Diversity : a study in labor law ; La diversité : étude en droit du travail
The term "diversity" was widely used in France in the early 2000s, following the unrest in the suburbs which highlighted the existence of systemic discrimination affecting part of the population, mostly from an immigrant background and relegated to "second-class" areas without jobs or public services. This problem has led to an awareness of the lack of diversity in the media, in politics and in business and has been a warning sign that not all citizens have the same chances to succeed. Whilst diversity is used in France to try to introduce positive measures in favor of discriminated categories, in the United States this notion – established since 1978 – has been introduced to save affirmative action programs which are increasingly contested, both socially and legally. The emergence in the french legal field of the notion of diversity is changing our traditional conceptions of equality, universalism or social justice. Its objectives are between equality of opportunity and equality of result. It is a matter of acknowledging the failure of equal opportunities to guarantee a non-discriminatory access to rights, without necessarily making equal results an objective to achieve for all individuals. It makes it possible to shift from an individual approach to discrimination towards a collective approach, which is already initiated by the notion of indirect discrimination. Research carried out by the social partners, of a balanced representation of diversity within the work force is an objective that, in the french context, could be legitimate, provided that certain precautions, particularly those related to skills, are introduced and that this objective becomes a legal obligation for all companies. ; Le terme de « diversité » s'est imposé en France au début des années 2000, à la suite de la crise des banlieues. Il a mis en évidence l'existence de discriminations systémiques affectant une partie de la population, majoritairement issue de l'immigration et reléguée dans des territoires dépourvus d'emplois ou de services ...