Search

Diversity policies have become an indispensable part of higher education institutions (HEIs) of the Global North. The increased monitoring by the European Commission has led to changes in Belgian HEI policy especially regarding gender. While research shows that the implementation of diversity policies has a positive effect on redistributing power, critics point out how the initial aim of these policies has been answered by empty promises. This research is based on 50 in-depth interviews of the perceptions and experiences of female academics with diversity policies in five Belgian HEIs. Results show that women perceive these policies as ways to window-dress equality externally, but do not have the expected effects internally. Women were divided on the utilisation of positive action. In addition, the policies lacked an intersectional perspective regarding ethnic minority backgrounds as well as family status for faculty. Studying their experiences and perceptions will allow staff equality agenda in HEIs to progress.

Correspondence testing is an increasingly used method to measure ethnic discrimination. Hereby researchers make use of names to signal ethnic origin. Nevertheless, it is rather rare that the used names are thoroughly pretested. Names are implicitly or explicitly assumed to contain clear signals of ethnic origin. Besides, individual differences in ethnic perceptions of names are ignored. Therefore, this study aims to analyze how the ethnic perception of Polish, Moroccan, Turkish, and Congolese names differ according to one's negative racial attitudes and intergroup contacts as well as the ethnic diversity of the municipality where one resides. We conducted a survey among 990 ethnic majority members in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. People with more negative blatant attitudes find it harder to perceive the ethnic origin of names as compared to people with less negative blatant attitudes. The opposite holds for people with negative subtle attitudes. More ethnic diversity in the municipality where one resides makes it easier to recognize Moroccan, Turkish, and Congolese names, but not Polish names. This implies that the level of ethnic discrimination is probably underestimated among people with blatant racial attitudes, as well as among respondents that live in less diverse areas., Author(s): Billie Martiniello [sup.1] , Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.8767.e, 0000 0001 2290 8069, Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, , Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium Introduction Discrimination [...]

While field experiments are valuable in their ability to objectively analyse patterns of discrimination, research that focuses on reducing discrimination is systematically lacking. The present study addresses this gap. Building on both cognitive and behavioural processes that steer discriminatory decision-making and insights from diversity literature, we develop and test the effectiveness of a training intervention which is tailored to the specific context of the housing market, with 113 students in real estate. We develop our training around three theoretical mechanisms of discrimination that are measured through a specified vignette experiment in pre- and post-tests. Our results show a reduction in statistical and customer taste-based discrimination after the training, but no change in agent taste-based discrimination. The driver for this reduction in discrimination is being more selective on majority candidates rather than increasing the chances of ethnic minority candidates. Additionally, we found that training has no effect on taste and that most of these effects remain present on the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we introduce a critical assessment of methodological assumptions made by researchers when using correspondence tests to measure ethnic discrimination. We aim to investigate whether (1) the order in which the applications are sent out, between the test and control person, (2) the conducted matched triad tests, in comparison to matched duo tests, and (3) the timing of application within the week, have an effect on discrimination rates. For this purpose, we made use of 2.984 matched correspondence tests across Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Our findings suggest that the correspondence tests are rather robust for the variability in methodology. While these different methodological choices do affect the general invitation rates, they do not affect discrimination rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducing a new method, we measure real estate agents' intentions to act upon a discriminatory request on the housing market. Our results show that realtors are willing to discriminate on request and that the method of mystery mails allows scholars to measure and contextualize these discriminatory intentions in a detailed and elaborate way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notwithstanding persistent levels of ethnic discrimination on the rental housing market, we have witnessed in many West-European countries a shift from targeted multicultural to colour-blind policies. At the same time, anti-immigration attitudes remained relatively stable. Whether and how these attitudes are translated in support or aversion toward anti-discrimination policies is, however, still unclear. As the first study in Europe we analyse public support for eight policy measures to tackle rental discrimination against ethnic minorities. Based on multilevel analyses among a sample of 899 adults in Belgium, we show that there is large support among the general public for testing, training and campaigning against ethnic discrimination on the housing market. General support for affirmative action measures is, however, much lower. In addition, support for anti-discrimination policies is strongly related to ethnic prejudices. People with more – especially subtle – prejudices are less likely to support policies against rental discrimination. Moreover, prejudices also mediate the effects of interethnic contacts and outgroup size on policy support. Finally, local housing market indicators do not play a significant role in the public support for anti-discrimination policies on the housing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on intake focusses on the restrictions parents' capital cause on their abilities to choose. However, the steering effect of schools in the choice-process has been neglected. We chose the Flemish context to investigate ethnic- and class-discrimination in the enrolment to kindergarten (N = 2243). The Flemish education system is known for its exceptional 'freedom of choice' allowing parents to enrol their children into their school of preference without restrictions. Simultaneously, the education system is highly decentralized due to the principle of 'freedom of education' that grants high levels of autonomy to schools in creating their school policies. Using correspondence testing, the results show that schools act as gatekeepers using subtle discriminatory strategies to keep students with an underprivileged background out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equal Opportunity programs (EO) continue to be at the center of the debate about promoting equality in higher education. While support for EO has been well‐studied in American higher education, this research is the first to investigate the attitudes towards and support for a range of EO policies among professors in Europe. We specifically examine faculty support for seven different EO measures used in European universities that require varying levels of involvement and commitment. From a sample of 689 professors, findings show that women professors tend to show more support for all EO programs compared to men professors. We also see differences across disciplines. Professors from the humanities and social sciences are more likely to endorse such programs than their counterparts in STEM disciplines. Moreover, the differences across disciplines and gender decrease substantially when controlling for racial and gender attitudes. Finally, soft/differential programs, which prioritize merit but take group membership into account are preferred over hard/preferential programs which prioritize achieving equality by targeting members from marginalized groups. This research is innovative for its geographical location, sample of study, and range of included measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is still little research about the association of anti-immigrant attitudes with ethnic discrimination. In this study we investigate whether there is more rental discrimination against ethnic minorities in Belgian municipalities with more negative attitudes and higher perceived threats toward immigration and refugees. For this purpose, we merged unique data from correspondence tests with the aggregated attitudes in 44 municipalities. There was profound discrimination against candidates with Moroccan names by both private landlords and realtors. In contrast to theoretical expectations there was not more ethnic discrimination in municipalities with more negative attitudes or higher perceived threats. However, it appears that rental candidates – irrespective of their ethnic origin – are less likely to be invited in municipalities with higher threats and more negative attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]