INTRODUCTION
In the modern world, discrimination should be outdated. It is high time people realized that stereotypic perceptions have no place in the contemporary society. Race and gender have been the basis of discrimination for a long time. As the years passed, people associate certain races with specific stereotypes. Discrimination based on race encompasses other factors like ethnicity, culture, and religion (Healey and Healey 1). It leads to the isolation of certain people in the community because of a natural characteristic they have, one that they cannot change. For a long time, skin color has been the basis of racial identification with the clear distinction between white people and people of color. On the other hand, the modern world also witnesses discrimination based on people’s gender. Women have been the subjects of social, political, and economic discrimination where the men take the lead in all these sectors. Women thus remain struggling and trying to achieve the same goals that men do not find equally difficult to accomplish. Most workplaces have witnessed the discrimination of people based on race and gender. Religion, ethnicity, culture, and color continue to influence the recruitment, promotion, demotion, and remuneration of people at various workplaces. At the same time, women continue to site neglect and favor for males at their expense. It is upon the society to make the initiative and begin advocating change in the manner in which workplaces treat different people. Society can play a role in restoring equality and fairness at the workplace through the eradication of stereotypic perception.
First, people must accept the fact that the world is a diverse place. Embracing diversity is the first step towards the achievement of fairness at the modern workplace. If people learn to support the evidence evaluating people’s cultural diversity, they will learn to respect the different mannerisms of living and conducts. As such, they will learn that they are all the same, just that the variations only emanate because of different beliefs. However, abilities at the workplace are the same among people as long as they are aware of the technical qualifications required by the job. If the society embraces diversity within different cultures and characteristics of people’s, they will not condone managers and other employers to continue with the discriminatory practices. However, man and women should apply the cultural diversity in a different context. It is true that men and women are different in their physicality and abilities to a certain extent. However, their intellectual ability remains the same and women may, in fact, perform better than men may in some areas (Langwith 2). Therefore, the corporate world should not gender as a basis of limiting the access of opportunities. The society should regard them as people with equal ability to perform and consider other aspects rather than gender in allocation of job opportunities.
Secondly, the society can use regulatory bodies to govern the conduct of employers managing the workplaces. It may be difficult to change the perception of some employers regarding the race and gender perception in such cases, the society can play a role in restoring fair treatment at the workplace by the use of governing bodies and corporations. Governments are a part of the society, and they can pass regulations to ensure that workplaces have fair treatment. Using the departments of labor, governments can give power to most employees to institute legal proceedings against employers who have discriminatory tendencies. On the other hand, the government can also pass laws stating a certain percentage of men and women that the organizations can have to create gender balance. For instance, governments can require organizations to share prime positions equally among men and women in the organization. Such regulations will ensure that the society knows men and women are equal and as such, they are on an equal platform within the workplace. On that note, the government should take action against organizations that do not comply with the laws and regulations. For instance, such organizations should pay legal fines and penalties if they continue to discriminate women or employees based on cultural traits like religion, culture, and skin color.
It is important to evaluate the root of the problem of racial and gender discrimination in the society. Education plays a crucial role in the acquisition of technical expertise and skill to do jobs in the corporate world. In cases where there is a disparity in accessing opportunities in education, the same disparities will extend to the corporate world in the same measure. For instance, if people of color in the United States have unequal access to education compared to the white people, then it implies that more whites will have technical empowerment than blacks will. Therefore, if the ratio is say three blacks to five whites, the same disparity will be evident in the corporate world. Three Blacks may be employed at the same rate as five whites. Therefore, the society can play a role in eliminating gender and race-based discrimination at the workplace by ensuring that all people have equal access to education opportunities, so that they can have similar levels of empowerment (Martin 3). For example, in the United States, there is a stereotypic perception that Asian Americans are smarter in the university compared to the other racial groups. The stereotypic perceptions resulted in a limitation of admission for students from the Asian American race. Institutions of higher education began to limit their access to admission opportunities in spite of them having qualified for the opportunities. In the end, the implication was lesser empowerment for people from this race. The effects accrue to the rate at which the Asians Americans can access employment. Therefore, the society should work towards ensuring that all people regardless of race or gender. Girls and boys should have equal access to education opportunities regardless of the perception of the society. With equal empowerment, it will be difficult for employers to deny their access to opportunities, which will help to restore the balance within the corporate world.
Understanding the nature of race and gender-based discrimination will also help the society in addressing the problem of discrimination at the workplace. Systematic race and gender-based discrimination at the workplace refers to avoidable or preventable segregation due to unfair differences. The segregation occurs at the time of selection, recruitment, interviewing, allocation of duties and seniority. In addition, the employers often try to cover the segregation by creating ambiguous roles in the organization and limiting promotion of people they do not favor. Differences are also noticeable in the manner in which the employers remunerate, dismiss, and evaluate the performance of various employees.
Here, the society can help to eliminate the discrimination by insisting on the proof of certain career elements by the employers (Keskinen 4). For instance, recruitments and promotion of employees must have evidence of adequate qualification. Promotion and recruitment must base on concrete matters like competence. In addition, organizations should use boards to recruit and initiate employees into their systems to eliminate the possibility of bias and discriminatory treatment. A board composed of several people will help to eliminate the possibility of corporate basis, as the recruiters will focus on aspects common among their employees and not those that differentiate them. Similarly, organizations should conduct a regular evaluation of its achievement in the context of discriminatory practices and seek to improve their organizational practices. The departments for human resources must ensure that management is in line with the requirements of the laws governing gender and race balances at the workplace. Keeping organizations in check is elementary to eliminating race and gender based bias at the workplace (Keskinen 4).
CONCLUSION
Stereotypic perceptions in the society are the causes of gender and race-based discrimination at the workplace. In the fight against this bias, the society has an important role to play through acceptance of diversities, social institutions, education, and good corporate practices. However, it will encounter some challenges in the fight against this bias. In fact, some of the characteristics enshrined within the societies could be the major setbacks in the fight against race and gender-based discrimination at the workplace. For instance, some social rigidities do not allow men to accept that they have equal ability with women. The whole society may not embrace the aspect of cultural and diversity although the challenges are not adequate to undermine the roles of society.
Works Cited
Healey, Joseph F, and Joseph F. Healey. Diversity and Society: Race, Ethnicity and Gender. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, 2004. Print.
Keskinen, Suvi. Complying with Colonialism: Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Nordic Region. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009. Print.
Langwith, Jacqueline. Discrimination. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Print.
Martin, David. Discrimination Law and Employment Issues: Avoiding the Pitfalls In: Age, Disability, Gender, Race, Religion, Sex and Sexual Orientation. London: Thorogood, 2006. Print.
