Moroccan Father in France Changes Children’s Names to Combat Job and Housing Discrimination

"I feel that there is more racism in France in the 1970s than today." In response to this statement by the host of the show "Pascal Praud et vous" broadcast on Europe 1, a listener of Moroccan origin says: "[...] You know racism, it’s quite perverse. Over time, racism is becoming more and more frontal. Before, it was quite discreet. Now openly they tell you... Try to get someone named Mohammed and go look for an apartment in France, and you’ll see that you’ll have a hard time finding an apartment or a house."

"And your children, how do they live this situation?" the host asks him. In response, this resident of a town near Angoulême explains that he gave his children two first names (one of Arab origin and a second "with a French sound") so that they would not have any problems in their job or apartment search.

People of Maghrebi origin, or whose identity suggests that they are of Maghrebi origin, are victims of very significant hiring discrimination, revealed a study by the Institute of Public Policies (IPP) published on November 24, based on a recent large-scale testing carried out under the aegis of the statistical service of the Ministry of Labor (Dares). On average, at comparable quality, these applications have 31.5% less chance of being contacted by recruiters than those bearing a first and last name of French origin, the study said.