Research

Current research agenda: Multiple discrimination

Is there a blind spot in the research related to discrimination? In some instances, current research is not sufficiently precise in investigating discrimination…

The General Recommendation 18 of the UN Human Rights Committee states that “[non discrimination requires] each State party to respect and ensure to all persons […] the rights recognized in the Covenant without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” More generally, discrimination refers to unjust or prejudicial differences in treatment of an individual based on the membership – or the perceived membership -- to a certain group or category. These categories, sources, or ‘grounds’ on which discrimination is based do not only include the above-mentioned ones, but also include sexual orientation, social class, age, weight, mental or physical illness, drug addiction, pregnancy, intellect, education, marital status, parentage, genetic features, and so on.

These aforementioned grounds for discrimination are typically considered separately. Yet, acknowledging that discrimination may be directed against these many different subgroups within a population requires also recognizing that individuals may be exposed to potential discrimination based on several grounds; they may face ‘multiple discrimination’. Hence, in certain circumstances, in order to appropriately describe the discriminatory treatment that a person experiences, the grounds must be considered together. For example, a Turkish woman who is refused a job complains of direct discrimination; yet, the employer replies that he has employed both non-Turkish women and Turkish men – he just does not employ Turkish women.