia in the workplace, widen access to university and support those looking for employment, particularly women.”

Engagement with Muslim communities
The Committee has heard evidence that members of Muslim communities are reluctant to engage with Government programmes because of fear and mistrust generated by its counter-extremism work. In its 2011 review of the Prevent strategy the Government said: “The review concludes that Prevent will depend on a successful integration programme. But, as a general rule, Prevent and cohesion programmes must remain distinct, though coordinated with one another. Counter-terrorism Prevent funding must not be used extensively for community interventions which have much wider social objectives. The Government has already decided that responsibility for Prevent will lie with the Home Office (in the OSCT) and responsibility for integration with DCLG.”

In the spending review of November 2015 the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “To reduce division and build cohesive communities, the government will maintain current levels of funding for community integration programmes. This funding will be targeted to support the recommendations of Louise Casey’s review of opportunity and integration in isolated and deprived communities.” The Casey Review is expected to report later this year.

Anti Muslim prejudice
The rise in anti-Muslim sentiment amongst the wider British public in recent years is well documented. Metropolitan Police figures have shown that in London reports of Islamophobic hate crimes increased by 58% between 2013 and 2015, and in Manchester, police data has shown that such crimes almost doubled between November 2014 and October 2015. A ComRes poll showed that nearly half of all Muslims believe that prejudice against Islam makes it very difficult being a Muslim in this country; 10% of women and nearly 20% of men reported that they do not feel safe as a Muslim in Britain.

Discrimination in recruitment
Research into name-based discrimination in recruitment has shown that applicants with white British-sounding names are 29 percentage points more likely to be successful than those with names associated with other ethnic groups. The Committee’s inquiry has also heard of cases of Muslim women feeling the need to avoid wearing religious dress in order to secure employment.

Access to university
Analysis from Demos in 2015 shows that Muslim students are under-represented in top universities. Some of this can be explained through differences in subject choice and attainment, although even when this is controlled for there is still a gap of around 10% between the success rates of Pakistani and Bangladeshi students and the success rates of white British students when applying to Russell Group universities.