Racism And Sexism In Work Environments

By Heidi

     "Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is alright to be different.  Racism and all the other 'isms' grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class, or whatever.  You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity."

                                                   -Roger Ebert

      Racism and sexism has always been a problem in our society, and unfortunately has carried over into the workforce.  While racism and sexism in business is getting better, there's still drastic room for improvement.  In the quote above, Roger Ebert states that being different is a good thing.  This applies to all aspects of our society, including the work force.  Diversity bring new ideas to the table, because everyone has different opinions and stories.  Diversity in the workplace doesn't only apply to race, but gender and sexual orientation as well.  Racism is a natural instinct of ours, that needs to be overcome.

     According to The 'Resume Check': On Gay Talese, Racism and Sexism in The Press Room, a article on Huffington Post, the "Resume Check" is something that frequently happens in the workforce to women and people of color. The resume check is basically what it sounds like.  Asking someone how they got their job, referring to why a woman or a black man would be offered the job when someone else could have filled the position.  People tend to automatically assume that women and other races other than caucasian don't belong.  It doesn't make sense to some narrow minded people how a woman or black person could be successful in the work place.
     The resume check is meant to be nothing more than condescending to the person in question.  Unfortunately, this happens far to often to people in the business field, as well as other fields such as engineering and medicine.
     Ethnic minorities such as Latino and Asian are under represented in nearly every professional field that there is.  When looking at management positions, the representation gets even worse.  To make matters even worse, according to theguardian.com, racial bullying is on the rise in the workforce.  30% of 24,000 surveyed report that they have experienced racial bullying within the past year.
     Discrimination in the workforce is a major problem in todays society.  People need to become more open minded and accepting in order to create a more orderly working environment.  With diversity comes more ideas and greater knowledge.

Sources:

 Hirsch, Afua. "Workplace Racism Is on the Rise – We Need Action, Not Lip Service | Afua Hirsch." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

"Racism Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Touré. "The 'Resume Check': On Gay Talese, Racism and Sexism in the Press Room." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.