In 2007 and 2009, the King Baudouin Foundation published two studies on the 2 largest non-European immigrant groups in Belgium: Belgian-Moroccans and Belgian-Turks.

Eight years after the first publication, a new study updates this portraits through the collection of new data. The participation of 700 Moroccans and Turks living in Belgium led to a better understanding of these two groups. Objective elements such as their level of income or education and subjective elements such as their idea about relationships between men and women or the impact of religion on their integration are measured. Subsequently, twenty Belgian-Moroccan and Belgian-Turks personalities were requested to react to the most striking results of the survey while the latter was analysed in broader scientific perspective.

This research draws a nuanced portrait of the complex evolution experienced by Belgian-Turks and Belgian-Moroccans. While the socioeconomic capital (education level, job type, revenue, etc.) of these groups tend to increase, there are still specific obstacles blocking their equal inclusion and participation in the society, particularly in the field of employment. In fact, they are more likely to have a degree of higher education (academic and non-academic): 40% of Belgian-Moroccans and 24,5% of Belgian-Turks. Concerning income, there is also an increase. In fact, these two groups are more likely to have a monthly household income between 1,500 and 3,000 euros and more likely to earn more than 3,000 euros. Nevertheless, unemployment, discrimination, and racism remain important phenomena for Belgian-Turks and Belgian-Moroccans. This is particularly the case for people born in Belgium. This means that being born, educated, and socialised in
Belgium does not create a sufficiently strong barrier against them. However, most of the people that the researchers have interviewed feel more Belgian than Moroccan or Turkish.

On top of these dynamics of inclusion and participation in education and jobs, there is also a “gender effect”. Women indeed
often graduate from higher education, yet participate less in the job market.

The structures of the education system and those of the labour market, the discrimination and the traditional gender roles are all possibilities in explaining this disparity. There is also a « regional effect » : this means that the results differ depending on people’s residential area. And with the exception of the participation in the labor market, Wallonia seems to do better than Flanders in the identification to Belgium and the knowledge of
the language. The very strong politicisation of questions related to immigration in the public Flemish debate probably explains this result. This means that narratives (political and media) are as important as public policies that are actually carried out.

When it comes to values, Belgian-Turks and Belgian-Moroccans adhere very predominantly in the democratic system (80%), the separation of religious affairs and state (70%), and freedom of speech (73%). Concerning the private sphere, most of them believe that housework must be divided equally between the
mother and the father (83%). But by contrast, they are mostly in opposition to premarital sexual relations (51%), homosexuality (60%), and euthanasia (58%). Read more...

Most Belgian-Turks and Belgian-Moroccans are very proud of being Muslim but there is a diversity of profiles or, to put it differently, ways to be a Muslim of Moroccan and Turkish origin in Belgium. There are those who practice a lot and those who do not practice at all (a minority) but there are mostly those who compromise. For example when one prays but does not go the mosque, observes Ramadan but drinks alcohol, eat halal but do not wear a headscarf, etc. This “do-it-yourself” defines the individualisation  process that consists of choosing the practices that correspond to own relation with the faith, to personal schedule or lifestyle. Moreover, the sources that influence faith of individuals are very varied and, above all, the Imam (and then the mosque as a religious institution) appears little. Lastly and in contradiction with preconceived ideas, religion does not have impact on the
indicators of inclusion and participation (to be active on the labor market, have a degree of higher education, political participation, feel more or less Belgian, and consider non-immigrant Belgians as similar or different). Read more

You can read the entire study here