A/HRC/46/30 European Union, felt discriminated against when seeking employment 76 and, compared to other ethno-religious groups, Muslim minorities experience higher unemployment rates, lower wages and higher employment in temporary, insecure and low-paid work.77 Muslim minorities are often underrepresented in “top” professions, including in the fields of politics, law and medicine. Some report that young Muslims increasingly suffer from a “broken social mobility promise”, whereby discrimination and prejudice undermine the translation of educational success into employment prospects.78 Muslim women are particularly affected. Legislative bans on religious dress and workplace dress codes can directly exclude women from certain employment contexts and/or lead to self-exclusion from particular careers and places of work. 79 Additionally, the perception and fear of discrimination or hostility from colleagues is often heightened among Muslim women.80 The impacts on women’s participation in the workplace are substantial: one report in the United Kingdom revealed that British Muslim women are 71per cent more likely to be unemployed than white Christian women, despite having the same educational level and language skills.81 Where Islamophobia erodes Muslims’ socioeconomic prospects, poverty may affect them disproportionately. British Muslims are the most economically disadvantaged religious group in the United Kingdom, experiencing 32 per cent more household poverty than the national average.82 While migrants, refugees and asylum seekers often experience poverty given their insecure, low-paid or absent employment, the Special Rapporteur has received evidence that their status of economic deprivation may be exacerbated by discrimination based on their Muslim identity. The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has highlighted the lack of access to water, electricity, sanitation and adequate housing among predominantly Muslim migrant workers in Spain.83 Poor living conditions, inadequate respect for labour rights and fear of deportation may increase migrants’ vulnerability to human rights violations, including sexual abuse.84 The Special Rapporteur notes with regret that, in addition to having concrete economic impacts on Muslims, the foregoing exclusionary practices and policies may cause “coercive assimilation” by placing Muslim individuals and communities under pressure to conform with majoritarian norms and values or hide their identity, including by changing their names, wardrobes, diets and religious practices, in order to receive equal treatment.85 Education, health care and housing Rights monitors have also submitted that the hostility experienced by Muslim students because of their religious identity evokes feelings of isolation, often resulting in irregular school attendance and lower educational outcomes. 86 In the United States, one study has found that Muslim students are almost twice as likely as children of other religious identities to face religion-based bullying. 87 In eight States and areas surveyed, education curricula reportedly either underrepresented and/or mispresented Muslims, whether by excluding 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 10 https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2017/second-european-union-minorities-and-discriminationsurvey-muslims-selected. Austria, France, United Kingdom and United States. Submission by ECRI and https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/642 220/Young_Muslims_SMC.pdf. https://scholars.org/contribution/fighting-subtle-forms-employment-discrimination-against-muslimrefugees; https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/3/e019954. www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/Islamophobia%20Report%202018%20FINAL.pdf. www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2015/april/muslim-women-and-employment.html. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/642220/Young_Muslims_SMC.pdf. www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25524&LangID=E. Submission by Asociación Musulmana por los Derechos Humanos. www.cambridge.org/core/books/islamophobia-and-thelaw/84A34D7C4EC08D03F03F9CD776042049. See, e.g., https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MRG_Rep_India_Jun17-2.pdf. www.ispu.org/american-muslim-poll-2020-amid-pandemic-and-protest/#discrimination.