More than three in four young men say they repeatedly experience discrimination multiple times each year in modern Ireland, a report from the ESRI has found.
Published on Thursday, the study found that 76% of those aged 17 report regular discrimination, with men within this age bracket being more likely to describe themselves as being subject to unfair treatment than women of the same age.
Such negative treatment, according to the study, took the form of people acting fearful of them, people attempting to harass or intimidate them, and receiving less favourable treatment at restaurants compared to those around them.
“Males report higher perceived discrimination than females at 17, which is driven by higher rates of males responding
that they have experienced ‘people acting as if they are afraid of you’ and being threatened or harassed,” the report reads.
“This is likely to reflect the prevalence of stereotypes around young men as being aggressive or engaging in anti-social behaviour.”
The study also found that 17-year-old Irish citizens, as well as those whose parents are both white Irish, were more likely to report feeling discriminated against than non-Irish citizens and those with one or more parents from a non-Irish background respectively.
Writing in the document, the researchers expressed surprise at this finding due to what they claimed is a “prevalence of racial discrimination” in Ireland, before suggesting it could be a statistical anomaly as a result of the dataset.
Those who spent a moderate amount of time online were also less likely to claim discrimination compared to those who spent very little time online, as well as those who spent a lot of time online.
The authors went on to express concern at the level of self-reported harassment experienced by women as they get older, with the study finding that females aged 25 reported more discrimination than their male peers, and that more research into that area is needed.
“For example, are young women experiencing harassment as they enter the workforce? This would inform the direction of policy response,” the document reads.