Discrimination In The Workplace

Growing up in the United States, racism is an issue one cannot help but hear about at one point or another. Racial inequality and discrimination is a topic that comes up every February with Black History Month, and is often talked about in high school history classes around the country. But that is what it is considered to the majority of people: history. Most students are taught that, while there are still and will always be individual cases of racial discrimination and racism, nationally the problem ended with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. People of color, however, will often tell you differently. At least that is what they told Tim Wise,

Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. In the workforce, the issue of racism and discrimination has been brought to the center of conversations around the world. Companies claim to be “colorblind” and not hire somebody based on their race or gender, but the employment rates among minorities and women around the world is significantly lower than the majority in the given country. There is also the growing issue of minorities, such as blacks in america, making significantly less money than whites. This issue affects people all around the world who happen

With almost no first hand experiences with people of color growing up, I quickly internalized the three myths that maintain the invisible veil of white supremacy in our culture. When I did have experiences with people of color, they often fit the stereotypes our culture has assigned to them and reinforced my confirmation bias and pity in believing that people of color are responsible for the disadvantaged state they’re in. While I don’t mean to say my parents or I haven’t worked hard to get where we are, they instilled in me the myth of meritocracy and made me believe that hard work unequivocally leads to success. This went hand in hand with thee myths of fair treatment and equal opportunity; they had always just seemed like truths to me because I rarely got first hand experiences with people of color in my childhood. I never questioned these myths and went on to believe them until this class when we discussed how my privileged status as a white man gave me the upper hand over people of

It was not long after my promotion to management that I noticed the disparity between the way that specific groups of employees were treated by the owners, all of which were Caucasian. Dallas Texas is extremely diverse, and the overwhelming percentage of the employees were African-American and Hispanic, though only Caucasian employees held administrative or management positions. Extensive research conducted in regards to racial discrimination indicates that African-Americans as a racial minority group receive fewer opportunities and career benefits in workplace settings, especially in those areas available to white males (Khosrovani & Ward, 2011). A quick look through employee files showed this to be true, as there were blatant discrepancies between the rates of pay and promotion opportunities for non-white employees, though many had the same amount of experience and skill-sets as their white

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925, which created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, or CEEO. One purpose of the CEEO was to “recommend additional affirmative steps which should be taken by executive departments and agencies to realize more fully the national policy of nondiscrimination” (Kennedy). This executive order planted the seeds that grew into what is today known as “race-based affirmative action,” or the “practice of actively recruiting members of historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunities” (Schaefer 413). The rationale behind race-based affirmative action policies is that they help blunt the effects of institutional racism while promoting diversity.

First, the possibilities of getting a management job for white men far outweigh those for black men. “White men are twice as likely to get management jobs as equally qualified black men, and three times as likely as black women” (Hidden Barriers: Discrimination). This is purely discrimination, as there is no reason that those that are black should have less of a chance for management jobs—to prove this we can look at the CEO of McDonalds, and the CEO of American Express—both of them are black. Second, even New York City has been found to discriminate against its own citizens. “New York City intentionally discriminated against blacks applicants to the Fire Department by continuing to use an exam that had been told to put them at a disadvantage” (Baker). In the light of discrimination in New York City, it is found that even in the Fire Department, where people save lives from burning buildings and countless other situations, blacks were discriminated against, which in turn led to less life-savers in a bustling and vibrant New York City, probably one of the last places in the country where those that save lives should be rejected. In the end, discrimination in our time is less prevalent—but this does not mean that it is not present—for as we look at the disadvantages African Americans have in our time, we find that we are still discriminating against them in the

In a perfect world, people would be equal in rights, opportunities, and responsibilities, despite their race or gender. In the world we live in, however, we always face all kinds of neglect based on different attributes. All over the United States, certain people treat others with prejudice because of particular features they possess. Unfortunately, prejudice and discrimination occur even in places which, by definition, should be free of all personal prejudices – specifically, in offices and other business surroundings. This tragedy is called workplace discrimination; not every unfair behavior at work, however, can be assessed as discrimination. Discrimination in the workplace happens when an employee experiences unfair treatment due to their race, gender, age, religion, marital status, national origin, disability or veteran status, or other characteristics. Discrimination is one of the largest issues people face in the workplace and it must be dealt with. The U.S. have laws and regulations on discrimination but it still often occurs. Workplace discrimination appears in hiring, training, promotion, firing, and other institutional or interpersonal treatment. Discrimination sometimes causes an employee to leave or quit the workplace, resign from a position, or in more severe cases, to commit suicide or act violently against the discriminators. Discrimination is one of the largest issues many people face in the workplace.

though people claim more equality if you take a closer look they are far from the truth. For example, blacks have been outcastes in professional sports and respectable roles in entertainment like movies or shows. Recently, however, the majority of highly paid

Racial bias is very prevalent in business hiring today. The idea of racial bias specifically against black people has been about equal to the discrimination that occurred in 1990 while the discrimination against Latino people has stayed steady over the last twenty-seven years (Sherman,2016). This shows that racial bias in business hiring is still very prevalent today, and action needs to be taken to prevent minorities with the same qualifications as whites from getting a job simply because of their race.

A positive role model for how to “rise through corporate meritocracy” is when they see someone they can relate to work the hard to reach their desired position. This role model had to beat out everyone, no matter the circumstances or backgrounds of the other employees. This person can teach those younger than him or her that hard work will take his or her mentees to the positions they would like to reach in Corporate America; being held back because of things someone cannot control such as race and gender is an excuse. Because of these and other reasons, changes in affirmative action are in order. White people’s views are not all their fault. There are a number of companies that hired minority workers just because the businesses needed to be more diverse. These workers were not hired because they were qualified. Seeing this happen numerous of times, it makes sense why Whites feel that minorities do not deserve to be beneficiaries of affirmative action. Minority workers do not work hard for the positions they have while Whites do. It is not fair in their eyes. That is why many Whites have expressed anger or disapproval of affirmative action programs in the workplace. “More than 40% of the total sample of non-Southern whites, or nearly one in every two, expresses anger toward affirmative action…Some 98% of Southerners-nearly all-are resentful toward affirmative action” (Knight, et al., 1997). With numbers like these,

In the article “If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, There’s Statistically No Chance She’ll Be Hired”, the authors Stefanie K. Johnson, David R. Hekman, and Elsa T. Chan discuss how unconscious bias toward the status quo hinders diversification in the workforce despite diversity initiatives. To provide a potential solution for the workforce’s diversity problem, the authors conducted three studies which they changed the status quo among final job applicants. The authors concluded that when there are at least two minorities or women in the finalist pool instead of just one the status quo is changed resulting in the favorable candidate being a minority or a woman.

Besides the policing issue, job issues are just as important. One sustains his/her life through the earnings from a job, if one cannot find a job, the only way to go is to die of starvation. Job discrimination is a serious problem a lot of African Americans are facing today; too many of them get rejected by the companies just because of their skin color, despite having the same education as other races. In German Lopez’s article “Anti Black hiring Discrimination is as prevalent today as it was in 1989”, he argues that the discrimination against black people hasn’t changed since the 1980’s. Initially, he claims that between two resumes with the same experience and educational level, there is a stereotype against the colored races such as black and Latino. He supports this claim by providing his data. The data shows that white applicants get 36% more callbacks than black applicants and 24% callbacks than Latinos. It illustrates that, with two different racial groups of people with the same education, the companies are more likely to choose white people as the primary decision. Lopez then shows us his main idea that hiring discrimination hasn’t changed over time. He uses multiple data from different researchers and states that they did not find any evidence of change in rates of hiring discrimination over time, and only a “slow decline” ruled out by the studies. Finally, he strengthens his argument by using

As previously stated, American citizens face individual harassment because of their race. One of the most common types of harassment that people of color face is prejudgment in the job market. This harassment determines the specific jobs available to people of color and their probability of employment. For example, Muslim actors in Hollywood are pressured into stereotypical terrorist roles because Hollywood producers won’t cast them in any other role. Aside from being racist, employers like Hollywood casting producers are limiting people of color to a small selection of jobs and ultimately, suppressing them. According to Pager’s study, white men with a criminal record are more likely to secure a job compared to black men with no criminal background. In other words, they’d rather take their chances with a white convict then a wholesome colored citizen. Whether it’s publicly accepted or not, people of color aren’t viewed equally in the workplace. Furthermore, citizens of colors’ wealthy financial status has caused skeptical

While the world has unanimously advanced and is more accepting of change, the workplace continues to be a place of discrimination, prejudice and inequality. Discrimination is broadly defined to ‘distinguish unfavourably’, isolate; and is context based (Pagura, 2012). Abrahams (1991) described the workplace as an ‘inhospitable place’ where gender disparity and wage gaps persist (Stamarski & Son Hing, 2015). Among other states and countries, the Australian government actively implements and passes laws to protect and maintain equal employment rights. While the objective of these laws is ‘to eliminate discrimination,’ the regulatory mechanisms in the legislation are largely ineffective at achieving this ultimate goal (Smith, 2008). However,

As many minorities seek to attain wealth and status in America they are strained to leave any cultural or traditional ways behind closed doors when they enter into the workplace. Many do this to avoid being excluded, and as an attempt to become more equal to other fellow work colleagues, also many feel that white "supremacy" still exists- even in a subtle way. Nonetheless, once one accomplishes such a difficult task, the obstacle of earning a substantial income to maintain a decent standard of living is still a grueling task. According to Professor Harris, a teacher of political science at San Jose State University, approximately 60% of jobs in America are obtained through personal relationships and associations. This notion demonstrates that because many non-minority groups own businesses, and they tend to hire relatives and the like -many minorities are often excluded from attaining the "better" position within a company, and because many minority families we not able to leave a legacy for their family members to carry on, many minorities often miss out on opportunities to also be able to create a legacy that can continue to thrive- and the cycle continues.