Ethnic, racial and religious minorities often encounter discrimination in several life domains, which can accumulate over time. Correspondence audits are an effective method for measuring discrimination, as they combine the rigour of the experimental method with the external validity of field studies. However, most experimental research on discrimination has focused on labour and housing markets, generally examining isolated discriminatory incidents within specific domains. Our study shifts attention to a critical area for children's development and a key prerequisite for labour market participation, particularly for women: childcare. We study whether Black, Muslim, and Roma families face discrimination in access to childcare. We also extend the design of traditional correspondence tests and examine whether discrimination in other life domains influence minorities’ access to childcare, i.e. side-effects discrimination (Feagin & Eckberg, 1980). In the Spring of 2024, we conducted a large-scale correspondence audit, sending over 10,000 emails to childcare providers across nine European countries (Belgium, Britain, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland). We inquired about the availability of childcare spots and randomly varied the sender’s name and other relevant characteristics, including indicators of success in employment and housing, to measure direct and side-effects discrimination against Black, Muslim, and Roma families.
In her response, SPS Professor Léa Pessin will discuss scholarship on racial-ethnic disparities in work-family outcomes, which often centres on cultural preferences or structural resources as stratifying mechanisms, to argue that bringing in a discrimination perspective in access to outsourcing offers a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of racial-ethnic and gender disparities across multiple life domains.