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The Silent Discrimination against Headscarved Professionals in the Turkish Labor Market: The Case of Women in the Banking Sector

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  • Hatice Karahan

    (Department of Economics and Finance, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul 34810, Turkey
    Davis Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA)

  • Nigar Tugsuz

    (Department of Sociology, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, Istanbul 34662, Turkey)

Abstract

This study addresses the widespread discriminatory policies against headscarved professionals in the Turkish job market, by focusing on the female-intensive banking sector. Although the number of professionals wearing headscarves has increased since 2013 with the removal of the ban on headscarves for workers in the public sector, we argue that significant ideological discriminatory practices and bias against these women still exist. To expose this hidden reality and uncover its dynamics, we undertook exploratory in-depth interviews with 30 professionals from the Turkish banking sector, including both men and women. Our findings verify a severe underrepresentation of headscarved professionals in the commercial banking sector. Whereas, after 2013, state-owned banks began, to some extent, to recruit women wearing the headscarf, private commercial banks have not amended their exclusionist policy towards headscarved white-collar employees. Research findings confirm that in the Turkish banking sector, policies regarding the headscarf are still shaped by ideological corporate values. This study suggests that the appointment and promotion of female professionals in the Turkish banking sector are blocked by long-established stereotypes and prejudices, which stand in the way of inclusive practices supporting social equity, as well as diversity and the equality of women in the workplace.

Suggested Citation

  • Hatice Karahan & Nigar Tugsuz, 2021. "The Silent Discrimination against Headscarved Professionals in the Turkish Labor Market: The Case of Women in the Banking Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11324-:d:655533
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Moses Shayo, 2020. "Social Identity and Economic Policy," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 12(1), pages 355-389, August.
    2. Attakrit Leckcivilize & Alexander Straub, 2018. "Headscarf and job recruitment—lifting the veil of labour market discrimination," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, December.
    3. Jawad Syed & Edwina Pio, 2010. "Veiled diversity? Workplace experiences of Muslim women in Australia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 115-137, March.
    4. Koopmans, Ruud & Veit, Susanne & Yemane, Ruta, 2019. "Taste or statistics? A correspondence study of ethnic, racial and religious labour market discrimination in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 42(16), pages 233-252.
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