INSTITUTIONAL RACISM AND THE TREATMENT OF WOMEN OF COLOR AND THEIR CHILDREN IN THE NETHERLANDS: HEALTH, FAMILY LIFE, AND INSTITUTIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Sharmila Joghi Singer

doi:10.5281/zenodo.22910285

Abstract

Institutional racism refers to the ways in which the routine policies, administrative categories, and professional
practices of organizations can produce discriminatory outcomes independent of any single individual's intent.
This article examines how institutional racism may operate across Dutch healthcare, mental-health, social-work,
and child-protection systems, with particular attention to women of color, single mothers, and their children.
Drawing on peer-reviewed research on racial discrimination in Dutch and European healthcare, structural-racism
theory, and documented administrative failures such as the Dutch childcare-benefits scandal, the article situates
a personal case account within a wider evidentiary context. The review finds consistent evidence that perceived
and measured discrimination is associated with adverse mental- and physical-health outcomes, that migrationbackground patients report unequal treatment in Dutch healthcare and pain management, and that Dutch
administrative systems have, in at least one well-documented case, used nationality and ethnicity as risk
indicators with serious consequences for families. At the same time, the article distinguishes carefully between
claims that are supported by independent evidence and claims that remain individual allegations requiring
further verification, including allegations of deliberate biological harm. The discussion situates these findings
within human-rights frameworks concerning health, family life, equal treatment, and the rights of the child, and
concludes with recommendations for healthcare institutions, social work and child-protection agencies, mentalhealth services, government bodies, and future research.

Keywords

institutional racism; women of color; healthcare discrimination; mental health; child protection; Netherlands

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