Antidiscrimination Law and Shared Prosperity : An Analysis of the Legal Framework of Six Economies and Their Impact on the Equality of Opportunities of Ethnic, Religious, and Sexual Minorities

Panter, Elaine ; Primiani, Tanya ; Hasan, Tazeen ; Calderon Pontaza, Eduardo

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: inequality;    shared prosperity;    inclusive growth;    jobs;    education for all;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7992
RP-ID  :  WPS7992

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper looks at the structuralmarginalization of eth-nic, religious, and sexual minoritiesin six pilot economies (Bulgaria, Mexico, Morocco, theNetherlands, Tanzania, and Vietnam) and proposes a newmethodology for collecting cross-country comparable data onantidiscrimination legal frameworks. The data cover sixareas of law, ad-dressed by six indicators: (a) access toinstitutions, (b) access to education, (c) access to thelabor market, (d) access to property, (e) access to publicservices and social protection, and (f) protection from hatecrimes and hate speech. The laws, policies, and regulationspresented fall under one of these indicators. For each, thepaper attempts to identify the minority gap, the differencebetween the legal treatment of the ruling majority and thatof the minority. Data were collected through two sources:first, standardized surveys submitted to ombudsmaninstitutions, lawyers, academics, and civil societyorganizations; second, public government records on laws andregulations and data from international legal databases andhuman rights organizations. The idea driving the study isthat institutional measures that hamper the access ofethnic, religious, and sexual minorities to the labor marketand financial systems directly affect their economicperformance and, as a consequence, represent a cost for theeconomy. Among the findings of the study is thatantidiscrimination labor legislation is well developed inall six pilot economies, but many gaps still exist in accessto property and in access to public goods and socialservices. The study also found that, of the three groupscovered by the study, the least protected under the law arethe sexual minorities. Although data from six economiescannot provide statistical evidence, findings suggest theneed for further research. The authors hope to encourage awider debate on the consequences of systematicdiscrimination against minorities and to help governmentscritically review their legal frameworks to ensure equalopportunities for all citizens, regardless of religion,ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation.