MULTICULTURAL
Ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity, as well as their integration within French society, are subjects that regularly come up in public debate in France.
Indeed, French universalism, enshrined in the Constitution, means that the French nation recognizes only one community, the national community, without distinction of gender, skin color, class, culture, religion, etc. Universalism is an ideal that permeates our society and binds it together. However, this ideal sometimes comes up against the reality where discrimination, prejudices, and stereotypes persist.
For example, this principle prohibits collecting information related to ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religion, and makes it difficult to build analyses on the acceptance of this diversity in society and particularly in the workplace. It can also be a barrier to the implementation of targeted policies promoting equity. It is therefore with these difficulties in mind, and always with the aim of being in line with the values of the Republic, that the subject of multiculturalism should be addressed in a D&I policy in an agency.
84% of French people believe that social, cultural, and ethnic diversity in the workplace is a good thing.
73%of French people consider that social, cultural, or ethnic origin causes inequalities in access to high-responsibility positions.
30% of employees feel that there is no diversity in their company.
The first cause of discrimination cited by those who have experienced it is that of origin, followed by name and/or surname.
Sources : Étude Elabe por la Fondation Mozaïk (2021) | Étude du Défenseur des Droits (2020)
GO DIRECTLY TO
lexicon
Diversity
A range of people who differ from one another in terms of geographic, socio-cultural, religious origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, etc.
Culture
The set of material and ideological phenomena that characterize an ethnic group or nation, civilization, as opposed to another group or nation.
Ethnicity
A group of human beings who share to varying degrees a common socio-cultural heritage, including language and culture.
Religion
A set of beliefs relating to a supernatural or superhuman order, rules of life, and possibly ritual practices, peculiar to a community so determined and constituting a more or less strongly organized social institution.
Secularism
The conception and organization of society based on the separation of Church and State, which excludes Churches from the exercise of any political or administrative power, and in particular, from the organization of education. The principle of secularism of the State is set out in Article 1 of the French Constitution of 1958.
Racism
An ideology based on the belief that there is a hierarchy between human groups, formerly referred to as “races.”
The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination defines racial discrimination as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin, which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.”
Negrophobia
Fear, apprehension, hostility, or repulsion towards Black people.
Islamophobia
According to the definition of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, Islamophobia is a “systematic attitude of hostility towards Muslims, those perceived as such, and/or towards Islam.”
Anti-Semitism
Discrimination and hostility towards Jewish people as an ethnic or religious group.
Xenophobia
Irrational hostility towards foreign or perceived foreign people.
FRENCH LAWS
Lois anti-discrimination
Parmi les critères de discrimination définis par la loi, plusieurs rentrent dans le champ du multiculturel :
- L’apparence physique ;
- L’appartenance ou non à une prétendue race ;
- L’appartenance ou non à une nation ;
- L’appartenance ou non à une ethnie ;
- Les mœurs ;
- Le patronyme ;
- Les origines, réelles ou supposées ;
- La religion ;
- La capacité à s’exprimer dans une langue étrangère ;
- Le lieu de résidence.
Comme toute discrimination, si la responsabilité de l’entreprise est engagée, elle risque jusqu’à 225 000€ d’amende. Les personnes physiques encourent quant à elles jusqu’à 3 ans d’emprisonnement et 45 000€ d’amende (article 225-1§1 du Code Pénal, article L1132-1 du Code de Travail et loi n° 2008-496 du 27 mai 2008).
BEST PRACTICES
Officially committing one’s agency
Through various actions in favor of diversity:
- Diversity Charter: its signature is intended to embody the organization’s commitment at the highest level. It guides organizations to deploy concrete actions and progress through innovative practices.
- Diversity Label: Created by the State in 2008 with social partners and experts, the Diversity Label aims to recognize the effective, voluntary, and sustainable commitment of an organization to prevent discrimination and promote diversity in the management of its human resources (recruitment, integration, career management…) while taking into account its intervention context (territorial anchoring, supplier relations, customers…)
Review recruitment practices
Revise recruitment processes to avoid any situation of discrimination. Examples: selection based solely on skills, predetermined question grids for interviews, CV anonymization…
A mention highlighting the agency’s D&I policy in the job offer is also a good idea.
Train and raise awareness among HR teams and managers
Training on combating discrimination and cognitive biases is essential for staff responsible for selecting and recruiting profiles.
agency best practices
Shortlinks – Interfaith Training
The objective of this training is to understand religious (or atheistic) beliefs and identities to learn to live better together in our agencies and better address, through our campaigns, a French society where different religious cultures and secularism coexist. It takes place in the form of awareness workshops and/or participation in conference debates. Shortlinks participated in the “Diversity(s) of Summer” event at Sciences Po in 2019 with the group « Les Voix de la Paix »
Other associations such as “Coexister” offer awareness workshops.
TOOLS AND RESOURCES
The Guide Mesurer pour progresser vers l’égalité des chances (Defender of Rights). This guide aims to help companies assess their diversity and inclusion situation while respecting the French regulatory framework, which does not allow for the calculation of statistical data on the subject.
It also proposes concrete solutions and corrective actions to be implemented to improve diversity and inclusion.
The Guide on racism and racial discrimination in the workplace (AFMD).
It explains the various forms of racial discrimination in the workplace and recommends solutions to act against racism in the company.
The Guide “Managing Singularities” (MEDEF). Its purpose is to question all managers in order to avoid behavior guided by subjectivity. Through concrete situations, it brings elements of reflection and solutions to help managers in their “tense” decision-making.(MEDEF).