Muslim women face a “chill factor” in the workplace that puts them at a greater disadvantage than any other group in British society, according to a new government report. The study, by the Women and Equalities Committee, found that Muslim women have to cope with a “triple penalty” for being female, Muslim, and an ethnic minority when they apply for jobs.
To deal with the issue, the MPs suggest employers enact name-blind recruitment to alleviate bias in hiring. The issue has bubbled up recently, as I wrote in June, with women with feminine or ethnic names telling stories of finding jobs only after tweaking their names to ones that are likely to be perceived as more masculine and more white.
Getting rid of name bias in hiring is tough because it can be unconscious. And name-blind recruiting isn’t a perfect tool, since there are ways women write that could reveal their gender. Even so, at a time when “stereotypical views of Muslim women can act as a barrier to work,” as Committee Chair and conservative MP Maria Miller put it, employers need to do something to bring qualified female candidates in from the cold.
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
| . |
| Designs on greatness |
| Meet Grace Wales Bonner, the British designer making a name for herself by making her collections a "study in identity." Wales Bonner, who's just 25 and says she is of "mixed race," has already won Emerging Menswear Designer at the British Fashion Awards, not to mention the LVMH prize, which was decided by Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs and came with a 300,000-euro award. |
| Financial Times |
THE AMERICAS
| Hillary's vision |
| Hillary Clinton outlined her economic agenda in a major speech in Michigan and attacked Donald Trump's tax plan, which she said would benefit his own family. She said he paid "lip service" to average Americans in his economic address earlier this week, and criticized his plan to offer tax breaks for child care as a benefit for wealthy households with nannies. |
| New York Times |
| . |
| Golden girl |
| In a stunning performance, Simone Biles officially became the world's best gymnast yesterday, winning the women's individual all-around gold medal in Rio. Her American teammate, Aly Raisman, got the silver. If you didn't catch it, the photos of the event are awe-inspiring, as is this photographic breakdown of Biles' moves. |
| New York Times |
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| Krawcheck's counsel |
| Wall Street veteran Sallie Krawcheck thinks the retirement savings crisis in the U.S. is "a woman's crisis." As she told Fortune digital editor Aaron Task at the Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo., she feels that way because women "invest to a lesser degree than men do." Krawcheck hopes Ellevest, her digital investment platform that launched in May and addresses women's needs using a robo-advisor, will help change that. |
| Fortune |
| . |
| Uncontrollable trolls? |
| I try to keep close tabs on the online abuse of women on Twitter, which has led some women--such as Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones--to temporarily leave the social network. Buzzfeed has taken an in-depth look at the issue, and concludes that Twitter's approach to the problem "remains opaque." |
| Buzzfeed |
ASIA-PACIFIC
| Adrift in India |
| While girls in India are now as likely as boys to attend school, their paths tend to diverge afterwards. Family obligations and early marriage restrict the upward mobility of young women, since they can be expected to take care of other family members or enter unskilled fields, according to the NGO Child Rights and You. |
| Live Mint |
IN BRIEF
| Why LinkedIn is the best platform for women to build their brands online |
| Fortune |
| More than half of women in ad biz have experienced sexual harassment |
| Campaign Live |
| Female general counsel of Ohio's largest bank was fired after disclosing a personal relationship with Fannie Mae's CEO |
| Wall Street Journal |
| Turner targets millennial women |
| Fortune |
| Anita Hill says Fox News should take back Roger Ailes' $40m severance |
| NPR |
| Arianna Huffington is leaving the Huffington Post |
| Fortune |
| New private member club in London wants women to join |
| CNBC |
| NYC public advocate Letitia James to introduce equal pay bill |
| New York Post |
PARTING WORDS
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| —Caroline de Guitaut, the curator at the Royal Collection Trust, referring to Queen Elizabeth, whose clothes are on display in Britain this year to celebrate her 90th birthday |
