A question in The MoleMap Survey asked “In order to be successful in a business career …is it a serious disadvantage to be any of these: Asian, black, disabled, female, foreign, immigrant, linguistic minority, national minority.” Respondents in all countries of all nationalities of both sexes were unanimous that being disabled was the most serious disadvantage. The Survey did not ask respondents to differentiate between varieties of disability.  

There was general agreement among all nationalities in all countries Europe that being black was the second most serious disadvantage.

The third place among all respondents went to immigrants or, in countries like Russia or Romania where there are relatively fewer immigrants, to national and linguistic minorities.

These are serious issues with strong moral as well as political and social implications for European globalisation. They need to be tackled on a pan-European and a local level. The business communities in all the European countries have an important part to play in developing proactive policies of inclusion, out of self-interest if not a wider social responsibility.

While they agree about being disabled or black, women respondents in some countries where there were enough female respondents to be statistically significant, claim third place for themselves. These countries are Austria, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and the UK. Countries where women think they take fourth place after immigrants are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The major problems specific to women are common to all cultures - combining family and career, maternity leave, provision of childcare facilities, the need to do better than equivalent men - and far outweigh the problems women have in different types of business culture.

Nevertheless in order to succeed in business in Europe it is still best to be a fit, white male in your own country.