Tattooing and employment in Malta : a qualitative study

Abstract

The main goal of my research is to investigate the relation between tattooing and employment in Malta and thus show if there exists a stigma towards people with tattoos when it comes to employment. I thus conducted a qualitative study which consisted of interviews with three types of people: tattooed individuals, tattooists, and human resource managers of important companies. The long essay also reviews literature on tattooing including the different types of tattoos and the different ways in which tattoos have started to gain greater acceptance in various societies. By means of my dissertation I hope to give a clearer picture about a subject which to my knowledge has been the topic of study of only one dissertation in the Maltese Islands, a quantitative work by Anika Griscti, in 2004, and thus encourage the employers involved to be more accepting towards people with tattoos. In fact my study did show that although society at large has indeed become more accepting towards tattooed people discrimination does exist in the sphere of employment. The research revealed that the two main factors influencing employer decisions are the type of tattoo one owns and the position to be filled by the prospective worker.