Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU)
Gender
Though Muslim men (63%) and women (64%) are statistically equally likely to report having experienced some frequency of religious discrimination in the past year, in some situations, men are more likely than women to report discrimination. These include the following situations:
When applying for a job (34% of Muslim men vs. 21% of Muslim women)
When interacting and/or conducting transactions with a U.S. banking/financial institution (26% of Muslim men vs. 13% of Muslim women)
This is a departure from previous years when Muslim women were more likely overall to report discrimination (68% of women vs. 55% of men in 2019).
Notably, Muslim men and women are on par when it comes to experiencing discrimination, except for these two structural issues. For example, Muslim men and women who experienced discrimination are equally likely (26% and 30%, respectively) to say it occurred when interacting with peers at work and when interacting with people in authority at work (30% for men and 20% for women).
This suggests that Muslim men and women are equally likely to experience religious bias overall, with the exception of a few instances of structural racism. Muslim men have historically been seen as more of a threat than Muslim women by the state and other institutions, perhaps reflecting the popular stereotypes depicting Muslim men as violent and Muslim women as victims (Mishra, 2007).
This may explain these cases of increased experiences with structural discrimination. This is also supported by our previous finding that the most agreed-upon false trope about Muslims in the U.S. is that most Muslims in the U.S. discriminate against women (Mogahed et al., 2022). It may also reflect the fact that Muslim men may do more banking and are more likely to apply for a job since they are more likely to be employed outside the home (77% of Muslim men vs. 61% of Muslim women).
Age
Young Muslims ages 18–29 (73%) are more likely to report experiencing some frequency of religious discrimination than older Muslims (58% of those ages 30–49 and 56% of those ages 50 and older).
Race
Asian (73%) and Arab Muslims (70%) are as likely to report religious discrimination as white Muslims (66%). The only significant difference in experience with religious discrimination is between Asian Muslims and Black Muslims (73% vs. 55%).
Since October 7, 2023, many scholars, activists, and academics have noted the distinction between Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. It is therefore important to note that anti-Palestinian racism is unique, although there are some crossovers with Islamophobia. According to a 2022 report by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, anti-Palestinian racism “silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames, or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives” (Majid, 2022). According to the Institute for the Understanding of Anti-Palestinian Racism, this includes “justifying violence against Palestinians” and “erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians.” Thus, while the dehumanization of Palestinians may include anti-Muslim tropes, this type of racism differs from Islamophobia in that it is focused on a Palestinian identity.
Nearly half of Muslim Families Report Children Bullied for Religion
Nearly half (47%) of Muslims with children in grades K-12 report their child or children were bullied for their religious identity in the past year. This far exceeds the 23% of families with K-12 children among the general public who reported facing religious-based bullying in the past year. For Muslim families, reports of religious-based bullying have held steady since 2017.
Nearly Half of Muslim Families with Children Who Have Been Bullied for Their Religion Say an Adult Was the Bully
As a follow-up to whether or not a child has faced religious-based bullying, we asked participants to identify who bullied their child. Participants could select more than one response and we differentiated between online versus in-person bullying (though these we grouped together in our analysis). For the first time, we included “parent of a classmate” as a response option. More than half (55%) said the bully was another student. Additionally, 49% named an adult as the bully, including 36% who said it was a teacher or other school official and 13% who reported the bully was a parent of a classmate. When we first asked the question in 2017, we did not differentiate between online and in-person bullying. In 2017, a quarter (25%) of parents with kids who were bullied reported that the source of the bullying was a teacher or school official; 86% of parents said the bullying was from another student. The bullying of Muslim children, especially from adults, should sound an alarm for better teacher and school administration training and accountability as well as the need to equip parents with the right tools to advocate for their children.