Fact sheet on various forms of discrimination in the workplace, prepared by the ILO

InFocus Programme on Promoting the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work

International Labour Organization

English

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Nondiscrimination 
1-1-2001 
Forms of Discrimination 
InFocus Programme on Promoting the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at 
Work 
International Labour Organization 
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Forms of Discrimination 
Abstract 
Fact sheet on various forms of discrimination in the workplace, prepared by the ILO. 
Keywords 
HIV/AIDS, action, Catherwood, convention, Cornell, declaration, disability, discrimination employment, 
fundamental, gender, global, globalization, human, ILR, implementation, international, labor, labour, law, 
legislation, nations organization, organization, pay, portal, principles, programme, race, racial rights, 
united, university, work, workers, workplace 
Disciplines 
Civil Rights and Discrimination 
Comments 
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/nondiscrim/2/ 
This article is available at DigitalCommons@ILR: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/nondiscrim/2 
Forms of Discrimination
OVERVIEW
Discrimination means treating people differently and less favourably because of characteristics
that are not related to their merit or the requirements of the job. These include race, colour,
sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction and social origin.
Other kinds of discrimination that the ILO and its constituents are concerned with include age,
disability, HIV AIDS and sexual orientation. Anti-union discrimination is also persistent and
widespread.
GENDER
During the 1990s more women moved into the labour force around the world, narrowing the
gap between their participation rates and those of men. Measures of women's employment in
the non-agricultural sector constitute one indicator of progress towards one of the UN
Millennium Development Goals - and there seems to have been an improvement on this
indicator in most countries.
However, there is still much to be done. The glass ceiling is still stopping all but a handful of
women from reaching top management positions and the pay gap between women and men is
still significant. Women are also more likely than men to be found in the lowest-paid and least
secure jobs. Unemployment rates have almost always been higher for women than men.
Discrimination can occur at the recruitment stage, in education and training, in remuneration,
and through occupational segregation. Men and women tend to work in different sectors of the
economy and hold different positions within the same occupational group. Women tend to be
employed in a narrower range of occupations than men, and are more likely to be working
part-time, or in short-term or less secure forms of employment.
Export-led industrial development has opened up many occupations to women, but inequalities
remain in terms of pay, authority and promotion.  Available evidence seems to show that
occupational segregation also persists in new areas of work related to information and
communications technologies - once hailed as a window of equal treatment and opportunities
for women.
Discriminatory provisions  and procedures governing the right to own land, issuance of business
licences, inheritance laws, family laws that may, for example, require women to obtain a male
relative's permission to work outside the home, are just some of the many other factors that can
disadvantage women in employment and occupation. 
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InFocus Programme on Promoting the
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WORK IN FREEDOM
RACE
In common with all forms of discrimination, racial discrimination is not based on objective
characteristics - but on people's perceptions. These perceptions of an individual's cultural, social
or physical differences, such as colour, lead to racial discrimination. Ethnic minorities, indigenous
and tribal peoples, "coloured" people and migrant workers are often affected. 
Rising levels of global migration have changed patterns of racial discrimination against migrant
workers and citizens of foreign origin.  In today's world, older theories of the purported
superiority of one racial or ethnic group over another have been replaced by allegations that
foreign and "incompatible" cultures may have disruptive effects on the integrity of national
identities. 
HIV/AIDS
Worldwide, more than 42 million men, women, girls and boys are living with HIV AIDS.
Discrimination at work based on HIV/AIDS can take many forms, including pre-employment
testing leading to a refusal to hire, testing of long-term foreign visitors before entering the
country, and in some countries, mandatory tests for migrant women workers. Breaches of
medical confidentiality are common.
Other forms of discrimination include dismissal without medical evidence, notice or a hearing;
demotion; denial of health insurance benefits; salary reductions and harassment.  The burden of
caring for people with the disease often falls on women and girls - increasing their workload, and
reducing their opportunities to earn incomes and attend school. Older women workers may
become responsible for orphaned grandchildren.
DISABILITY
The most common form of discrimination for persons with diabilities is the denial of opportunities.
Prejudice and misconceptions mean that men and women with disabilities are very often shut out
of the labour market, and from education and training.
Unemployment rates for people with disabilities reach 80 per cent or more in many developing
countries. When disabled people do find jobs, the work is often low-paid, unskilled and menial. The
jobs are often in the informal economy with little or no social protection. 
RELIGION
Over the past decade, discrimination based on religion appears to have increased. The present
urgency of countering and preventing terrorism has fuelled sentiments of mutual fear and
discrimination between religious groups.  It is clear however that any strategy aimed at tackling
conflicts of interest should respect religious freedom. Denying the basic right to follow a religion
of one's choice can destabilize societies and generate violence.
Religious discrimination can include offensive behaviour at work by co-workers or managers
towards members of religious minorities; lack of respect and ignorance of religious customs; the
obligation to work on religious days or holidays; bias in recruitment or promotion; denial of a
business licence; and lack of respect for dress codes.
ILO Trends and Themes - Forms of Discrimination 2
AGE
The changing structure of the world's population makes it even more important to tackle
discrimination based on age. By 2050, 33 per cent of people in developed countries and 19 per
cent in developing countries will be 60 or older. 
Discrimination can be overt, such as age limits for hiring. It can also take more subtle forms, such
as allegations that people lack career potential, or have too much experience. Other forms of
discrimination include limited access to training and conditions that virtually compel early
retirement. Under certain conditions, age discrimination can affect younger or new workers as
well as mid-life and near retirement workers.
MULTIPLE DISCRIMINATION
Many people suffer more than one form of discrimination. The depth of poverty is widest among
people who suffer multiple forms of discrimination simultaneously. Indigenous and tribal people,
for example, are among the poorest of the poor, and women within these groups are even more
severely affected.
The intensity or severity of the disadvantages they may confront depends on how many  personal
characteristics may generate discrimination, and how these interrelate.  People who suffer
several forms of discrimination are more likely to be poor, or chronically poor, and to work in
the informal economy.
ILO Trends and Themes - Forms of Discrimination 3


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