Workplace Discrimination - The Easy Way Out
April 2nd, 2008
With the amount of progress our generation has made with discrimination in the workplace, I'm quite disappointed (and somewhat disgusted, to be honest) when I read articles from seemingly progressive individuals about "casual" discrimination. I'm not blind. I know discrimination still exists and it's a sensitive topic, but let's dig deeper into this "casual discrimination" business...I'm assuming the initial thought of "casual sexism" was triggered by Monica's post, which, in her defense, sounded like a more balanced version of Rebecca's post. Monica also seems to understand that both men and women can use gender as an edge. Funny how when gender works to our advantage it's fine, but if not, it turns into a problem. I guess it takes controversy to stir people's emotions because Rebecca's post got lots of comments, including our back and forth.
I threw in my 2 cents because I was quite perturbed by the "Rah rah rah!" tone of the post and the "you go girl!" comments. It also seemed that the central point of the casual sexism argument, a comment someone had made, was deemed not to be sexist after all. Milena finally mentioned that this isn't just an issue of sexism, but rather, discrimination in general.
"Casual" Discrimination and The Gender/Race/Age Card
I'm defining casual discrimination as any situation or statement you can choose to interpret as discriminatory. Of course, as soon as there's the potential of discrimination, we pull one of our handy cards. Clearly, if you're a young, dark skinned, homosexual female, you have several cards to choose from!
It is very easy and almost instinctive to pull one of these cards, because it essentially absolves one of responsibility. Most people are quick to pass blame, rather than looking inwardly or trying to see if there may be an actual problem; they decide to blame it on circumstance and that the problem is someone else being biased.
Why am I always the one taking notes on the whiteboards during meetings? Because... I'm a woman? No. I'm the youngest? Perhaps. I'm brown? Unlikely. I might have the clearest writing of the bunch? Probably.
Why was I asked to pick up lunch for management visitors several years ago? Because... I was a woman? No. I was 20? Maybe. I'm brown? Maybe. My work was always done and I had spare time to go? Probably.
Hundreds of situations can be deemed as "casual discrimination" if you look hard enough. However, if you have the option to perceive something in a positive way, I would encourage and challenge you to do so. I promise it will be more beneficial to you in the long run!
Discrimination = No Personal Responsibility
I always try to think: "Will this thought/statement/idea add value to the present situation?". If the answer is no, I try to find an alternative or let it go. If you're quick to assume discrimination, you'll never better yourself because it's always someone else's fault. There is no value added when you assume discrimination.
I don't even want to think of where I'd be today in terms of my career and self-esteem if I assumed
things happened (or didn't happen) to me because of the color of my skin, my gender or any other factor that is beyond my control. Is it possible that I was passed up for a job or promotion because of my skin color or race? Sure it is, but you'll never hear me say: "It's because I'm brown." I'm confident and intrinsically motivated, so I don't attribute successes or failures to external forces. I hope to keep it that way."Casual Discrimination" is an easy cop out. If it's not obvious or blatant, I would be very careful when playing any of the discrimination cards. In my experience, perception is, quite often, not reality.
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