essay on preventing discrimination

Essays About Discrimination: Top 5 Examples and 8 Prompts

You must know how to connect with your readers to write essays about discrimination effectively; read on for our top essay examples, including prompts that will help you write.

Discrimination comes in many forms and still happens to many individuals or groups today. It occurs when there’s a distinction or bias against someone because of their age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

Discrimination can happen to anyone wherever and whenever they are. Unfortunately, it’s a problem that society is yet to solve entirely. Here are five in-depth examples of this theme’s subcategories to guide you in creating your essays about discrimination.

1. Essay On Discrimination For Students In Easy Words by Prateek

2. personal discrimination experience by naomi nakatani, 3. prejudice and discrimination by william anderson, 4. socioeconomic class discrimination in luca by krystal ibarra, 5. the new way of discrimination by writer bill, 1. my discrimination experience, 2. what can i do to stop discrimination, 3. discrimination in my community, 4. the cost of discrimination, 5. examples of discrimination, 6. discrimination in sports: segregating men and women, 7. how to stop my discrimination against others, 8. what should groups do to fight discrimination.

“In the current education system, the condition of education and its promotion of equality is very important. The education system should be a good place for each and every student. It must be on the basis of equal opportunities for each student in every country. It must be free of discrimination.”

Prateek starts his essay by telling the story of a student having difficulty getting admitted to a college because of high fees. He then poses the question of how the student will be able to get an education when he can’t have the opportunity to do so in the first place. He goes on to discuss UNESCO’s objectives against discrimination. 

Further in the essay, the author defines discrimination and cites instances when it happens. Prateek also compares past and present discrimination, ending the piece by saying it should stop and everyone deserves to be treated fairly.

“I thought that there is no discrimination before I actually had discrimination… I think we must treat everyone equally even though people speak different languages or have different colors of skin.”

In her short essay, Nakatani shares the experiences that made her feel discriminated against when she visited the US. She includes a fellow guest saying she and her mother can’t use the shared pool in a hotel they stay in because they are Japanese and getting cheated of her money when she bought from a small shop because she can’t speak English very well.

“Whether intentional or not, prejudice and discrimination ensure the continuance of inequality in the United States. Even subconsciously, we are furthering inequality through our actions and reactions to others… Because these forces are universally present in our daily lives, the way we use them or reject them will determine how they affect us.”

Anderson explains the direct relationship between prejudice and discrimination. He also gives examples of these occurrences in the past (blacks and whites segregation) and modern times (sexism, racism, etc.)

He delves into society’s fault for playing the “blame game” and choosing to ignore each other’s perspectives, leading to stereotypes. He also talks about affirmative action committees that serve to protect minorities.

“Something important to point out is that there is prejudice when it comes to people of lower class or economic standing, there are stereotypes that label them as untrustworthy, lazy, and even dangerous. This thought is fed by the just-world phenomenon, that of low economic status are uneducated, lazy, and are more likely to be substance abusers, and thus get what they deserve.”

Ibarra recounts how she discovered Pixar’s Luca and shares what she thought of the animation, focusing on how the film encapsulates socioeconomic discrimination in its settings. She then discusses the characters and their relationships with the protagonist. Finally, Ibarra notes how the movie alluded to flawed characters, such as having a smaller boat, mismatched or recycled kitchen furniture, and no shoes. 

The other cast even taunts Luca, saying he smells and gets his clothes from a dead person. These are typical things marginalized communities experience in real life. At the end of her essay, Ibarra points out how society is dogmatic against the lower class, thinking they are abusers. In Luca, the wealthy antagonist is shown to be violent and lazy.

“Even though the problem of discrimination has calmed down, it still happens… From these past experiences, we can realize that solutions to tough problems come in tough ways.”

The author introduces people who called out discrimination, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Henry – the only teacher who decided to teach Ruby Bridges, despite her skin color. 

He then moves on to mention the variations of present-day discrimination. He uses Donald Trump and the border he wants to build to keep the Hispanics out as an example. Finally, Bill ends the essay by telling the readers those who discriminate against others are bullies who want to get a reaction out of their victims. 

Do you get intimidated when you need to write an essay? Don’t be! If writing an essay makes you nervous, do it step by step. To start, write a simple 5 paragraph essay .

Prompts on Essays About Discrimination

Below are writing prompts that can inspire you on what to focus on when writing your discrimination essay:

Have you had to go through an aggressor who disliked you because you’re you? Write an essay about this incident, how it happened, what you felt during the episode, and what you did afterward. You can also include how it affected the way you interact with people. For example, did you try to tone down a part of yourself or change how you speak to avoid conflict?

List ways on how you can participate in lessening incidents of discrimination. Your list can include calling out biases, reporting to proper authorities, or spreading awareness of what discrimination is.

Is there an ongoing prejudice you observe in your school, subdivision, etc.? If other people in your community go through this unjust treatment, you can interview them and incorporate their thoughts on the matter.

Tackle what victims of discrimination have to go through daily. You can also talk about how it affected their life in the long run, such as having low self-esteem that limited their potential and opportunities and being frightened of getting involved with other individuals who may be bigots.

For this prompt, you can choose a subtopic to zero in on, like Workplace Discrimination, Disability Discrimination, and others. Then, add sample situations to demonstrate the unfairness better.

What are your thoughts on the different game rules for men and women? Do you believe these rules are just? Cite news incidents to make your essay more credible. For example, you can mention the incident where the Norwegian women’s beach handball team got fined for wearing tops and shorts instead of bikinis.

Since we learn to discriminate because of the society we grew up in, it’s only normal to be biased unintentionally. When you catch yourself having these partialities, what do you do? How do you train yourself not to discriminate against others?

Focus on an area of discrimination and suggest methods to lessen its instances. To give you an idea, you can concentrate on Workplace Discrimination, starting from its hiring process. You can propose that applicants are chosen based on their skills, so the company can implement a hiring procedure where applicants should go through written tests first before personal interviews.

If you instead want to focus on topics that include people from all walks of life, talk about diversity. Here’s an excellent guide on how to write an essay about diversity .

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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618 Thought-provoking Discrimination Essay Ideas & Examples

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Discrimination essays are an essential part of historical and social sciences because of the influence of the practice on past and current humanity. In this article we will reveal the brief lookback to the history of discrimination and its causes, and provide a list of discrimination topics for essay, as well as paper examples on gender, disability, and racial inequality.

Past practices such as slavery were a result of discriminatory racist beliefs, and it took a long time for African Americans to be acknowledged as equal under law to other races.

Even then, the school of thought was not eradicated, and ethnic minorities as well as women would be oppressed by segregation and unequal opportunities until the emergence of the civil rights movement in the second half of the 20th century.

Even today, discriminatory practices arguably continue, and the debate around their existence draws considerable attention. You can use any of these topics to write an outstanding essay by following the guidelines below.

Discussions of slavery as a form of discrimination will usually be historic in nature, as they will discuss the practice as applied in the United States and other countries in the same region, but the notion offers discrimination essay topics for periods including modernity.

Before the Civil War, many people believed that black people were inferior to whites in some way, possibly due to the disparity between the advancement of African and European civilizations.

As such, even free black people would undergo harassment and risk being enslaved again if they did not leave for a territory that did not have the practice. The topic has been well researched, and so you can and should the wealth of information available to paint an accurate picture.

Even after the abolition of slavery, discriminatory views and practices persisted in many places. Examples included segregation practices where black people would be confined to ghettos and not allowed to visit various institutions.

The civil rights movement arose in the 1960s aimed to right that injustice, but eventually expanded to encompass more marginalized groups, such as women. Gender bias was prevalent at the time, with women being seen as housewives who could not work as well as men.

The success of the feminist message changed that perception and enabled women to choose their life freely. The various efforts and successes of the movement can provide you with ideas for an interesting work.

Ultimately, discrimination is being called out to this day, though many people hold the opinion that it has been mostly or completely eliminated in most advanced countries.

Nevertheless, many modern industries are affected by claims of faults such as gender discrimination, expressed as phenomena such as disproportionate hiring of males or a disparity in earnings between the sexes.

Other instances of modern discrimination are more concrete, such as the severe punishments for homosexuality practiced in some Muslim countries to this day. Humanity is still not entirely equal, and to progress towards that goal, we must identify and address issues.

Here are some additional tips that will improve the general quality of your essay:

• Surround your discrimination essay body with an introduction and a conclusion. The former describes the topic and provides the reader with a thesis that names the central idea of the essay. The latter sums up the essay and provides some closing words.
• Separate different sections of your paper with titles that identify their topics. This practice improves the essay’s structure and appearance, making it easier for the reader to navigate it, especially if you use well-designed discrimination essay titles.

Find excellent discrimination essay examples and other useful samples for your work on IvyPanda!

• Causes of Discrimination in Society The main causes of discrimination are racial prejudices, gender, national and religious stereotypes, social categorization, and sexual orientation. Racial profiling is one of the vivid examples of racial discrimination and racial prejudices.
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• Was Ernest Hemingway a Misogynist? A Sexism Hemingway does not hide the uselessness of Wilson in the eyes of Margot; she only uses him as a toy, and even after they have sex Hemingway still questions it.
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• Discrimination in School Based on the data in this case, describe the behaviour of the students in this class The children’s behaviour displays racial discrimination owing to their treatment of the new coloured student in class.
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• Maya Angelou: Racism and Segregation in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” An example is that, as she fails to recite her poem in church, she notes that her dress is probably a handout from a white woman.
• Racial Discrimination Effects in Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody The vivid description of events from the beginning gives the reader a clear picture of a girl who was born in problems and in spite of her intelligence she always became a victim of circumstances.
• AIDS Discrimination in “Philadelphia” (1993) by Jonathan Demme “Philadelphia” is the film that appeared on the screens at the end of the 20th century. He is a lawyer, who copes with his duties easily and is known as one of the best professionals.
• Racism and Motherhood Themes in Grimke’s “Rachel” In addition, her mother kept the cause of the deaths of Rachel’s father and brother secret. In essence, the play Rachel is educative and addresses some of the challenges people face in society.
• Contrast Between Tituba and John Indian and Countering Racism The declaration suggests that Conde believed the story of Tituba’s maltreatment needed to be told to expose the truth she had been denied due to her skin color and gender.
• Anti-discrimination Legislation Under the provisions of the sexual discrimination Act, a person who displays any behavior that is deemed to be sexually harassing in a nature will be held responsible for their behavior.
• Cause and Effect of Racial Discrimination Irrespective of massive efforts to emphasize the role of diversity and equality in society, it is still impossible to state that the United States is free from racial discrimination.
• Discrimination in Education and Unfair Admission The significance of equality in education is due to the natural development of society and the transition to a civilized order, where any manifestations of bias for various reasons are unacceptable.
• Discrimination as Part of Society Thus, the authors focus on the analytical analysis of any phenomenon of discrimination: the study of social, historical, political, and other aspects that have an impact on the growth of oppression of certain groups.
• Racial Discrimination at the Workplace The main change that is discussed in this essay is the introduction of legislation that will see the creation of a special authority that is aimed at guaranteeing the freedom of all workers at the […]
• Discrimination at the Workplace: Legislations Regarding Discrimination In addition, the law was also instrumental in the establishment of the EEOC, a body charged with the responsibility of implementing this particular law, along with other laws that seeks to protect employees against discrimination […]
• Discrimination at Workplaces The current increase in the temporary, part-time wage work and other forms of employment that is not covered by labor laws and policies in Canada has contributed a lot to cases of discrimination and other […]
• Is Troy Maxson (Wilson’s Fences) a Victim of Racism? As a black American, Troy’s childhood experiences have been passed on to his children, making him a victim of an oppressive culture. Therefore, this makes Troy a victim of racism and culture, contributing to his […]
• Classism as a Complex Issue of Discrimination Classism is not an issue that affects just a small sector of the population. To facilitate justice in society, the issue of classism needs to be studied.
• Prejudice and Discrimination What I can say about myself is that being in a group while studying the nature of bias and discrimination was a useful experience.
• Misogyny and Sexism in Policing A solution to solving sexism and misogyny in policing is increasing the number of female police officers and educating on gender bias.
• The Issue of Discrimination Within American Ethnicity by Aguirre and Turner The white ethnics managed to blend with the overall population and advance the educational and occupational aspects by adhering to culture, speech, value, and other features of the Anglo-Saxon core.
• Gender-Based Discrimination in the Workplace In order to give a good account of the effects of gender-based discrimination against women, this paper examines the space of women in the automotive engineering industry.
• Immigration and Discrimination in the Workplace The ability to see a big picture and the need to appreciate the contribution of immigrants to U.S.economy will reduce the incidences of discrimination in the workplace.
• The Anatomy of Scientific Racism: Racialist Responses to Black Athletic Achievement Miller is of the view that it is the white scholars that are responsible for impeding the success of black athletes and performers.
• Controversy of Gender and Race Discrimination Gender and race issues should be well tackled, for instance, in some of the societies men are believed to be superior to women and hold all the important positions in the society.
• Sexism, Racism, Ableism, Ageism, Classism The absurdity and blatant sexism of this issue made me angry at how the United States is unable to resolve and overcome the lack of gender equality.
• Coca-Cola Discrimination Issues Therefore, the essay discusses the discrimination issues raised by four African-Americans that led to a lawsuit, examines actions that would have prevented or minimized the lawsuit, and considers the company’s structural and human resource perspectives […]
• Root Causes and Solutions to Racism Media is meant to eradicate racism and maintain unity among people but the case is different in some situations. Also, it is vital to make children understand nothing is amusing in the use of stereotypes […]
• The Discrimination Disparity Continuum. Bill Macumber Though these guidelines are available and are supposed to be the guide for the justice system, there have been cases when there have been a miscarriage of justice, which has led to the conviction of […]
• Anthem by Ayn Rand: Discrimination Theme In the book, the theme of liberty is presented as the opposite of discrimination, and there is a category representing liberty in this book.
• Accent Discrimination and the Harmful Effects The learners of English as a second language have been greatly affected because of the discrimination faced from other individuals because of the difference in pronunciation.
• Discrimination against Immigrants Immigrants face different types of discrimination in the course of their stay in the U. The most common types of discrimination that the immigrants in the U.
• Discrimination in Sarah Baartman’s Life Besides her treatment as an object of racial inferiority and medical research, Bartman’s experience manifested the intersection of various forms of discrimination, such as, gender, race, nationality, and class discrimination. Bartman’s experience was a manifestation […]
• Discrimination of Black Women During Pregnancy To sum up, some data show that there are prominent healthcare disparities among black women and white women during the carriage and delivery of a child.
• Discrimination Against Women and Protecting Laws In response to the great discrimination of women, international women conferences have played a significant role in assisting in formulation and enacting of appropriate discrimination laws to curtail gender bias.
• Racism and Gender in Beyoncé’s Lemonade The album Lemonade by an American singer Beyonce is one of the brightest examples when an artist portrays the elements of her culture in her music. Along with music videos, the album features a number […]
• Prejudice and Discrimination in Diverse Organizations Prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping are common in an organization and each one of them has its effects which directly or indirectly influence an organization.
• Black or White Racism When one listens to the “Black or White” song, it is clear that Michael Jackson is not expecting his audience to be either white or black people to listen and learn the message he is […]
• Racial Discrimination Through the Cosmetics Industry The variety of preconceptions such as the hypersexuality of black women and the perception of their beauty as an unideal version of whites’ one also indicates racism.
• The Pink Tax Issue: Economic Discrimination Against Women Opponents of the Pink Tax argue that it denies women of agency and choice by implying that women are susceptible to a marketing strategy that prevents them from selecting cheaper products.
• Wearing Headscarves and Workplace Discrimination Johnson’s unwillingness to compromise and adjust to the plaintiff’s needs aggravates the case. Johnson’s preoccupation with the employee’s safety and appeased the fear of losing patrons due to Ms.
• The Life of Muslims in the USA and Discrimination The life of Muslims in the USA is a topic of numerous researches. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the group that should present Islamic perspective to the American audience, is believed to be radical and […]
• Sociology: Prejudice and Discrimination in India The Dalits and the Adivasis and other classes of Indian Society are pursuing the erasure of the age old caste system with the new Indian socialist revolution.
• Sexism in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Works Most of the works show the oppression of women’s rights and women in general, which is confirmed by the absence of a mother’s archetype.
• How Racism Makes Us Sick: Public Talk That Matters As a developing learner, I find this speech as a good example of how to raise such provocative themes as racism in the United States and not to be obsessed with prejudice.
• The Problem of Racism in Brazilian Football Skidmore describes it as the relationships that could result into conflict and consciousness and determination of the people’s status in a community or a particular group. In football, racism damages pride of the players and […]
• Does Racism and Discrimination Still Exist Today? This fact explains why racism and discrimination are inseparable in many parts of the globe. Sex discrimination continues to affect the goals and expectations of many women in our society.
• Sexism in the English Language Issue The degree of sexism in the attitude of the speaker while using English is also indicative of the cultural differences in attitude towards sexism in language.
• Discrimination at Publix Incorporation Despite the claim by the management of Publix Incorporation that the firm is committed to ensuring non-discrimination; the firm has not effectively implemented policies aimed at abating discrimination.
• Segregation and Discrimination in My Left Foot This is because Christy Brown is given the chance to stay with his family, and in due course, he shows how talented he is by making use of the only part of his body that […]
• The Equal Opportunities Approach and Discrimination The aim of this paper is to discuss the extent to which the EO approach helps to eradicate workplace discrimination in all its complex forms.
• Pressing Issues in Femininity: Gender and Racism When speaking of the current issues in femininity, women are not reduced to their roles of housewives to the extent to which they used to be.
• Racism: De Brahm’s Map and the Casta Paintings However, De Brahm’s map is one of the most striking pieces of evidence of the conquest of space and the entrenchment of the idea of land and people as titular property.
• Racism and Inequality in Society The idea of race as a social construct is examined in the first episode of the documentary series “The Power of an Illusion”.
• Anti-Racism: Marginalization and Exclusion in Healthcare This essay examines the course’s impact and the concepts of marginalization and exclusion in healthcare. Marginalization is a concept that has profoundly influenced the understanding of race and racism in healthcare.
• Workplace Discrimination: Types and Regulations In the 1970s and the 1990s, disability rights evolved with the introduction of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• The Issue of Racism in the United States The entire history of the United States is permeated with the evolution of the ideas of racism. Turning to history, we can see that the U.S.moved from slavery to using the Black population to solve […]
• History of Racial Discrimination in Haiti and America The choice of topic, racial discrimination in Haiti and America, was influenced by beliefs, values, and assumptions emphasizing the importance of equality and justice for all races.
• Racism and History of Discrimination As a result, advocacy should be aimed at creating new models in criminal justice that will ensure the protection of all minority groups and due process.
• Racial Discrimination and Color Blindness Of the three ideologies, racial harmony is considered the most appropriate for coping with problems of racism and racial injustice due to various reasons.
• Race, Racism, and Dangers of Race Thinking While it is true that some forms of race thinking can be used to justify and perpetuate racism, it is not necessarily the case that all forms of race thinking are inherently racist. Race thinking […]
• LGBTQ+ (Queer) Military Discrimination in Healthcare Furthermore, the subject is relevant to the field of psychology as the current phenomenon examines discrimination in healthcare both from the psychological outcomes experienced by veterans as well as the perception of LGBTQ+ patients through […]
• Racial Discrimination in American Literature In this way, the author denies the difference between people of color and whites and, therefore, the concept of racism in general.
• Discrimination at Work and Persistent Poverty While discrimination remains contributing to persistent poverty, organizations may benefit from blind hiring, an inclusive and accepting culture, and visible leadership to ensure efficient diversity management on a long-term basis. In conclusion, discrimination remains a […]
• Racism in the US: Settler Imperialism They prove that colonial imperialism is a structure, not a contextual phenomenon and that, as such, it propagates the marginalization of native people.
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• Discrimination Against African-American Patients The study results are inconsistent due to the selected approach and limited sample size. The study focused on the personal experiences of a small local group of African-American patients, primarily elderly females, not allowing for […]
• Racial Discrimination in High Education This peer-reviewed scholar article was found in the JSTOR database through entering key words “race affirmative action” and marking the publication period between 2017 and 2022.
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• Successful Bias Lawsuits: Texas Company in Employment Discrimination Case The allegation was filed by the Department of Labor’s office in 2020, after the evidence indicated a shortfall of black and Asian employees at the company.
• Racial Discrimination in Dormitory Discrimination is considered to be behavior that restricts the rights and freedoms of the individual. Therefore, it is essential to investigate discrimination in dormitories and propose solutions to this problem, such as disseminating knowledge about […]
• Racism and Its Impact on Populations and Society The ignorance of many individuals about other people’s cultures and ethnicities is one of the causes of racism. One can examine the various components of society and how they relate to the issue of racism […]
• Eliminating Discrimination: Poems From “Counting Descent” by Clint Smith The poems illustrated how the world is passed, what the ocean said to the black boy, and what the cicada said to the black boy.
• Institutionalized Racism and Individualistic Racism Excellent examples of individualistic racism include the belief in white supremacy, racial jokes, employment discrimination, and personal prejudices against black people. Overall, institutionalized and individualistic racism is a perversive issue that affects racial relations in […]
• Community Engagement with Racism To enhance the population’s degree of involvement in racism, the study calls for collaboration; this can be seen as a community effort to foster a sense of teamwork.
• LGBT Discrimination Research Prospects: An Analysis The aim of this assignment is to summarize the research that has been done on LGBT discrimination, particularly in the workplace and during the recruiting process.
• Discrimination Against the Elderly Population in the Medical Field The first week I was preoccupied, being my first time interacting with the older patients and also the fact that it was my first week and I was just getting used to the environment.
• The Pricing Policy of Price Discrimination The equilibrium price of a commodity from the point of view of a free market is formed at the intersection of supply and demand, which fluctuates depending on many factors.
• Racism Detection with Implicit Association Test Racial bias is deeply rooted in human society and propelled by norms and stereotypic ideologies that lead to implicit bias and the unfair treatment of minority groups.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act The law ADEA, which stands for The Age Discrimination in Employment Act, exhausts assumptions or beliefs that age affects a person’s ability to work.
• Identity and Belonging: Racism and Ethnicity In the documentary Afro Germany – Being Black and German, several individuals share their stories of feeling mistreated and excluded because of their skin color.
• Policies to Eliminate Racial Disparities and Discrimination The solution to exclusion is to build social inclusion in the classroom and within the school by encouraging peer acceptance, cross-group friendships, and built-in prevention.
• Living With HIV: Stigma and Discrimination The mental health and emotional well-being of the population living with this virus are affected due to the humiliation and judgment they face from their fellows around them.
• Causes, Facilitators, and Solutions to Racism These theories suggest that racism serves a particular function in society, occurs due to the interactions of individuals from dominant groups, and results from a human culture of prejudice and discrimination.
• Racial Discrimination and Justice in Education An example is the complaint of the parents of one of the black students that, during the passage of civilizations, the Greeks, Romans, and Incas were discussed in the lessons, but nothing was said about […]
• Empathy and Racism in Stockett’s The Help and Li’s To Kill a Mockingbird To start with, the first approach to racism and promoting empathy is to confront prevalent discrimination and racism, which was often shown in The Help. Another solution to racism and the possibility of promoting empathy […]
• Education in Canada and Discrimination In general, the immersion in the history of the residential school system on the basis of related articles, videos, and music has left a highly oppressive feeling.
• Discrimination in the US Healthcare Sector More than 70% of those who buy insurance plans via the exchanges are also estimated to be entitled to tax credits, which will further lower their rates in addition to the lower premiums.
• Racism in the Healthcare Sector In 2020, the cases and instances of racism in healthcare rose by 16% from 2018; there were notable instances of racism in various spheres of health. 9% of blacks have been protected from discrimination and […]
• The Airline Industry: Sex Discrimination Although some females and males are fighting these stereotypes, there has been a culture in the airline industry to give females the flight attendant jobs and males the piloting jobs. Similarly, the roles of male […]
• Individual and Structural Discrimination Toward LGBT (Queer) Military Personnel Consequently, LGBT military personnel are potentially even more vulnerable to mental health issues due to the combined stress of being LGBT and being in the military.
• Racism in Healthcare and Education The mission should emphasize that it promotes diversity and equality of all students and seeks to eliminate racial bias. It is necessary to modify the mission to include the concept of inclusiveness and equality.
• Equal Opportunity and Discrimination Thus, if a female individual feels denied a job opportunity due to the employer’s attitude to her possible pregnancy, she can apply to the Equal employment opportunity commission and ask for an investigation. EO serves […]
• Institutional Racism in the Workplace Despite countless efforts to offer African-Americans the same rights and opportunities as Whites, the situation cannot be resolved due to the emergence of new factors and challenges.
• Racism in Education in the United States Such racial disparities in the educational workforce confirm the problem of structural racism and barrier to implementing diversity in higher medical education. Structural racism has a long history and continues to affect the growth of […]
• Individuals With Disabilities: Prejudice and Discrimination I researched that people with persistent medical or physical disorders, such as cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis, who have speech, articulation, or communication impairments, for example, are sometimes seen as having an intellectual deficiency. Corey […]
• Rhetoric in Obama’s 2008 Speech on Racism When the audience became excited, it was Obama’s responsibility to convey his message in a more accessible form. To conclude, Obama’s speech in 2008 facilitated his election as the first African American President in history.
• How to Talk to Children About Racism The text begins by referring to recent events that were related to race-based discrimination and hatred, such as the murder of George Floyd and the protests dedicated to the matter.
• Care for Real: Racism and Food Insecurity Care for Real relies on the generosity of residents, donation campaigns, and business owners to collect and deliver these supplies. The research article discusses some of the factors that contribute to the creation of racism […]
• Racism Towards Just and Holistic Health Therefore, the critical content of the event was to determine the steps covered so far in the fight for racial equality in the provision of care and what can be done to improve the status […]
• People With Mental Illnesses: Stigma, Prejudice, and Discrimination The post raises awareness of the highly important and rarely discussed topic of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination against people with mental illnesses, which are not only harmful on their own but also make such individuals […]
• Workplace Discrimination: Impact of Family-Friendly Policies There is a reduction in the number of compulsory working hours, allowing employees more time to spend with their families and children.
• Discrimination Culture in Saudi Oil and Gas Sector The purpose of this paper is to inspect the interrelationship between the organizational culture and discrimination in the O&G sector in Saudi Arabia.
• Racism and Related Issues in Canadian Society The first issue is that it does not review the systemic and structural aspects of racism and how it affects various institutions and society as a whole.
• LGBTQ+ Families: Discrimination and Challenges The family model directly affects the social status of family members and the well-being of children. LGBTQ+ families’ wealth level is lower than that of families in the neighborhood due to labor discrimination.
• Public Discrimination Based on the Status of Vaccination from COVID-19 It should be noted that COVID-19 is not a rare or exotic disease, but the rapid spread of this infection from the Chinese city of Wuhan led to the dramatic assignment of pandemic status to […]
• LGBTQ Members: Discrimination and Stigmatization What remains unclear from the reading is the notion that before the 1990s, people from the middle class expressed abiding and strong desires to be acknowledged as “the other sex”.
• Systemic Racism and Discrimination Thus, exploring the concept of race from a sociological perspective emphasizes the initial aspect of inequality in the foundation of the concept and provides valuable insight into the reasons of racial discrimination in modern society.
• The Racism Problem and Its Relevance The images demonstrate how deeply racism is rooted in our society and the role the media plays in spreading and combating racism.
• Gender Discrimination in Public Administration The subject of the dispute and the statement of claim was the vacancy of a traffic controller, which was initially offered to Johnson, but then, as part of the program, the place was given to […]
• How to Overcome Poverty and Discrimination As such, to give a chance to the “defeated” children and save their lives, as Alexie puts it, society itself must change the rules so that everyone can have access to this ticket to success. […]
• Aspects of Socio-Economic Sides of Racism And the answer is given in Dorothy Brown’s article for CNN “Whites who escape the attention of the police benefit because of slavery’s long reach”.. This shows that the problem of racism is actual in […]
• Sexism and Internal Discrimination at Google The recommendation in the case is that the organization should provide justice to all the employees who are victims of discrimination and sexual harassment, irrespective of the perpetrator.
• Tackling Racism in the Workplace It means that reporting racism to HR does not have the expected positive effect on workplace relations, and employees may not feel secure to notify HR about the incidences of racism.
• Issue of Racism Around the World One of the instances of racism around the world is the manifestations of violence against indigenous women, which threatens the safety of this vulnerable group and should be mitigated.
• Discrimination in the United States The paper’s authors see systemic racism as a consequence of segregation in World War I migration, which resulted in distinct communities that were not understandable to white Americans.
• Causes of Discrimination Towards Immigrants Discrimination and intolerance against immigrants, and the implications of these inflammatory convictions and conduct, determine the sociocultural and economic destiny of welcoming nations and those who aspire to make these communities their new residence.
• The Racism Problem and How to Fight It Racism is one of the common problems of the modern world which might not allow several individuals to feel a valuable part of society due to their skin color, gender, or social status.
• Environmental Racism: The Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan The situation is a manifestation of environmental racism and classism since most of the city’s population is people of color and poor. Thus, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is a manifestation of environmental racism […]
• The “Racism and Discrimination” Documentary The documentary “Racism and Discrimination” is about an anti-racist teacher Jane Elliot who attempts to show the white people the feeling of discrimination. The central argument of the documentary is diversity training to seize the […]
• Abortion-Related Racial Discrimination in the US In spite of being a numerical minority, Black women in the U.S.resort to abortion services rather often compared to the White population.
• Canadian Society: Sexism and the Persistent Woman Question Equality of work, payments, and respect for women is on the agenda of this party, but they lack a modern look that refers to the problems of harassment and bullying in social networks.
• Social Problems Surrounding Racism, Prejudice and Discrimination This kind of discrimination makes the students lose their self-esteem and the traumas experienced affects the mental health of these students in the long term.
• Racism and Intolerance: The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Crafting a Legacy by Messer elaborates on the legacy of the event and its repercussions and offers a profound analysis of the issue, which strengthened my focus of the research.
• Discussion of Gender Discrimination in Modern Society In the professional field, women are constantly in discriminatory positions of jeopardy due to their gender. However, women still need to compete in the work environment.
• Gender Roles, Expectations, and Discrimination Despite Isaac being the calmest boy in the school, he had a crush on Grace, a beautiful girl in the school who was from a wealthy family.
• The Unethical Practice of Racism in a Doctor’s Case The involvement of Barrett in the protest is both unethical for the university’s image and immoral for the community. However, the school would likely face tougher court fines and a direct order to reinstate Barrett’s […]
• The Problem of Racism in America One explanation of racism by feminist thinkers is that racism is a manifestation of the agency and power of people of a particular racial identity over others.
• Racism: “The Sum of Us” Article by McGhee The economic analysis and sociological findings in America have drawn a detailed picture of the cost of racism in America and how to overcome it together.
• Contemporary Sociological Theories and American Racism The central intention of this theory paper is to apply modern theoretical concepts from the humanities discipline of sociology to the topic of racism in the United States.
• Sex Workers: Discrimination and Criminalization The essay looks at the problem of discrimination against sex workers and the criminalization of sex work and highlights efforts that have been made towards decriminalization of the activity.
• A Cause-and-Effect Analysis of Racism and Discrimination As a result, it is vital to conduct a cause-and-effect analysis to determine the key immediate and hidden causes of racism to be able to address them in a proper manner.
• The Issue of Obesity in the Workplace: Discrimination and Its Prevention The critical detail is that the spread of the negative attitude to obesity in the workplace leads to the segregation of overweight people, stereotypical perceptions of their abilities, and prejudged attitudes toward them.
• Employment Discrimination Based on Religion In other words, although both elementary teachers had no formal title of a minister and limited religious training, the religious education and formation of students were the basic reason for the existence of the majority […]
• Discrimination Cases and Their Outcomes In the US, noticeable and influential cases tend to occur, and they remind the nation of the existing problem and reduce the effect of discrimination.
• Institutional Racism Through the Lenses of Housing Policy While not being allowed to buy property because of the racial covenants, the discriminated people had to house in other areas.
• The Problem of Age Discrimination Ageism includes many tendencies that change people; thus, ageism entails factors that influence people’s perception of each other, for example, in the work environment.
• Social Inequality and Discrimination Gender discrimination is when a person or a group of people is treated unfairly or unfairly because of their gender. Moreover, there is a classification of the thinking model in which a person exalts his […]
• Job Discrimination and Harassment Secondly, the strengths of the discrimination suit include the fact that he is the only white employee in his unit and one of the few men, suggesting a certain bias within the hiring department.
• Dealing With Race Discrimination: Impact of Color Blindness However, psychologists have been trying to employ racial color blindness as a strategy to manage diversity and intergroup affairs. However, in other places, such as in enduring structural racism, it serves as a device to […]
• Role of Racism in Contemporary US Public Opinion This source is useful because it defines racism, describes its forms, and presents the survey results about the prevalence of five types of racial bias.
• The Amazon Warehouse Employee Sexual Orientation Discrimination With the mismatch between the aspects of the work at the Amazon warehouse, the demand for the job, the ability to work successfully, and the wants and desires of the employees, it is worth noting […]
• The Mutation of Racism into New Subtle Forms The trend reflects the ability of racism to respond to the rising sensitivity of the people and the widespread rejection of prejudice.
• Racism: Healthcare Crisis and the Nurses Role The diminished admittance to mind is because of the impacts of fundamental bigotry, going from doubt of the medical care framework to coordinate racial segregation by medical care suppliers.
• Origins of Racial Discrimination Despite such limitations as statistical data being left out, I will use this article to support the historical evaluation of racism in the United States and add ineffective policing to the origins of racism.
• Language Discrimination in Modern Society It is necessary to let go of the fear of talking and writing on social networks in a language that is not native to you.
• Anti-discrimination Legislation and Supporting Case Law The response to this was the abolition of the quota system and the adoption in 1995 of the Act on Non-Discrimination of the Disabled and a package of additional regulations, in particular, on the education […]
• Beverly Greene Life and View of Racism
• Historical Racism in South Africa and the US
• Gender Stereotypes and Sexual Discrimination
• Capitalism and Racism in Past and Present
• Minstrels’ Influence on the Spread of Racism
• How Parents of Color Transcend Nightmare of Racism
• Bias and Discrimination: Prejudice, Discrimination, and Stereotyping
• A Problem of Racial Discrimination in the Modern World
• Beverly Tatum’s Monolog About Injustice of Racism
• Discrimination: Trans World Airlines, Inc. vs. Hardison
• Discrimination in the Bostock v. Clayton County Case
• Issue of Institutional Racism
• Discrimination: Chalmers v. Tulon Company of Richmond
• Discrimination: Peterson v. Wilmur Communications
• Racism in America Today: Problems of Today
• Evidence of Existence of Modern Racism
• Culture Play in Prejudices, Stereotyping, and Racism
• Latin-African Philosophical Wars on Racism in US
• Confronting Stereotypes, Racism and Microaggression
• Racial Discrimination in Dallas-Fort Worth Region
• Healthcare Call to Action: Racism in Medicine
• White Counselors Broaching Race and Racism Study
• US Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws Response
• British Colonial Racism for Aboriginal Australians
• Discrimination Against African American Nurses
• “Ocean Acidification Impairs Olfactory Discrimination…” by Munday
• American Culture and Its Racism Roots
• The Black People: Sexuality and Racial Discrimination
• Racism Evolution: Experience of African Diaspora
• The Problem of Explicit Racism
• Discrimination Against Hispanics in America
• Discrimination and Prejudice Comparison
• Racial Discrimination and Residential Segregation
• Significance of Perceived Racism:Ethnic Group Disparities in Health
• Religious Practices and Business Discrimination
• Discrimination in Canadian Society
• The Sexism Behind HB16 Bill
• Social Justice, Diversity and Workplace Discrimination
• Racism as Origin of Enslavement
• Colorblind Racism and Its Minimization
• Legacy of Racism Against African American Women and Men
• The Bill H.R.666 Anti-Racism in Public Health Act of 2021
• When Men Experience Sexism Article by Berlatsky
• Summary of the Issue About Racism
• Non-White Experience: Stereotyping and Discrimination
• How the Prison Industrial Complex Perpetuate Racism
• Social Change Project: Religious Discrimination in the Workplace
• Disability Discrimination and How to Deal With It
• Battling Racism in the Modern World
• Indian Youth Against Racism: Photo Analysis
• Racism: Do We Need More Stringent Laws?
• Free Speech vs. Anti-Discrimination Practices Conflict
• Problem of Racism in Schools Overview
• US Immigration Policy and Its Correlation to Structural Racism
• The Fashion Industry: Discrimination Case
• America: Racism, Terrorism, and Ethno-Culturalism
• Discrimination and Substance Use Disorders among Latinos’ Article Review
• Racism in Healthcare and Its Implications
• Issue of Racism in Healthcare
• Workplace Discrimination Based on Attractiveness
• Racism and Statistical & Pure Discrimination
• Solving Racial Discrimination in the US: The Best Strategies
• Popular Music at the Times of Racism and Segregation
• Religious Discrimination Against a Muslim Employee
• Temporary Aid Program: Racism in Child Welfare
• The Problem of Racism in the Police Force
• Discussion Board Post: Discrimination and Harassment
• The Discrimination of African Americans
• Western Scientific Approach as a Cause of Racism
• How Does Racism Affect Health?
• Investigating the Discrimination in the Workplace
• Citizen: An American Lyric and Systemic Racism
• The Reflection of Twain’s Views on Racism in Huck Finn
• Black as a Label: Racial Discrimination
• Urban Regime Theory in Anti-Black Discrimination
• Nike: Workplace Writing and Discrimination
• Environmental Discrimination in Canada
• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Racial Discrimination
• Flint Water Crisis: Environmental Racism and Racial Capitalism
• Cancer Alley and Environmental Racism
• Housing Discrimination and Federal Laws Analysis
• Cancer Alley and Environmental Racism in the US
• American Healthcare in the Context of Racism
• Discrimination and Politics of Gender and Sexuality
• Discussion of COVID-19 and Discrimination
• Origins of Modern Racism and Ancient Slavery
• Discrimination of Employees With Physical and Cognitive Impairments in the Workplace
• Contribution of Racism to Economic Recession Due to COVID-19
• What Stories Can Teach Us About Racism
• Racism in Canadian Medical System
• Profit and Racism in the Prisons of the United States
• Everyday Sexism in Relation to Everyday Disablism
• Discrimination and Health of Immigrants in Canada
• Life History Interview: Discrimination as an African American
• Discrimination. Unequal or Unfair Treatment of Individuals
• Rio Tinto: Case Study About Racism and Discrimination
• Racism: US v. The Amistad and Dred Scott v. Sandford
• Discrimination in the Workplace: How to Solve It
• Race and Color Discrimination Against US Employees
• Discrimination Against People of Color and Queer Community
• Critical Social Problems Research: Racism and Racial Domination
• Discrimination as an External Manifestation of Societal Ills
• Business and Corporate Law: Discrimination Case Analysis
• Harassment Law – Tennie Pierce Discrimination
• Criminal Justice: Racial Prejudice and Racial Discrimination
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
• Manifestations of Gender Discrimination in Insurance
• Discrimination Against Customers With Disabilities
• Work Place Discrimination
• The History of Racial Discrimination and Its Effects on the American Races
• Protections Against Employment Discrimination
• Discrimination Complaint on a Civil Litigation Processes
• Racial Discrimination in the US Criminal Justice System
• Policing in America: The Issue of Violence and Racism
• LGBTQ Rights: Sexual Minority Members Discrimination
• Institutional and Interpersonal Racism, White Privilege
• Racism and Sexism as a Threat
• The Aspects of Discrimination
• The Development of a Measure to Assess Symbolic Racism
• Syrian Conflict and Women Rights: Way to Equality or Another Discrimination
• Racism and Tokenism in Bon Appetit: Leadership and Ethical Perspective
• Ethnic Stratification, Prejudice & Discrimination
• From “Scientific” Racism to Local Histories of Lynching
• Equal Pay Act: Pay Discrimination
• Sexism Against Women in the Military
• Subjective Assumptions and Medicine: Racism
• Anti-Discrimination Laws in the U.S.
• Discrimination Against Muslim in the USA
• Racism Experiences in the Workplace in the UK
• Race and Ethnicity, Other Minorities and Discrimination
• The History of Immigration to the United States and the Nature of Racism
• Gender and the Problem of Discrimination
• Discrimination and the Hiring Process
• Legal Process About Discrimination
• Race and Racism in the USA: The Origins and the Future
• Genetics of Sexual Orientation: Privacy, Discrimination, and Social Engineering
• Environmental Racism in the United States: Concept, Solution to the Problem
• Discrimination in Puerto Rico
• Protecting George Wallace’s Organized Racism
• How Can the World Unite to Fight Racism?
• Fighting Anti-Muslim Sentiments
• Female Workers Discrimination and Affirmative Action
• Ideological Support Arab Muslim Discrimination
• The Most Prominent Forms of Discrimination
• Discrimination of Women in IT Sphere
• Gender Discrimination in the Workplace and Better Management Skills
• Racism in America and Its Literature
• Race, Class and Gender. Racism on Practice
• Racism: Term Definition and History of Display of Racism Remarks
• Institutional Discrimination, Prejudice and Racism
• The Glass Ceiling Term: Discrimination in the Healthcare Sector
• Racism in Contemporary North America
• Racial Discrimination of Women in Modern Community
• Racial and Gender Discrimination in the Workplace and Housing
• History of Sexism: Features in the Legal System
• Racism Without Racists in Patriarchal Society
• Racism in Employment Practices
• Asians Discrimination in USA
• Discrimination in the United States of America
• Racism: Definition and Consequences
• The Problem of Racism in Canada
• The Discrimination Against Women in United Kingdom
• Exploring and Comparing Racism and Ethnocentrism
• Discrimination Against Black People
• Intraracial Discrimination: Grace Hsiang’s Article’s Analysis
• Ethics of Gender Identity Discrimination at Work
• Racism Cannot Be Unlearned Through Education
• Racism Among Students of Swinburne University
• Racism in Movies: Stereotypes and Prejudices
• Racism Concepts: Influence of Politics
• Racism: Resolving by Means of Education
• Sexual Discrimination in Astra Company
• Intersectionality Oppression and Discrimination in Latin America
• Sexism in Media: The Effect of Media on Adolescent Females
• Prejudice and Discrimination in Canada
• The Issues of Racial Discrimination in US
• Price Discrimination in Healthcare and Family Health Care Insurance
• Facing Racism: A Short Story
• Prejudice as the Root Cause of the Discrimination
• Sexual Discrimination Scandal: Astra-USA
• Astra Way: Sexual Discrimination Scandal
• Business Ethics: Discrimination Against Employees
• White Supremacy as an Extreme Racism Group
• The Impact of Catholic Views on Discrimination Against Women and Minorities in the Workplace
• Gender and Cultural Discrimination in Modern Society
• Holocaust: From Discrimination to Concentration Camps
• Muslim Discrimination in the UK After the July 7 Attacks
• American Racism: So Why Isn’t Obama White?
• Modern Racism in American Society
• Obama, the First US Black President: Is Racism Over?
• Analyzing Discrimination Against Jews
• Philosophy of Human Conduct: Institutional Racism
• Explaining Persistence of Discrimination and Privilege
• Literature on Latina Women and Sexism
• Racism and Civil Rights: Then and Now
• Employee Issues: Gender Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Discrimination
• Primary School Teaching: Challenging Racism
• Racism and White Supremacism in the American Government
• Discrimination in Recruiting & Promotional Aspects: Tanglewood Company
• Disability Discrimination Laws: Workers’ Compensation
• Human Resource Management: US Age Discrimination Act
• “Red Lining” – A Type of Discrimination
• Social Construction of Race and Racism
• The Problem of Gender-Based Employment Discrimination
• Discrimination Against Gays in the Military
• Canada: Discrimination in British North America
• Racism Issues: Looking and Stereotype
• The Problem of Gender Discrimination
• Hurricane Katrine Exposed Racism in New Orleans
• Muslim Society, Life Meaning, and Discrimination
• Affirmative Action and Reverse Discrimination
• AIDS in a Different Culture Review: Cultural Differences, Prejudice, and Racism
• Anti-Racism Policy Statement in Australian Schools
• Racism, Minorities and Majorities Analysis
• Chicano Discrimination in Higher Education
• Racism and Ethnicity in Latin America
• Problem of Racism to Native Americans in Sport
• Veiled Sexism in the United Arab Emirates
• Racial Discrimination in Song ‘Strange Fruit’
• Racism Effects on the Premier League Players
• Discrimination in Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
• Social Psychology: Racism in Jury Behaviour
• Racism in the United States of the 21st Century
• Michael Blechman: ‘Diversity’ Looks a Lot Like Old-Fashioned Discrimination
• The Limits of Price Discrimination
• A Conduct Parameter Model of Price Discrimination
• Appiah’s Ideas of Racism, Equality, and Justice
• Discrimination Against Women and Immigrants at Work
• Consumer Welfare and Price Discrimination
• Racism in Media: Positive and Negative Impact
• Poverty, Stratification and Gender Discrimination
• Racism: World Politicians Discussion
• Racism: Once Overt, but Now Covert
• Lawsuits on Religious Discrimination
• Institutions and Gender Discrimination Issues
• Environmental Racism and Indigenous Knowledge
• Racism Effects on Criminal Justice System
• Ableism: Bias Against People With Disabilities
• Sexism: Gender, Class and Power
• Organizational Behavior: Group Size and Discrimination
• Stereotyping, Prejudice and Discrimination: Social Influence
• Rights, Equity and the State: Sexual Orientation and Discrimination
• Gender Discrimination on Birth Stage
• Scientific Racism: the Eugenics of Social Darwinism
• Racism in African American Studies and History
• Islam and Racism: Malcolm X’s Letter From Mecca
• Prejudice and Discrimination in Policing
• Racism vs. “Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself”
• Racism in Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders
• Immigrant Employment Issues and Discrimination
• Gender Discrimination in the United States
• Price Discrimination and Psychological Techniques
• Robert Senske vs Sybase Inc: Labor Discrimination Case
• Evian and Aquafina Waters: Stimulus Discrimination Concept
• Employment Discrimination and Law Amendment
• Bias and Discrimination in Early Childhood Care Centers
• Sexism and Presidential Elections in the USA
• Legal and Ethical Issues: Discrimination Remedy
• The Effects of Labor Market Discrimination
• Religious Discrimination in the Workplace
• Racism in Australian Football League Sporting Clubs
• Thomas Jefferson on Civil Rights, Slavery, Racism
• Discrimination in Admission Policies Criteria
• Heterosexism and Its Explanation
• Discrimination and Employee Performance Studies
• Workplace Gender Equality and Discrimination Laws
• Racial Discrimination Forms Against Afro-Americas
• Positive Discrimination of Women in Hiring and Promotion
• Racial Discrimination in Employment
• The Problem of Discrimination Against the LGBT Community
• Fair Treatment and Discrimination in the Workplace
• Racial Bias and Discrimination in Law Enforcement
• White Privilege and Racism in American Society
• Racism, Privilege and Stereotyping Concepts
• Gender Discrimination and Shared Responsibility
• Kansas State University Community’s Racism Issues
• Australian Anti-Discrimination Acts and Their Provision
• Racism Against Roma and Afro-American People
• Sexism and Male Nurses
• Gender, Size Discrimination and Fatphobia
• Impact of Racism as a Social Determinant of Health
• Racism in the United States: Before and After World War II
• Race-Norming and Discrimination Issues
• Baldwin’s and Coates’ Anti-Racism Communication
• The Problem of Racism and Injustice
• Racism as the Epitome of Moral Bankruptcy
• Sports: Discrimination, Match-Fixing and Doping
• Discrimination Against Women and Men of Different Races
• Employee Discrimination and Legal Protection
• Discrimination Against Refugees in a New Country
• Weight Discrimination and Beauty Prejudice in the HRM
• Hate Groups as Drivers of Discrimination
• Racism and Society: Different Perspectives
• Racism in Trump’s and Clinton’s Campaigns
• Obama’s Presidency and Racism in the USA
• Colin Powell and the Fight Against Structural Racism
• Workplace Discrimination and Legislation in the US
• Discrimination During the Recruitment Process
• Direct, Intentional, Institutional Discrimination
• Age Discrimination and Workplace Segregation
• Hate Crimes and Anti-Discrimination Laws
• Sexism and the Founding Fathers
• White Police’s Discrimination Against Black People
• Discrimination in Lending Practices
• Racial Discrimination in Employment in the US
• Racism in Media and Objective Coverage
• California Real Estate Discrimination
• Diversity and Discrimination in Hiring Process
• Workplace Discrimination Complaints
• Racism Elimination and Sociological Strategies
• Discrimination and Profiling in “Crash” Movie
• Employment Discrimination and Equal Opportunities
• Ableism in Education, Workplace and Community
• Gender Discrimination in History and Nowadays
• Social and Cultural Diversity and Racism
• Stereotyping and Discrimination in Advertising
• Does Unconscious Racism Exist by Lincoln Quillian
• Muslims in the US: Prejudice and Discrimination
• Sexual Orientation Discrimination Issue at the Workplace
• Racism and Discrimination in Religion Context
• Women’s Difference: Sex Discrimination
• Workplace Discrimination: Data Collection Methods
• US Teachers’ Rights, Dismissal, and Discrimination
• Sexual Orientation Discrimination at the Workplace
• Colorblindness as a Reason for Workplace Discrimination
• Discrimination in the USA: Cases and Policies
• Racism: Theoretical Perspectives and Research Methods
• Racism in the Setting the Rising Sun Postcard
• Car Pricing and Discrimination in Chicago
• The Effects of Racism on Learners Academic Outcomes
• Darwin’s and Galton’s Scientific Racism
• Eli Lilly & Company’s Discrimination Class Action
• The Voting Rights Act and Racial Discrimination
• English Literature Impact on Racism Among Africans
• Discrimination Complaint and the Litigation Process
• Price Discrimination Concept in Economics
• Jerrell Shofner’s Views on the Racial Discrimination
• Prejudice and Discrimination Reduction Prospects
• People with Disabilities: The Systemic Ableism
• The US Government and Discrimination With Muslims
• Asian American Communities and Racism in the USA
• Racial Discrimination and Its Effects on Employees
• Racism in the USA: Causes, Consequences and Solutions
• Discrimination of Women and Minorities in Firms
• Negative Aspects of Discrimination at the Workplace
• Sexism as Perceived by the Young Men
• Racial Discrimination in Social Institutions
• Effects of Discrimination in the Workplace
• King’s and Obama’s Views on Racism in America
• Lanning v. SEPTA: Employment Discrimination and Testing Practices
• Girls Discrimination in the Modern Educational System
• Racism Manifests in the Contemporary Society
• Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery
• Racism as a Reality of Modern American Society
• Homosexual Discrimination in Our Society: Causes and Effects
• Ethnicity and Issues of Racism in the United States
• Rodney King’s Case of Racial Discrimination
• Discrimination by Appearance in the USA
• Educational Attainment and Racial Discrimination
• Racial Discrimination Against Asian American Students
• Racism Issue and Solutions
• Addressing Discrimination at Workplace
• On Language Grounds: Discrimination of International Students
• Intersectionality and Gendered Racism
• International Students Discrimination in the USA
• Racism and Education in the United States
• Discrimination Due to Language Differences
• Racism in Michigan University
• Gender Discrimination in Russian Workplaces
• Racism and Sexism Ethical Problem
• Conflict and Racial Hostility
• “Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination” by Steven Greenhouse
• Racism as a Case of Ignorance and Prejudice
• Racism and Segregation in American History
• Discrimination Definition and Characteristics
• Humanism, Racism, and Speciesism
• Discrimination Definition, Its Causes and Effects
• Racism in American Schools
• Racist America: Current Realities and Future Prospects
• Sexism in the English Language
• Racism: Impact on Minorities in American Society
• Discrimination in the Workplace: Denial of Promotion
• Asian-Americans Workplace Discrimination
• Self-Interest and Discrimination in Sociology
• Civil Movements: Discrimination and Its Consequences
• Racism Against Native Americans
• The Recruitment of Employees and Discrimination
• Gender Discrimination in the Workplace: Resolving Glass Ceiling Issue
• Obama’s First Election and Racism
• Adolf Hitler: From Patriotism to Racism
• Discrimination and Affirmative Action
• Problems of Environmental Racism
• How Obama’s First Election Has Been Affected by Racism?
• Race Discrimination in the USA
• How Different Young Australians Experience Racism?
• Racial Discrimination in Organizations
• Understanding Race and Racism
• In Australia, Are Cultural Rights a Form of Racism?
• Racism, Stigma, and Eexism – Sociology
• African Americans: Race and Ethnic Discrimination
• Racism and Ethnicity in United States
• Ethnic Stratification, Prejudice, Discrimination: Hispanics
• Problems of Ethnic Discrimination in US
• ‘Animal Rights’ Activists and Racism
• Diversity and Discrimination in the Workplace: The Role in Activities of an Organization
• Price Discrimination Economics
• Sex Discrimination at Wal-Mart
• Religious and Racal Discrimination in Eboo Patel’s “Acts of Faith”
• The Racial Discrimination Among Employers
• The Discrimination Against Women Employees in the Telecommunication Industry
• Theories of Cultural Diversity: Anthropological Theory and Discrimination
• Psychological Impact: Stereotyping, Prejudice and Racism
• Discrimination and Affirmative Action: New Haven Firefighter’s Case
• Multicultural Psychology: Cultural Identity and Racism
• Employing Individuals to Fill in Vacancies in the Company
• How Fake News Use Satire as a Medium to Address Issues on Racism?
• Young Australians and Racism
• Price Discrimination and Monopolistic Competition
• Relationship Between Institutionalized Racism and Marxism
• Statelessness and Discrimination
• Discrimination Against Black Women
• Democratic Racism in Canada
• Social Construction of “Race” and “Racism” and Its Relationship to Democratic Racism in Canada
• Ethnicity: Oppression and Racism
• The Impact of Prejudice and Discrimination
• Age discrimination in Employment
• Discrimination in the Labor Market
• Racism in Family Therapy by Laszloffy and Hardy
• The Roma Problems and the Causes of Racism
• Racial Discrimination in the US
• Does Competition Eliminate Discrimination?
• Are HIV/AIDS Carriers Suffering From Discrimination?
• Does Ethnic Discrimination Vary Across Minority Groups?
• Can Competition Among Employers Reduce Governmental Discrimination?
• Does Gender Discrimination Contribute to India’s Population Imbalance?
• Are Racial Profiling and Police Discrimination an Issue?
• Does Health Predict the Reporting of Racial Discrimination or Do Reports of Discrimination Predict Health?
• Can Gender-Fair Language Reduce Gender Stereotyping and Discrimination?
• Does Market Liberalisation Reduce Gender Discrimination?
• Are Spatial Frequency Cues Used for Whisker-Based Active Discrimination?
• Does Political Competition Lessen Ethnic Discrimination?
• Can Social Contact Reduce Prejudice and Discrimination?
• Does Protecting Older Workers From Discrimination Make It Harder to Get Hired?
• Are the Processes Underlying Discrimination the Same for Women and Men?
• Does Racial Discrimination Exist Within the NBA?
• Can Social Media Lead to Labor Market Discrimination?
• Does Religious Discrimination Really Exist in Todays America?
• Did Fredy Villanueva Face Racial Discrimination?
• Does the Stimulus Type Influence Horses Performance in a Quantity Discrimination Task?
• Can the Government Deter Discrimination?
• Do Anti-discrimination Laws Alleviate Labor Market Duality?
• Can the One-Drop Rule Tell Us Anything About Racial Discrimination?
• Does Banning Price Discrimination Promote Entry and Increase Welfare?
• Have Anti-discrimination Housing Laws Worked?
• How Does Discrimination Affect People With Mental Illness?
• What Exactly Does Racial Discrimination Mean?
• Should the Racial Discrimination Act Be Reformed?
• What Are the Causes of Discrimination?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Chapter 11. Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

11.3 Reducing Discrimination

Learning Objectives

• Review the causes of discrimination and the ways that we can reduce it.
• Summarize the conditions under which intergroup contact does or does not reduce prejudice and discrimination.

We have seen that social categorization is a basic part of human nature and one that helps us to simplify our social worlds, to draw quick (if potentially inaccurate) conclusions about others, and to feel good about ourselves. In many cases, our preferences for ingroups may be relatively harmless—we may prefer to socialize with people who share our race or ethnicity for instance, but without particularly disliking the others. But categorizing others may also lead to prejudice and discrimination, and it may even do so without our awareness. Because prejudice and discrimination are so harmful to so many people, we must all work to get beyond them.

Discrimination influences the daily life of its victims in areas such as employment, income, financial opportunities, housing and educational opportunities, and medical care. Even with the same level of education and years of experience, ethnic minorities in Canada are 40% less likely to receive callbacks for an interview following a job application (Oreopolous, 2011). Blacks have higher mortality rates than Whites for eight of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States (Williams, 1999) and have less access to and receive poorer-quality health care, even controlling for other variables such as level of health insurance. Suicide rates among lesbians and gays are substantially higher than rates for the general population, and it has been argued that this in part due to the negative outcomes of prejudice, including negative attitudes and resulting social isolation (Halpert, 2002). And in some rare cases, discrimination even takes the form of hate crimes such as gay bashing.

More commonly, members of minority groups also face a variety of small hassles, such as bad service in restaurants, being stared at, and being the target of jokes (Swim, Hyers, Cohen, Fitzgerald, & Bylsma, 2003). But even these everyday “minor” forms of discrimination can be problematic because they may produce anger and anxiety among stigmatized group members and may lead to stress and other psychological problems (Klonoff, Landrine, & Campbell, 2000; Klonoff, Landrine, & Ullman, 1999). Stigmatized individuals who report experiencing more exposure to discrimination or other forms of unfair treatment also report more depression, anger, and anxiety and lower levels of life satisfaction and happiness (Swim, Hyers, Cohen, & Ferguson, 2001).

Of course, most of us do try to keep our stereotypes and our prejudices out of mind, and we work hard to avoid discriminating (Richeson & Shelton, 2007). But even when we work to keep our negative beliefs under control, this does not mean that they easily disappear. Neil Macrae and his colleagues (Macrae, Bodenhausen, Milne, & Jetten, 1994) asked British college students to write a paragraph describing a skinhead (a member of a group that is negatively stereotyped in England). One half of the participants were asked to be sure to not use their stereotypes when they were judging him, whereas the other half simply wrote whatever came to mind. Although the participants who were asked to suppress their thoughts were able to do it, this suppression didn’t last very long. After they had suppressed their stereotypes, these beliefs quickly popped back into mind, making it even more likely that they would be used immediately later.

But stereotypes are not always and inevitably activated when we encounter people from other groups. We can and we do get past them, although doing so may take some effort on our part (Blair, 2002). There are a number of techniques that we can use to try to improve our attitudes toward outgroups, and at least some of them have been found to be effective. Kawakami, Dovidio, Moll, Hermsen, and Russin (2000) found that students who practiced responding in nonstereotypical ways to members of other groups became better able to avoid activating their negative stereotypes on future occasions. And a number of studies have found that we become less prejudiced when we are exposed to and think about group members who have particularly positive or nonstereotypical characteristics. For instance, Blair, Ma, and Lenton (2001) asked their participants to imagine a woman who was “strong” and found that doing so decreased stereotyping of women. Similarly, Bodenhausen, Schwarz, Bless, and Wanke (1995) found that when White American students thought about positive Black role models—such as Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan—they became less prejudiced toward Blacks.

Reducing Discrimination by Changing Social Norms

One variable that makes us less prejudiced is education. People who are more educated express fewer stereotypes and prejudice in general. This is true for students who enroll in courses that are related to stereotypes and prejudice, such as a course on gender and ethnic diversity (Rudman, Ashmore, & Gary, 2001), and is also true more generally—education reduces prejudice, regardless of what particular courses you take (Sidanius, Sinclair, & Pratto, 2006).

The effects of education on reducing prejudice are probably due in large part to the new social norms that people are introduced to in school. Social norms define what is appropriate and inappropriate, and we can effectively change stereotypes and prejudice by changing the relevant norms about them. Jetten, Spears, and Manstead (1997) manipulated whether students thought that the other members of their university favored equal treatment of others or believed that others thought it was appropriate to favor the ingroup. They found that perceptions of what the other group members believed had an important influence on the beliefs of the individuals themselves. The students were more likely to show ingroup favoritism when they believed that the norm of their ingroup was to do so, and this tendency was increased for students who had high social identification with the ingroup.

Sechrist and Stangor (2001) selected White college students who were either high or low in prejudice toward Blacks and then provided them with information indicating that their prejudiced or unprejudiced beliefs were either shared or not shared by the other students at their university. Then the students were asked to take a seat in a hallway to wait for the next part of the experiment. A Black confederate was sitting in one seat at the end of the row, and the dependent measure was how far away the students sat from her.

As you can see in Figure 11.9, high prejudice students who learned that other students were also prejudiced sat farther away from the Black confederate in comparison with high prejudice individuals who were led to believe that their beliefs were not shared. On the other hand, students who were initially low in prejudice and who believed these views were shared sat closer to the Black confederate in comparison with low prejudice individuals who were led to believe that their beliefs were not shared. These results demonstrate that our perceptions of relevant social norms can strengthen or weaken our tendencies to engage in discriminatory behaviors.

White college students who were low in prejudice toward Blacks sat closer to the Black confederate when they had been told that their beliefs were shared with other group members at their university. On the other hand, White college students who were high in prejudice sat farther away from the Black confederate when they had been told that their beliefs were shared with other group members at their university. Data are from Sechrist and Stangor (2001).

The influence of social norms is powerful, and long-lasting changes in beliefs about outgroups will occur only if they are supported by changes in social norms. Prejudice and discrimination thrive in environments in which they are perceived to be the norm, but they die when the existing social norms do not allow it. And because social norms are so important, the behavior of individuals can help create or reduce prejudice and discrimination. Discrimination, prejudice, and even hate crimes such as gay bashing will be more likely to continue if people do not respond to or confront them when they occur.

What this means is that if you believe that prejudice is wrong, you must confront it when you see it happening. Czopp, Monteith, and Mark (2006) had White participants participate in a task in which it was easy to unintentionally stereotype a Black person, and as a result, many of the participants did so. Then, confederates of the experimenter confronted the students about their stereotypes, saying things such as “Maybe it would be good to think about Blacks in other ways that are a little more fair?” or “It just seems that you sound like some kind of racist to me. You know what I mean?” Although the participants who had been confronted experienced negative feelings about the confrontation and also expressed negative opinions about the person who confronted them, the confrontation did work. The students who had been confronted expressed less prejudice and fewer stereotypes on subsequent tasks than did the students who had not been confronted.

As this study concluded, taking steps to reduce prejudice is everyone’s duty—having a little courage can go a long way in this regard. Confronting prejudice can lead other people to think that we are complaining and therefore to dislike us (Kaiser & Miller, 2001; Shelton & Stewart, 2004), but confronting prejudice is not all negative for the person who confronts. Although it is embarrassing to do so, particularly if we are not completely sure that the behavior was in fact prejudice, when we fail to confront, we may frequently later feel guilty that we did not (Shelton, Richeson, Salvatore, & Hill, 2006).

Reducing Prejudice through Intergroup Contact

One of the reasons that people may hold stereotypes and prejudices is that they view the members of outgroups as different from them. We may become concerned that our interactions with people from different racial groups will be unpleasant, and these anxieties may lead us to avoid interacting with people from those groups (Mallett, Wilson, & Gilbert, 2008). What this suggests is that a good way to reduce prejudice is to help people create closer connections with members of different groups. People will be more favorable toward others when they learn to see those other people as more similar to them, as closer to the self, and to be more concerned about them.

The idea that intergroup contact will reduce prejudice , known as the contact hypothesis , is simple: If children from different ethnic groups play together in school, their attitudes toward each other should improve. And if we encourage college students to travel abroad, they will meet people from other cultures and become more positive toward them.

One important example of the use of intergroup contact to influence prejudice came about as a result of the important U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed, based in large part on the testimony of psychologists, that busing Black children to schools attended primarily by White children, and vice versa, would produce positive outcomes on intergroup attitudes, not only because it would provide Black children with access to better schools, but also because the resulting intergroup contact would reduce prejudice between Black and White children. This strategy seemed particularly appropriate at the time it was implemented because most schools in the United States then were highly segregated by race.

The strategy of busing was initiated after the Supreme Court decision, and it had a profound effect on schools in the United States. For one, the policy was very effective in changing school makeup—the number of segregated schools decreased dramatically during the 1960s after the policy was begun. Busing also improved the educational and occupational achievement of Blacks and increased the desire of Blacks to interact with Whites; for instance, by forming cross-race friendships (Stephan, 1999). Overall, then, the case of desegregating schools in the United States supports the expectation that intergroup contact, at least in the long run, can be successful in changing attitudes. Nevertheless, as a result of several subsequent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the policy of desegregating schools via busing was not continued past the 1990s.

Although student busing to achieve desegregated schools represents one prominent example of intergroup contact, such contact occurs in many other areas as well. Taken together, there is substantial support for the effectiveness of intergroup contact in improving group attitudes in a wide variety of situations, including schools, work organizations, military forces, and public housing. Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) conducted a meta-analysis in which they reviewed over 500 studies that had investigated the effects of intergroup contact on group attitudes. They found that attitudes toward groups that were in contact became more positive over time. Furthermore, positive effects of contact were found on both stereotypes and prejudice and for many different types of contacted groups.

The positive effects of intergroup contact may be due in part to increases in other-concern. Galinsky and Moskowitz (2000) found that leading students to take the perspective of another group member—which increased empathy and closeness to the person—also reduced prejudice. And the behavior of students on college campuses demonstrates the importance of connecting with others and the dangers of not doing so. Sidanius, Van Laar, Levin, and Sinclair (2004) found that students who joined exclusive campus groups, including fraternities, sororities, and minority ethnic organizations (such as the African Student Union), were more prejudiced to begin with and became even less connected and more intolerant of members of other social groups over the time that they remained in the organizations. It appears that memberships in these groups focused the students on themselves and other people who were very similar to them, leading them to become less tolerant of others who are different.

Although intergroup contact does work, it is not a panacea because the conditions necessary for it to be successful are frequently not met. Contact can be expected to work only in situations that create the appropriate opportunities for change. For one, contact will only be effective if it provides information demonstrating that the existing stereotypes held by the individuals are incorrect. When we learn more about groups that we didn’t know much about before, we learn more of the truth about them, leading us to be less biased in our beliefs. But if our interactions with the group members do not allow us to learn new beliefs, then contact cannot work.

When we first meet someone from another category, we are likely to rely almost exclusively on our stereotypes (Brodt & Ross, 1998). However, when we get to know the individual well (e.g., as a student in a classroom learns to know the other students over a school year), we may get to the point where we ignore that individual’s group membership almost completely, responding to him or her entirely at the individual level (Madon et al., 1998). Thus contact is effective in part because it leads us to get past our perceptions of others as group members and to individuate them.

When we get past group memberships and focus more on the individuals in the groups, we begin to see that there is a great deal of variability among the group members and that our global and undifferentiating group stereotypes are actually not that informative (Rothbart & John, 1985). Successful intergroup contact tends to reduce the perception of outgroup homogeneity. Contact also helps us feel more positively about the members of the other group, and this positive affect makes us like them more.

Intergroup contact is also more successful when the people involved in the contact are motivated to learn about the others. One factor that increases this motivation is interdependence — a state in which the group members depend on each other for successful performance of the group goals (Neuberg & Fiske, 1987). The importance of interdependence can be seen in the success of cooperative learning techniques, such as the jigsaw classroom (Aronson, Blaney, Stephan, Sikes, & Snapp, 1978; Aronson, 2004).

The jigsaw classroom is an approach to learning in which students from different racial or ethnic groups work together, in an interdependent way, to master material . The class is divided into small learning groups, where each group is diverse in ethnic and gender composition. The assigned material to be learned is divided into as many parts as there are students in the group, and members of different groups who are assigned the same task meet together to help develop a strong report. Each student then learns his or her own part of the material and presents this piece of the puzzle to the other members of his or her group. The students in each group are therefore interdependent in learning all the material. A wide variety of techniques, based on principles of the jigsaw classroom, are in use in many schools around the world, and research studying these approaches has found that cooperative, interdependent experiences among students from different social groups are effective in reducing negative stereotyping and prejudice (Stephan, 1999).

In sum, we can say that contact will be most effective when it is easier to get to know, and become more respectful of, the members of the other group and when the social norms of the situation promote equal, fair treatment of all groups. If the groups are treated unequally, for instance, by a teacher or leader who is prejudiced and who therefore treats the different groups differently, or if the groups are in competition rather than cooperation, there will be no benefit. In cases when these conditions are not met, contact may not be effective and may in fact increase prejudice, particularly when it confirms stereotypical expectations (Stangor, Jonas, Stroebe, & Hewstone, 1996). Finally, it is important that enough time be allowed for the changes to take effect. In the case of busing in the United States, for instance, the positive effects of contact seemed to have been occurring, but they were not happening particularly fast.

Let’s consider (in the following Research Focus) still another way that intergroup contact can reduce prejudice— the idea that prejudice can be reduced for people who have friends who are friends with members of the outgroup , known as the  extended-contact hypothesis.

Research Focus

The Extended-Contact Hypothesis

Although the contact hypothesis proposes that direct contact between people from different social groups will produce more positive attitudes between them, recent evidence suggests that prejudice can also be reduced for people who have friends who are friends with members of the outgroup , even if the individual does not have direct contact with the outgroup members himself or herself. This hypothesis is known as the extended-contact hypothesis . Supporting this prediction, Wright, Aron, McLaughlin-Volpe, and Ropp (1997) found in two correlational studies that college students who reported that their own friends had friends who were from another ethnic group reported more positive attitudes toward that outgroup than did students who did not have any friends who had outgroup friends, even controlling for the participants’ own outgroup friendships.

Wright and his colleages (1997) also tested the extended-contact hypothesis experimentally. Participants were four groups of 14 students, and each group spent a whole day in the lab. On arrival, seven participants were assigned to the “green” group, and seven to the “blue” group, supposedly on the basis of similar interests. To create strong ingroup identity and to produce competition between the groups, the group members wore blue and green T-shirts and engaged in a series of competitive tasks. Participants then expressed their initial thoughts and feelings about the outgroup and its members.

Then, supposedly as part of an entirely different study, one participant was randomly selected from each group, and the two were taken to a separate room in which they engaged in a relationship-building task that has been shown to quickly create feelings of friendship between two strangers. Then the two members from each team were then reunited with their original groups, where they were encouraged to describe their experience with the other group member in the friendship-building task.

In the final phase, the groups then engaged in another competitive task, and participants rated their thoughts and feelings about the outgroup and its members again. As you can see in Figure 11.10, and supporting the extended-contact hypothesis, results showed that the participants (including those who did not participate in the closeness task themselves) were more positive toward the outgroup after than before the two team members had met. This study, as well as many other studies, supports the importance of cross-group friendships in promoting favorable outgroup attitudes (Page-Gould, Mendoza-Denton, & Tropp, 2008; Shook & Fazio, 2008).

Moving Others Closer to Us: The Benefits of Recategorization

The research on intergroup contact suggests that although contact may improve prejudice, it may make it worse if it is not implemented correctly. Improvement is likely only when the contact moves the members of the groups to feel that they are closer to each other rather than further away from each other. In short, groups are going to have better attitudes toward each other when they see themselves more similarly to each other—when they feel more like one large group than a set of smaller groups.

This fact was demonstrated in a very convincing way in what is now a classic social psychological study. In the “Robbers’ Cave Experiment,” Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood, and Sherif (1961) studied the group behavior of 11-year-old boys at a summer camp. Although the boys did not know it, the researchers carefully observed the behaviors of the children during the camp session, with the goal of learning about how group conflict developed and how it might be resolved among the children.

During the first week of the camp, the boys were divided into two groups that camped at two different campsites. During this time, friendly relationships developed among the boys within each of the two groups. Each group developed its own social norms and group structure and became quite cohesive, with a strong positive social identity. The two groups chose names for themselves (the Rattlers and the Eagles), and each made their own group flag and participated in separate camp activities.

At the end of this one-week baseline period, it was arranged that the two groups of boys would become aware of each other’s presence. Furthermore, the researchers worked to create conditions that led to increases in each group’s social identity and at the same time created negative perceptions of the other group. The researchers arranged baseball games, a tug-of-war, and a treasure hunt and offered prizes for the group that won the competitions. Almost immediately, this competition created ingroup favoritism and prejudice, and discrimination quickly followed. By the end of the second week, the Eagles had sneaked up to the Rattlers’ cabin and stolen their flag. When the Rattlers discovered the theft, they in turn raided the Eagles’ cabin, stealing things. There were food fights in the dining room, which was now shared by the groups, and the researchers documented a substantial increase in name-calling and stereotypes of the outgroup. Some fistfights even erupted between members of the different groups.

The researchers then intervened by trying to move the groups closer to each other. They began this third stage of the research by setting up a series of situations in which the boys had to work together to solve a problem. These situations were designed to create interdependence by presenting the boys with superordinate goals — goals that were both very important to them and yet that required the cooperative efforts and resources of both the Eagles and the Rattlers to attain. These goals involved such things as the need to pool money across both groups in order to rent a movie that all the campers wanted to view, or the need to pull together on ropes to get a food truck that had become stuck back onto the road. As the children worked together to meet these goals, the negative perceptions of the group members gradually improved; there was a reduction of hostility between the groups and an emergence of more positive intergroup attitudes.

This strategy was effective because it led the campers to perceive both the ingroup and the outgroup as one large group (“we”) rather than as two separate groups (“us” and “them”). As differentiation between the ingroup and the outgroup decreases, so should ingroup favoritism, prejudice, and conflict. The differences between the original groups are still present, but they are potentially counteracted by perceived similarities in the second superordinate group. The attempt to reduce prejudice by creating a superordinate categorization is known as the goal of creating a common ingroup identity (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2008), and we can diagram the relationship as follows:

interdependence and cooperation → common ingroup identity → favorable intergroup attitudes.

A substantial amount of research has supported the predictions of the common ingroup identity model. For instance, Samuel Gaertner and his colleagues (Gaertner, Mann, Murrell, & Dovidio, 1989) tested the hypothesis that interdependent cooperation in groups reduces negative beliefs about outgroup members because it leads people to see the others as part of the ingroup (by creating a common identity). In this research, college students were brought to a laboratory where they were each assigned to one of two teams of three members each, and each team was given a chance to create its own unique group identity by working together. Then, the two teams were brought into a single room to work on a problem. In one condition, the two teams were told to work together as a larger, six-member team to solve the problem, whereas in the other condition, the two teams worked on the problem separately.

Consistent with the expected positive results of creating a common group identity, the interdependence created in the condition where the teams worked together increased the tendency of the team members to see themselves as members of a single larger team, and this in turn reduced the tendency for each group to show ingroup favoritism.

But the benefits of recategorization are not confined to laboratory settings—they also appear in our everyday interactions with other people. Jason Neir and his colleagues had Black and White interviewers approach White students who were attending a football game (Neir et al., 2001). The dependent measure was whether or not they agreed to help the interviewer by completing a questionnaire. However, the interviewers also wore hats representing either one of the two universities who were playing in the game. As you can see in Figure 11.11, the data were analyzed both by whether the interviewer and the student were of the same race (either both White or one White and one Black) and also by whether they wore hats from the same or different universities. As expected on the basis of recategorization and the common ingroup identity approach, the White students were significantly more likely to help the Black interviewers when they wore a hat of the same university as that worn by the interviewee. The hat evidently led the White students to recategorize the interviewer as part of the university ingroup, leading to more helping. However, whether the individuals shared university affiliation did not influence helping for the White participants, presumably because they already saw the interviewer as a member of the ingroup (the interviewer was also White).

In this field study, White and Black interviewers asked White students attending a football game to help them by completing a questionnaire. The data were analyzed both by whether the request was to a White (ingroup) or Black (outgroup) student and also by whether the individual whose help was sought wore the same hat that they did or a different hat. Results supported the common ingroup identity model. Helping was much greater for outgroup members when hats were the same. Data are from Neir et al. (2001).

Again, the implications of these results are clear and powerful. If we want to improve attitudes among people, we must get them to see each other as more similar and less different. And even relatively simple ways of doing so, such as wearing a hat that suggests an ingroup identification, can be successful.

Key Takeaways

• Changing our stereotypes and prejudices is not easy, and attempting to suppress them may backfire. However, with appropriate effort, we can reduce our tendency to rely on our stereotypes and prejudices.
• One approach to changing stereotypes and prejudice is by changing social norms—for instance, through education and laws enforcing equality.
• Prejudice will change faster when it is confronted by people who see it occurring. Confronting prejudice may be embarrassing, but it also can make us feel that we have done the right thing.
• Intergroup attitudes will be improved when we can lead people to focus more on their connections with others. Intergroup contact, extended contact with others who share friends with outgroup members, and a common ingroup identity are all examples of this process.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

• Watch the program “ A Class Divided .” Do you think Jane Elliott’s method of teaching people about prejudice is ethical?
• Have you ever confronted or failed to confront a person who you thought was expressing prejudice or discriminating? Why did you confront (or not confront) that person, and how did doing so make you feel?
• Imagine you are a teacher in a classroom and you see that some children expressing prejudice or discrimination toward other children on the basis of their race. What techniques would you use to attempt to reduce these negative behaviors?

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Shelton, J. N., Richeson, J. A., Salvatore, J., & Hill, D. M. (Eds.). (2006). Silence is not golden: The intrapersonal consequences of not confronting prejudice . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Shelton, N. J., & Stewart, R. E. (2004). Confronting perpetrators of prejudice: The inhibitory effects of social costs. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 215–222.

Sherif, M., Harvey, O. J., White, B. J., Hood, W. R., & Sherif, C. (1961). Intergroup conflict and cooperation: The robbers’ cave experiment . Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

Shook, N. J., & Fazio, R. H. (2008). Interracial roommate relationships: An experimental field test of the contact hypothesis. Psychological Science, 19 (7), 717–723. doi: 10.1111/j.1467–9280.2008.02147.x

Sidanius, J., Sinclair, S., & Pratto, F. (2006). Social dominance orientation, gender, and increasing educational exposure. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36 (7), 1640–1653.

Sidanius, J., Van Laar, C., Levin, S., & Sinclair, S. (2004). Ethnic enclaves and the dynamics of social identity on the college campus: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(1), 96–110.

Stangor, C., Jonas, K., Stroebe, W., & Hewstone, M. (1996). Development and change of national stereotypes and attitudes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 26 , 663–675.

Stephan, W. (1999). Reducing prejudice and stereotyping in schools . New York, NY: Teacher’s College Press.

Swim, J. K., Hyers, L. L., Cohen, L. L., & Ferguson, M. J. (2001). Everyday sexism: Evidence for its incidence, nature, and psychological impact from three daily diary studies. Journal of Social Issues, 57 (1), 31–53.

Swim, J. K., Hyers, L. L., Cohen, L. L., Fitzgerald, D. C., & Bylsma, W. H. (2003). African American college students’ experiences with everyday racism: Characteristics of and responses to these incidents. Journal of Black Psychology, 29(1), 38–67.

Williams, D. R. (1999). Race, socioeconomics status, and health: The added effect of racism and discrimination. In Adler, N. E., Boyce, T., Chesney, M. A., & Cohen, S. (1994). Socioeconomic status and health: The challenge of the gradient. American Psychologist, 49 , 15-24.

Wright, S. C., Aron, A., McLaughlin-Volpe, T., & Ropp, S. A. (1997). The extended contact effect: Knowledge of cross-group friendships and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73 (1), 73–90.

The idea that intergroup contact will reduce prejudice.

The extent to which the group members are mutually dependent upon each other to reach a goal.

To learning in which students from different racial or ethnic groups work together, in an interdependent way, to master material.

The idea that prejudice can be reduced for people who have friends who are friends with members of the outgroup.

Goals that were both very important to them and yet that required the cooperative efforts and resources of both the Eagles and the Rattlers to attain.

The attempt to reduce prejudice by creating a superordinate categorization.

Principles of Social Psychology - 1st International H5P Edition Copyright © 2022 by Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani and Dr. Hammond Tarry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Eliminating Racial Discrimination: The Challenges of Prevention and Enforcement of Prohibition

About the author, alex otieno.

"States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law", according to the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, notably in the enjoyment of political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights. State Parties shall also assure effective protection and remedies against any acts of racial discrimination. Both the preamble of the Charter of the United Nations and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaim the right of everyone to enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms, without distinction to race, colour or national origin. The UN system and its specialized agencies, through various conventions and declarations, prohibited discrimination and disseminated information specifically addressing the issue and proposing solutions to the problem. However, despite these efforts, many individuals and groups belonging to the minority continue to experience various forms of discrimination, especially in countries with a dominant majority or a history of colonialism and occupation. As we prepare to celebrate the anniversaries of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the General Assembly's adoption of the International Convention, prevention and enforcement of United Nations guidelines pertaining to racial discrimination are still a major challenge. As such, human rights for all are still violated in polities where racial discrimination persists. Manifestation of racial discrimination varies in different contexts. For example, in countries like the United States, which have enacted prevention laws, changes in social norms have led some commentators to use phrases like "colour-blind racism"1 and "laissez-faire racism"2 to capture the challenges of preventing racial discrimination and enforcing laws. Racial discrimination is manifested also in practices generally thought to be relics of the past, such as race-based slavery, as in the case of the continuing enslavement of dark skinned people in contemporary Mauritania,3 as well as crimes against humanity or, as argued by some, the genocide committed in the Darfur region of the Sudan. UN agencies, such as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), have played a key role in organizing and mobilizing education and information relevant to the protection of all human rights. The OHCHR role in the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa, is an example, where the discourses arising from the event and the participation of thousands of non-governmental organizations, youth groups and networks had an impact on millions of people. The contribution of UNESCO in formulating declarations and conventions -- such as the Declaration on Fundamental Principles concerning the Contribution to the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and International Understanding, to the Promotion of Human Rights and to Countering Racialism, Apartheid and Incitement to War, adopted on 22 November 1978 -- reveals the United Nations role in fostering discourses of respect and dignity for all. Specifically, Article 12 of the Declaration on the Prevention of Genocide, adopted on 11 March 2005 by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), "urges the international community to look at the need for a comprehensive understanding of the dimensions of genocide, including in the context of situations where economic globalization adversely affects disadvantaged communities, in particular indigenous peoples". This clearly indicates the recognition of the complex factors in facilitating discriminatory practices leading to genocide. It is worth noting that, whereas genocide is not always directly linked to racial discrimination, they are often interlinked, as demonstrated by the 2005 Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the Secretary-General.4 The Commission observed that genocide is often facilitated and supported by discriminatory laws and practices, or lack of effective enforcement of the principle of equality of persons, irrespective of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin. Given that the Convention calls on States to prohibit racial discrimination and enact laws to protect citizens, it is clear that genocidal activities can be linked to the Government's violations of human rights. The Government of Sudan can, therefore, be held accountable for the estimated 1.65 million internally displaced persons in Darfur and the more than 200,000 refugees from Darfur in neighbouring Chad, especially since it was reported by the Commission of Inquiry that "the Government of the Sudan and the Janjaweed are responsible for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law amounting to crimes under international law". It also reported: "Government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement, throughout Darfur. These acts were conducted on a widespread and systematic basis, and therefore may amount to crimes against humanity. The extensive destruction and displacement have resulted in a loss of livelihood and means of survival for countless women, men and children. In addition to the large scale attacks, many people have been arrested and detained, and many have been held incommunicado for prolonged periods and tortured. The vast majority of the victims of all of these violations have been from the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit, Jebel, Aranga and other so-called 'African' tribes." This indicates the United Nations role in establishing the nature and extent of the problem in Darfur and its ability to demonstrate that this was borne out of racial discrimination, showing that it is an ongoing problem that needs the attention of the global community and civil society groups. Exploring the importance of preventing and enforcing the prohibition of racial discrimination, as mandated by various UN instruments, can reveal the challenges of addressing persistent racial discrimination four decades after the Convention was adopted. Using the work of two authors, I shall illustrate here the social construction of race as means of generating discussions on racial discrimination and exposing racism as facile thinking. Consider "essentialist" formulation of race that views it as "a matter of innate characteristics, of which skin colour and other physical attributes provide only the most obvious and, in some respects, most superficial, indicators"5 and is, at least in part, the basis for enslavement in Mauritania today. The other extreme view is trivializing the category of race, arguing that since it is a social construction, race will disappear if we simply ignore it -- this ignores the ways in which race has deeply structured Western civilization for the last 500 years.It is important to consider the social construction of race in light of B. K. Obach's work detailing student responses to a course on racism.6 He observed that in the context of the United States, "students often think of race as a given biological fact based on established scientific distinctions, ideas that are strongly reified throughout society by the media, through government policy and by individuals who often embrace a racial identity". Challenging students to "think outside the box" by considering the origin of race as social is no doubt a mammoth task, but one that can be accomplished with tenacity and good pedagogy. A strategy offered by Obach is to acknowledge that the "socially constructed nature of racial categories can, in part, be demonstrated by reviewing historical developments in which the commonly used racial categories were established, in addition to showing the way in which those categories and their meanings have changed over time". He substantiated his work with Omi & Winnant,5 as well as Haney Lopez,7 to illustrate this. He noted the definition of Asian Indians as a case in point, observing that they "were determined by the courts to be non-white in 1909, white in 1910 and 1913, non-white in 1917, white again in 1919 and 1920, but non-white after 1923". Such conceptions can go a long way in exposing the fact that social relations, rather than some innate qualities, produce the hierarchical ideas regarding race. It can be argued that UN efforts at improving response strategies for tackling racial discrimination markedly improved following the paradigm shift towards a more inclusive and proactive one, "taking into account that systematic discrimination, disregard or exclusion are often among the root causes of conflict". In the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, CERD noted the importance of decision-making in strengthening the capacity of the Committee "to detect and prevent at the earliest possible stage developments in racial discrimination that may lead to violent conflict and genocide". Thus, the Convention seeks to frame prevention as a critical component of efforts to address racial discrimination and genocide. Although national actions for tackling racial discrimination and exclusion may exist, there is often an inadequate capacity to prevent cases of discrimination within the jurisdiction of the States with the worst track records. However, education and human rights as the main strategies by civil society organizations, which mobilize action and raise concerns regarding discrimination, can have an impact on both prevention and enforcement. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the "best practices" of institutional processes and models of race that are transformative and do not further marginalize racial minorities. This is best done by treating their experiences in ways that do not consider the role they must play in reporting instances of violation of their dignity. The international community must now take heed of the complexity of the politics of race and how it fuels human rights abuses, including genocidal acts and crimes against humanity, such as those witnessed in Darfur and the slavery in Mauritania. What is clear is that, although there is ample evidence of the consequences of racial discrimination in opportunity structures, including political and cultural products, health outcomes, well-being and dignity, concrete actions to address "hidden abuses" remain inadequate. It will take effective leadership within the various UN specialized agencies to prevent racial discrimination and bring to account groups and individuals responsible for human rights violations. Previous criticisms of the handling of situations that resulted in colossal rights abuses,8 such as those in Rwanda in 1994, should serve to motivate key individuals to recognize the need for prompt action. As The New York Times in March 2007 has noted regarding Darfur, "international leaders need to demonstrate that they can act as well as talk", in order to save lives and bolster confidence in the international system. Notes 1 E. Bonilla-Silva & T.A. Forman, "I am not a racist but...": Mapping white college students' racial ideology in the USA. Discourse & Society 11 (2002): 50-85. K. Bales, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000). 2 L. Bobo, J. Kluegel & R. Smith. "Laissez-faire Racism: The Crystallization of a Kinder, Gentler, Antiblack Ideology", Racial Attitudes in the 1990s, ed. S. Tuch and J.K. Martin . (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1997) 15-42. 3 K. Bales & J. Reitz, Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance Relating To Contemporary Forms of Slavery. (Background paper prepared by Free the Slaves, Washington D.C., 2003). 4 Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur. http://www.un.org/News/dh/sudan/com_inq_darfur.pdf 5 M. Omi & H. Winant, Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1980s (New York: Routledge, 1994). 6 B.K. Obach, "Demonstrating the social construction of race", Teaching Sociology, 27.3 (1999): 252-57. 7 I.F. Haney Lopez, White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race (New York: New York University Press, 1996). 8 S. Power, "Bystanders to genocide", The Atlantic Monthly, September 2001.

The UN Chronicle  is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

Thirty Years On, Leaders Need to Recommit to the International Conference on Population and Development Agenda

With the gains from the Cairo conference now in peril, the population and development framework is more relevant than ever. At the end of April 2024, countries will convene to review the progress made on the ICPD agenda during the annual session of the Commission on Population and Development.

The LDC Future Forum: Accelerating the Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Least Developed Countries

The desired outcome of the LDC Future Forums is the dissemination of practical and evidence-based case studies, solutions and policy recommendations for achieving sustainable development.

From Local Moments to Global Movement: Reparation Mechanisms and a Development Framework

For two centuries, emancipated Black people have been calling for reparations for the crimes committed against them. 

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• Section 4. Strategies and Activities for Reducing Racial Prejudice and Racism

Chapter 27 Sections

• Section 1. Understanding Culture and Diversity in Building Communities
• Section 2. Building Relationships with People from Different Cultures
• Section 3. Healing from the Effects of Internalized Oppression
• Section 5. Learning to be an Ally for People from Diverse Groups and Backgrounds
• Section 6. Creating Opportunities for Members of Groups to Identify Their Similarities, Differences, and Assets
• Section 7. Building Culturally Competent Organizations
• Section 8. Multicultural Collaboration
• Section 9. Transforming Conflicts in Diverse Communities
• Section 10. Understanding Culture, Social Organization, and Leadership to Enhance Engagement
• Section 11. Building Inclusive Communities
• Main Section

You're at a restaurant with a group of co-workers after work. You're telling them about your decision to buy a house in Western Heights and how excited you are. One of them says to you, "Are you sure want to move there? I hear that there is a lot of crime in that area, you know, robberies, drugs, and even murder. It's a Black neighborhood, you know, that's probably why. Did you consider Eastern Heights? You may fit in there better! It's a nice middle-class, white suburban neighborhood. Definitely no crime there, if you know what I mean." You're dumbfounded. You can't believe that someone is actually saying this. You start to tell her that she's wrong and ask her what made her think that way.

You think some more about what happened on your way home. You realize that your colleague is but one person; who knows how many other people out there think like her? It helps to change people's racial stereotypes and attitudes, but the only way real change can come about is if our institutions and systems implement policies that promote racial equality. You suddenly feel angry. What if redlining still goes on because real estate companies are filled with people who think like your colleague? What policies exist to stop such institutionalized prejudice?

The above encounter at the restaurant is an example of racial prejudice. Redlining (refusing to sell a property to someone based on his or her race), which is illegal, is an act of racism or institutionalized prejudice. It is important to understand the distinction between racial prejudice and racism because they are affected differently by issues related to power and, therefore, require different levels of involvement and effort to address.

There are many forms of prejudice and oppression, not just based on race, but on gender, class, sexual orientation, etc. This section does not attempt to deal with all the possible forms. The strategies and activities described here for addressing racial prejudice and racism can, however, provide ideas for dealing with other forms of discrimination. As you work on addressing such inequities, think also about ways to prevent them by encouraging and establishing inclusive practices right from the start. Imagine that this work resembles two sides of a coin. One side represents the negative values and practices you are against. The other side represents the positive values and practices you are for. In other words, start thinking about building inclusive communities while fighting the "isms" that exist in our society.

What is racial prejudice?

To be racially prejudiced means to have an unfavorable or discriminatory attitude or belief towards someone else or another group of people primarily on the basis of skin color or ethnicity. For example, John is prejudiced because he believes that the new Hmong refugees in his community are stupid and barbaric because they kill chickens in their backyard. He has reported this to the local police many times.

What do you think should be done in this situation? One possibility is to invite John and Cha (his Hmong neighbor) to a meeting to help John understand the Hmong culture and to help Cha understand the state laws and regulations about killing animals in your home. The meeting should be facilitated by someone who has experience with conflict management and is deemed credible by both John and Cha. This attempt could result in change at the individual level.

What is racism?

When racial prejudice is supported by institutions and laws, racism is present. For example, when the Hmong neighbor, Cha, is arrested and put in jail for killing chickens in the backyard and no attempt is made to understand why he did it or to explain the laws to him (because he does not speak English), racism is present.

What do you think should be done in this situation? One possibility is to invite the police chief and other officers to a discussion about how the newcomers to the community are affecting law enforcement. It is likely that they have tried to explain the laws to the newcomers so that these complaints can stop, but it's not working because of cultural and language barriers. You might want to try and work with the police and local Hmong leaders to develop a strategy for increasing the police department's cultural competence and, at the same time, increase the newcomers' understanding about the laws in this country. This attempt could result in change at the institutional level.

While we can never be entirely free of racial prejudice, we have to be able to identify and address racism because it perpetuates the unearned privileges of some and imposes undeserved restrictions on others. The economic well-being of a group of people is intertwined with racism and unless it is addressed intentionally and thoroughly, a community building effort will not reach its full potential.

Racial prejudice and racism have most been perpetrated in the U.S. by people of European descent against various other groups, such as Black, Latinx, and Indigenous group. However, because of the shifts in our communities' demographics in some parts of the U.S., racial prejudice and racism also lead to tensions between people of non-European descent, such as between Black and Asian Americans. As the U.S. becomes more diverse and the world's residents more mobile, we must be prepared to act in order to reduce the potential for hostility due to differences in our physical traits and other characteristics.

No matter what culture or part of the world you're from, you've seen the results of racial prejudice and racism, even if you've never directly felt it aimed at you. The results of racial prejudice and racism can be seen everywhere: stereotypes, violence, underfunded schools, unemployment, police brutality, shabby housing, a disproportionate number of Black men on death row, etc. Racial prejudice and racism can be found in many different areas of society: in the media, in service organizations, in the workplace, in neighborhoods, at school, in local government, on your block -- in virtually every area of daily life.

Why is it important to reduce racial prejudice and racism?

Here are some further reasons why racial prejudice and racism should be reduced:

• They impede or prevent the object of racism from achieving his or her full potential as a human being.
• They impede or prevent the object of racism from making his or her fullest contribution to society.
• They impede or prevent the person or group engaging in racist actions from benefiting from the potential contributions of their victim, and, as a result, weaken the community as a whole.
• They increase the present or eventual likelihood of retaliation by the object of racist actions.
• They go against many of the democratic ideals upon which the United States and other democracies were founded.
• Racism is illegal, in many cases.

Racial prejudice and racism feed on each other. If racial prejudice is not reduced, it could lead to racism, and if racism is not addressed, it could lead to more prejudice. This is why strategies to address discrimination on the basis of race should be thorough and multifaceted so that both individual attitudes and institutionalized practices are affected.

In addition, here are some examples of why racial prejudice and racism should be addressed in your community building effort if more than one racial or ethnic group is involved:

• Every participant in your effort has his or her own understanding of the world and how it works. The European American residents in the neighborhood don't understand why the new immigrants from Guatemala have to stand at the street corner to get work (they are commonly referred to as day laborers). They think it is because they are either "illegal" or too lazy to find full-time jobs. Part of the problem is that the residents have not had the opportunity to debunk these stereotypes through direct interaction and contact with the day laborers and to hear their stories.
• Every participant in your effort is polite, respectful, and empathetic towards each of the others, and understands that in order to address a common concern, they all have to work together; yet, they have not been able to engage a representative from the Black members in their community. It helps to understand why Black folx have traditionally been "left out" and how important it is to keep finding ways to engage them.
• The board of directors of a local community center gets together to discuss ways to improve the center so that it is more welcoming to people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. They come up with ideas such as hiring more culturally diverse staff, posting notices in different languages, hosting food festivals, and celebrating various cultural events. It helps the participants to understand that even though they are taking the first steps to becoming culturally sensitive, their institutional policies may still be racist because they have not included anyone from the various racial and ethnic groups to participate in the strategic planning process, thereby not sharing their power.

Addressing racial prejudice and racism also means dealing with racial exclusion and injustice. Ultimately, this means that your community building effort is promoting democracy, a value of the United States and its Constitution.

In other words, there are both moral and sometimes legal reasons to act against racism. There are also strong pragmatic reasons as well. Racial prejudice and racism can harm not only the victims, but also the larger society, and indirectly the very people who are engaging in the acts. What's more, some important new research suggests that in some cases, racist actions can cause physiological harm to the victims. For example, a recent review of physiological literature concludes:

"Interethnic group and intraethnic group racism are significant stressors for many African-Americans. As such, intergroup and intragroup racism may play a role in the high rates of morbidity and mortality in this population." (Clark, Anderson, Clark, and Williams, 1999).

While we try not to moralize on the Community Tool Box, let's face it - racial prejudice and racism are just plain wrong.

How can you reduce racial prejudice and racism?

While we try in the Community Tool Box to offer easy, step-by-step instructions for community work, changing a group of people's prejudiced attitudes and an institution's racist actions isn't so simply carried out and it doesn't happen overnight. Reducing racial prejudice and racism is a complex task that varies from community to community, so it doesn't lend itself well to simple, 1-2-3 solutions that can be adopted and applied without having a thorough understanding of the context and environment. Something like this takes knowing your community well and choosing strategies that best fit your community's needs, history, context, energies, and resources.

With that in mind, we offer a variety of activities and strategies you can conduct in combating racial prejudice and racism so that you can decide which of these tactics might work best in your workplace, school, neighborhood, and community.

Note :  None of these activities or strategies alone will lead to sustainable change at the individual, institutional, or community levels. In order for such change to occur, you have to take actions that will allow you to consistently affect the different levels over a long period of time.

Before you decide on the best activities and strategies, do the following:

• Learn about your community (e.g., what groups live there, what has been the nature of their relationships, what incidents have occurred in the past due to racial prejudice or racism).
• Document activities in your community that reflect racial prejudice or racism. Documentation will show proof that there is a problem, especially when the community is in denial that racism exists.
• Invite a group of people to participate in the planning process, if appropriate (e.g., the advocates who always take action, the representatives of each group, the people who are affected).
• Understand the depth of the problem (e.g., it's a new problem because of a group of newcomers, or it's an old problem that won't go away).
• Identify and understand the kinds of policies that may need to be challenged.
• Determine the short-term and long-term, if any, goals of your strategy (e.g., change people's attitudes and/or change an institutional policy).
• Consider how far the selected strategy(ies) will take your community (e.g., as far as initial awareness, or all the way to electing officials from the under-represented groups).
• Consider what existing resources you can build on and what additional assistance or resources you may need (e.g., anti-racism training, funding, or buy-in from the mayor).
• Consider how much time you have (e.g., are you responding to a crisis that needs to be dealt with immediately, to the need to curb a festering issue, or to the desire to promote the value of diversity).
• Review your strategies to ensure that they deal with racial prejudice and racism at the individual, community, and institutional levels, and they link dialogue to action.

Note: Appropriate structures and processes need to be set up in the community to implement these activities

Things You Can Do In The Workplace: From Reducing Racial Prejudice To Reducing Racism

Actively recruit and hire a racially and ethnically diverse staff.

While it's not enough just to fill your staff with a rainbow of people from different backgrounds, representation from a variety of groups is an important place to start. Contact minority organizations, social groups, networks, media, and places where people of different ethnic and cultural groups congregate or access information. If you use word-of-mouth as a recruitment tool, spread the word to members of those groups, or key contact people. Also, consider writing an equal-opportunity policy for hiring and promoting staff.

Actively recruit culturally and ethnically diverse board members, executives, and managers.

Racial prejudice can be reduced if the staff becomes diverse and raises the awareness of each other, but racism is reduced when power is shared by the leadership.

In order to move beyond racial prejudice and ensure inclusiveness, your organization’s board members and executives should reflect the communities or constituencies it serves. For instance, one group decided to reserve a certain number of slots on its governing board for representatives of the cultural and ethnic groups in the community.

Talk to the people of color on your staff and ask them what barriers or attitudes they face at work. Examine your newsletter or other publications and look out for negative portrayals, exclusion, or stereotypes.

Find out how you can improve your workplace for members from diverse racial and ethnic groups that work there. This will not only give you some practical ideas about what you need to work on, but it will also signify that the needs of every group is taken seriously. Look around at any artwork you have in your offices. Are any groups represented in a stereotypical way? Is there diversity in the people portrayed? For example, if all the people in the clip art used in your newsletter are European Americans, you should make an effort to use clip art that shows a bigger variety of people.

Form a permanent task force or committee dedicated to forming and monitoring a plan for promoting inclusion and fighting racism in your workplace.

Racial prejudice is reduced by developing relationships and ensuring that materials are culturally sensitive, but racism is reduced when there is a permanent task force or committee that becomes part of the governance structure to ensure inclusive and just institutional policies.

Things You Can Do In The Media: Reducing Racial Prejudice To Reducing Racism

Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper or contact your local TV and radio station when the coverage is biased or when there is no coverage at all.

The media plays a powerful role in conveying messages to the public. Racial prejudice exists in the media if, for instance, the reporters always reveal the cultural or ethnic background of a group of loitering youth when they are persons of color, but not otherwise. Writing a letter or contacting the local media stations will help increase their staff’s awareness about the implications of the prejudiced way in which they cover the news.

Organize a coalition of leaders from diverse communities and from the local media groups to discuss how they can work together to address the way people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds are presented in the media.

Having a long-term vision of how the community and media representatives can work together will help address racism at the institutional level. In order to do this, it is advisable to organize the community leaders and media representatives separately to discuss their issues and then facilitate a meeting between them. This will provide you and the facilitator a chance to know about the concerns and challenges before convening everyone.

Contact the local media and organize presentations.

You can contact and organize presentations to educate the staff about the values and traditions of diverse groups and help them understand the negative implications of their coverage related to race and ethnicity.

Pressure the local media organizations to develop and enforce policies for hiring staff from different racial and ethnic background.

You can help broker relationships between the media organizations and organizations that serve a specific cultural or ethnic group (e.g., NAACP, National Council of La Raza) so that networks can be developed to distribute job announcements.

In order to get information about how to cover different cultural and ethnic groups, media representatives can seek advice from the following:

Asian American Journalists Association

South Asian Journalists Association

National Association of Black Journalists

Things You Can Do in the Schools: Reducing Racial Prejudice to Reducing Racism

Form a diversity task force or club. Recognize holidays and events relating to a variety of cultural and ethnic groups.

This can be done in a school or university setting. Your diversity group can sponsor panel discussions, awareness activities, and cultural events to help prevent racism. Observing and conducting educational activities about events like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, Juneteenth, and other dates of significance to minority groups provides an opportunity for students to learn about the history of different cultural and ethnic groups and reduce misinformed or inaccurate perceptions.

Conduct field trips to historical places that represent struggles against racism or places that embody the values and traditions of another group of people.

Work to include anti-racism education in your school's curriculum. Develop a strategy to change racist policies in your school.

Recognizing the traditions of other cultural and ethnic groups and developing intercultural relationships will reduce racial prejudice. Examine and change school policies that perpetuate exclusion of some cultural or ethnic groups.

Develop procedures for dealing with racist acts and provide incentives (e.g., extra credits, special recognition) for efforts to promote cross-racial understanding.

Lobby your school board to make changes or additions to the curriculum to teach anti-racism and to provide seed grants to teachers or instructors to help them conduct research and activities about racism and to promote anti-racist values and principles.

Examine the recruitment, application, and admissions process for students, teachers, and staff from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Things You Can Do in Your Neighborhood: Reducing Racial Prejudice to Reducing Racism

Welcome all newcomers. Make "safe zone" signs or stickers.

Form a committee to welcome anyone who moves into your neighborhood regardless of what they look like. Send representatives from your committee or neighborhood association over to the new person's house with flowers, a fruit basket, or some other small gift and say, "We're glad you're living here. We welcome you." Some neighborhoods have made small signs or stickers for their homes that read, "We welcome good neighbors of all traditions, backgrounds, and faiths." These stand in contrast to the small signs in many yards that warn would-be intruders of the particular security system they've had installed.

Write articles about different cultures and their traditions in the neighborhood newsletter or newspaper. Place advertisements about different cultural celebrations.

Identify and change policies that are exclusive and maintain the status quo.

Making someone feel a part of your neighborhood helps to reduce racial prejudice. Addressing redlining (the illegal practice of a lending institution denying loans or restricting their number for certain areas of a community) reduces racist policies.

Organize a committee of lawyers, real-estate agents, lending institutions, and community and civil rights leaders to conduct a study and present the facts to the local government. If there is a neighborhood association or council, consider if it is representative of the neighborhood's demographics and diversity. If not, develop strategies for engaging leaders (formal and informal) from the underrepresented groups.

Things You Can Do in Your Community: Reducing Racial Prejudice to Reducing Racism

Organize a cleanup or rebuilding campaign to erase racist graffiti or eliminate vandalism. Put up "Hate Free Zones" signs in the community.

Doing something as a community to repair physical damage done by racism shows that the people in your town won't stand for such displays of hatred. It also can attract media attention to your cause and put a positive spin on a negative situation.

Organize a city-wide coalition of community leaders made up of representatives from the different cultural and ethnic groups, as well as different community sectors (e.g., police, schools, businesses, local government) to examine their existing policies and determine what needs to change.

Doing something as a group of residents demonstrates the individuals' commitment to reduce prejudice. Creating a governing body that represents institutional leaders helps to reduce racism at the institutional level.

Reviewing hiring and contracting policies in the city government will help change institutional norms that could be perpetuating economic disparities.

Identify and support new candidates from different racial and ethnic groups to run for city council and other community-wide governing bodies.

Conducting candidate forums and voter registration drives will increase residents' knowledge about the candidates and what they stand for, and increase the candidates' accountability to their constituents should they win.

Examples: St. Francis De Sales Central Elementary Cleanup Campaign In Morgantown, West Virginia, a convenience store had been painted with racist skinhead graffiti. After their teacher showed them a video on how another town had fought hate, a 6th grade class at St. Francis De Sales Central Elementary decided that if the graffiti was left alone, it would give the impression that the community didn't care about racism. The kids got together and painted over the graffiti, earning them the thanks of the state Attorney General and publicizing their point. Toronto Coalition Against Racism In the summer of 1993, Toronto experienced a rise in increasingly violent racism, much of which was directed at Tamil immigrants. Much of the violence was being done by neo-Nazis. Eventually, a large protest was held, with 3,000 people led by the Tamil community chanting "Immigrants In! Nazis Out!" The people who organized the protest went on to form the Toronto Coalition Against Racism. TCAR is a coalition of 50 community-based anti-racist and social justice organizations. According to its website, TCAR has been involved in many community actions since forming, including: Opposing a ban placed on Filipino youth from entering a local mall Working with the Somali community to oppose harassment by security guards and landlords at a housing complex Mobilizing the public through forums and actions in defense of immigrant and refugee rights Supporting the Tamil Resource Center as it struggled to rebuild its library and office after a firebombing in May 1995

Put together a community forum or town event on racism.

Give citizens a chance to talk about how racism affects your community can give you insight into how people feel on the subject, ideas on what you and others can do to combat racism, a chance to let people who share similar concerns to network with each other, and to publicly let racists know that your community will not stand for racism in its midst.

Create an intentional strategy that engages local government, business, education, media, and other leaders to demonstrate the commitment to eliminate racism in the institutions in your community.

Conducting public forums and events will increase awareness and reduce racial prejudice. Working in a coalition made up of cross-sector leaders and developing a clear plan will move your community towards a more sustainable effort to eliminate racism.

Bringing together leaders to create a strategy that deliberately, systematically, and explicitly deals with racism will enable your community to have a longer-term vision for a just and healthy community. Each institution should find a way for how it can contribute to eliminating racism in its policies and practices. The media should be involved to help get the word out. Credible leaders need to take a public stand to promote and validate the effort. Work to ensure that diversity is valued and included in the city government's mission statement

Make an effort to support events that celebrate the traditions of different cultural and ethnic groups.

This can be as simple as including such events on the community calendar and actively publicizing them. Your organization can also co-sponsor these events to show its support.

Organize vigils, anti-racism demonstrations, protests, or rallies.

If a racist group or incident occurred in your community, organizing a vigil, demonstration or public protest will not only give you and others some effective way to respond, but also help give hope to your community by having everyone come.

After September 11, various immigrant communities held vigils to express their sympathy for the World Trade Center and Pentagon victims and their families, speak out against anti-Muslim acts, and show their commitment and loyalty to the United States. The Center for Healthy Communities in Dayton, Ohio hosted a community forum titled "Race, Ethnicity and Public Policy: A Community Dialogue" in the fall of 1997. This community forum gave a panel of local expert as well as members of the audience the chance to ask mayoral and city commission candidates questions about the impact of racism on the Dayton community and the role it plays in local public policy decisions. More than 150 people attended, including state and local officials, community organizers, clergy, citizens, and students.

South Orange/Maplewood Coalition on Race's long-term vision for an integrated community The Coalition developed strategies at the individual, community, and institutional levels to foster and support an integrated neighborhood. The Coalition is planning to conduct study circles to provide residents an opportunity to build relationships. A community-wide activity was to invite Beverly Daniel Tatum to a community forum to talk about racism and how it affects our children's education. The Coalition worked with local bookstores to first sell Ms. Tatum's book at a reduced cost and to publicize the community forum. During the community forum after Ms. Tatum's presentation, small group discussions were held by facilitators that the Coalition provided. At the institutional level, there is loan program for homebuyers that is designed to encourage and improve neighborhood diversity in particular areas of the community where one race is underrepresented. They also worked closely with the school district to "reinvent" a school to become a "Lab school," which has attracted a more diverse student population to the school, and increased demand among people of different races for the neighborhood around the school.

Things You Can Do As An Individual: Fighting Racial Prejudice to Fighting Racism

You don't have to form a group to do something about racism. As an individual, there are many steps that you can take to reduce another person's prejudice, including:

• Make a commitment to speak up when you hear racial slurs or remarks that signal racial prejudice.
• Take advantage of events and other informational materials during Black History Month or Hispanic Heritage Month and make it a point to learn something new about different cultures.
• Think about ways to improve your workplace to promote racial understand and equity. Be proactive about making suggestions.
• If you are a parent, give your child opportunities to attend events about other cultures. Integrate different traditions about parenting and children's festivals into your parent teacher association and your child's school. Work with the teachers to coordinate such opportunities.

Changing people's attitudes and institutional practices is hard but necessary work. A commitment among individuals, organizations, and institutions to valuing diversity is essential for healthy communities. Changes will not happen overnight, but you can begin to take small steps towards making a difference, as suggested in this section. These small steps build the foundation for more organized, deeper, and larger efforts to build inclusive communities, a topic that will be discussed in the next section of this chapter.

Online Resources

Black Feminism and the Movement for Black Lives : Learn about how social justice movements are rooted in Black feminist theory in this video.

Brown University Training Materials :  Power and Privilege Issues with Culturally-Diverse Communities in Research: New Challenges of Partnership and Collaborative Research . The Northeast Education Partnership provides online access to PowerPoint training slides on topics in research ethics and cultural competence in environmental research. These have been created for professionals/students in environmental sciences, health, and policy; and community-based research.

Chapter 9: Oppression and Power in the "Introduction to Community Psychology" explains the concepts and theories of oppression and power, the intersection of oppression and power, and strategies community psychologists and allies use to address oppression and power.

Chapter 17: Social and Political Change in the "Introduction to Community Psychology" details the characteristics of dehumanizing and harmful societal structures, which means are most effective to reduce harm when engages in social and political changes processes, and how to engage in sustainable forms of activism.

Collins, C. (2018). What is white privilege, really? Teaching Tolerance, 60.   : This article explains white privilege, gives the history of white privilege, examines how white privilege differs from racism, and offers guidance on using white privilege for positive change.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Nonprofit Organizations by Sean Thomas-Breitfeld and Frances Kunreuther, from the International Encyclopedia of Civil Society.

Facing the Divide : Psychology's Conversation on Race and Health is a video series designed to bring psychological science to the conversation regarding the connections among race, racism and health. Presented by the American Psychological Association.

Learn about "How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion" in this TED video.

How to Be an Antiracist (video) from the Aspen Institute. This conversation was recorded during the 2019 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.

Interview: Bringing an Anti-Racist Approach to Collective Impact from the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Two collective impact leaders, Zea Malawa of Expecting Justice, and Miya Cain of FSG, discuss using the framework to achieve social change and how to put anti-racism at the center of cross-sector collaborations.

Political Research Associates

The Racial Equity Impact Assessment Toolkit from Race Forward: the Center for Racial Justice Innovation is a tool for conducting a systematic examination of how different racial or ethnic groups will likely be affected by a proposed action or decision.

Center for Democratic Renewal. (1995).  Responding to hate groups: Ten points to remember.

Center for Democratic Renewal. (1995). Responding to hate-motivated activity: Monitoring , research, and security .

Southern Poverty Law Center

Study, Discussion and Action on Issues of Race, Racism and Inclusion  - a partial list of resources utilized and prepared by Yusef Mgeni.

Southern Poverty Law Center. (1999).  Ten ways to fight hate .

Print Resources

Chisom, R. & Washington, M. (1996). Undoing racism. New Orleans, LA : The People's Institute Press.

Clark, R., Anderson, N., Clark, V., &Williams, D. (1999). Racism as a stressor for African Americans: A biopsychosocial model . American Psychologist, 54 , 805-816.

Duvall, L. (1994). Respecting our differences: A guide to getting along in a changing world . Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.

Ford, C. (1994 ). We can all get along: 50 steps you can take to help end racism at home, at work, and in your community . New York, NY: Dell.

Hair, P. (2001). Louder than words: Lawyers, communities and the struggle for justice . New York, NY: Rockefeller Foundation.

Institute of Democratic Renewal and Project Change Anti-Racism Initiative. (2000). A community builder's tool kit. Available for $1.50 in six languages from: Democracy/Race/Culture Project, Institute for Democratic Renewal, School of Politics and Economics, Claremont Graduate University, 170 E.Tenth Street, Claremont, CA 91711-6163, 909-607-1473.

Kendi, I. X. (2019).  How to be an antiracist.  London, UK: One World Publications. 

Oluo, I. (2019).  So you want to talk about race.  Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

Ong, P. (Ed.) (2000). Transforming race relations . Los Angeles, CA: LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute and UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Orfield, G. & Lebowitz, H. (Eds.) (1999). Religion, race and justice in a changing America . New York, NY: The Century Foundation Press.

PBS. (1997). Not in our town toolkit. 

Potapchuk, M. (2002). Holding up the mirror. Washington, DC: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Project Change. Anti-Racism resource guide.

Rivera, F., & Erlich, J. (1992). Community organizing in a diverse society . Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Saad, L. F. (2020).  Me and white supremacy: Combat racism, change the world, and become a good ancestor.  Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Inc.

Sampson, E. (1999). Dealing with differences: An introduction to the social psychology of prejudice. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publishers.

Shapiro, I. (2002). Training for racial equity and inclusion. Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute.

Study Circles Resource Center. (1997). Facing the challenge of racism and race relations : Democratic Dialogue and Action for Stronger Communities . 3rd ed. Pomfret, CT: Study Circles Resource Center.

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House Passes The Equality Act: Here's What It Would Do

Danielle Kurtzleben

Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington where the Court on Oct. 8, 2019, as the court heard arguments in the first case of LGBT rights since the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption

Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington where the Court on Oct. 8, 2019, as the court heard arguments in the first case of LGBT rights since the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Updated Feb. 25, 4:39 p.m. ET

The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to pass the Equality Act, a bill that would ban discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It would also substantially expand the areas to which those discrimination protections apply.

It's a bill that President Biden said on the campaign trail would be one of his top legislative priorities for the first 100 days of his presidency. The House vote was largely along party lines, passing with the support of all Democrats and just three Republicans. The bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is unclear.

When House Democrats introduced the bill last week, Biden reiterated his support in a statement: "I urge Congress to swiftly pass this historic legislation," he wrote. "Every person should be treated with dignity and respect, and this bill represents a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all."

But it's also controversial — while the Equality Act has broad support among Democrats, many Republicans oppose it, fearing that it would infringe upon religious objections.

Here's a quick rundown of what the bill would do, and what chance it has of becoming law.

What would the Equality Act do?

The Equality Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The bill has been introduced multiple times before and previously passed the House in 2019. However, the law's impact would be different in practical terms now than it was then.

That's because the Supreme Court ruled in June of last year , in Bostock v. Clayton County , that the protections guaranteed by the 1964 Civil Rights Act on the basis of sex also extend to discrimination against lesbian, gay, and transgender Americans. The logic was that a man who, for example, loses his job because he has a same-sex partner is facing discrimination on the basis of sex — that, were he a woman, he wouldn't have faced that discrimination.

Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory To LGBTQ Employees

This act would explicitly enshrine those nondiscrimination protections into law for sexual orientation and gender identity, rather than those protections being looped in under the umbrella of "sex." However, the Equality Act would also substantially expand those protections.

The Civil Rights Act covered discrimination in certain areas, like employment and housing. The Equality Act would expand that to cover federally funded programs, as well as "public accommodations" — a broad category including retail stores and stadiums, for example.

("Public accommodations" is also a category that the bill broadens, to include online retailers and transportation providers, for example. Because of that, many types of discrimination the Civil Rights Act currently prohibits — like racial or religious discrimination — would now also be explicitly covered at those types of establishments.)

One upshot of all of this, then, is that the Equality Act would affect businesses like flower shops and bakeries that have been at the center of discrimination court cases in recent years — for example, a baker who doesn't want to provide a cake for a same-sex wedding .

In Narrow Opinion, Supreme Court Rules For Baker In Gay-Rights Case

Importantly, the bill also explicitly says that it trumps the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (commonly known by its acronym RFRA). The law, passed in 1993, set a higher bar for the government to defend laws if people argued those laws infringed upon religious freedom.

Under the Equality Act, an entity couldn't use RFRA to challenge the act's provisions, nor could it use RFRA as a defense to a claim made under the act.

What proponents say

Supporters say that the Equality Act simply extends basic, broadly accepted tenets of the Civil Rights Act to classes of people that the bill doesn't explicitly protect.

"Just as [a business] would not be able to turn away somebody for any other prohibited reason in the law, they would not be able to do that for LGBTQ people either. And we think that's a really important principle to maintain," said Ian Thompson, senior legislative representative at the ACLU.

The bill also would be national, covering states that do not have LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws. According to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, 27 states do not have those laws.

Supporters additionally say the bill would cement protections that could otherwise be left up to interpretation.

Biden Signs Most Far-Reaching Federal Protections For LGBTQ People Yet

"President Biden issued an executive order directing agencies to appropriately interpret the Bostock ruling to apply not just to employment discrimination, but to other areas of law where sex discrimination is prohibited, including education, housing, and health care," the Human Rights Campaign wrote in support of the bill . "However, a future administration may refuse to interpret the law this way, leaving these protections vulnerable."

And with regard to RFRA, proponents argue that the bill would keep entities from using that law as a "license to discriminate," wording echoed by Human Rights Watch and many other Equality Act supporters.

What opponents say

The question of religious freedom is the main issue animating people against the Equality Act.

Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Virginia, has criticized the Equality Act since its 2019 introduction. He told NPR in an email that the law is "less necessary" now, after the Bostock decision.

Furthermore, while he supports adding sexual orientation and gender identity to federal anti-discrimination statutes, Laycock believes that this bill goes too far in limiting people's ability to defend themselves against discrimination claims.

"It protects the rights of one side, but attempts to destroy the rights of the other side," he said. "We ought to protect the liberty of both sides to live their own lives by their own identities and their own values."

How The Fight For Religious Freedom Has Fallen Victim To The Culture Wars

Another key fear among opponents of the Equality Act is that it would threaten businesses or organizations that have religious objections to serving LGBTQ people, forcing them to choose between operating or following their beliefs.

Could it pass?

The Democratic-led House passed the Equality Act in 2019 with unanimous support from Democrats (as well as support from eight Republicans), and it passed in similar fashion in the current Democratic House.

The Senate is more uncertain. Democrats in the Senate broadly support the bill. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, among the most moderate Democratic senators, signed a letter in support of it last year .

But the bill would need 60 votes to avoid a filibuster in the Senate. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins cosponsored the bill in 2019, but not all of her fellow, more moderate Republicans are on board. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, for example, told the Washington Blade that he won't support the act, citing religious liberty.

"Sen. Romney believes that strong religious liberty protections are essential to any legislation on this issue, and since those provisions are absent from this particular bill, he is not able to support it," his spokesperson told the Blade.

It's uncertain how other moderate Republicans might vote. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who supported the narrower Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) in 2013, has yet to respond to NPR's questions about her support of the Equality Act.

And while Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who likewise supported ENDA, didn't give a definitive answer on his support, his response made it clear that he could object to it on religious grounds.

"Rob opposes discrimination of any kind, and he also believes that it's important that Congress does not undermine protections for religious freedom," his office said in a statement. "He will review any legislation when and if it comes up for a vote in the Senate."

Promoting Diversity and Combatting Discrimination in Research Organizations: A Practitioner’s Guide

Diversity and Discrimination in Research Organizations

ISBN : 978-1-80117-959-1 , eISBN : 978-1-80117-956-0

Publication date: 1 December 2022

The essay is addressed to practitioners in research management and from academic leadership. It describes which measures can contribute to creating an inclusive climate for research teams and preventing and effectively dealing with discrimination. The practical recommendations consider the policy and organizational levels, as well as the individual perspective of research managers. Following a series of basic recommendations, six lessons learned are formulated, derived from the contributions to the edited collection on “Diversity and Discrimination in Research Organizations.”

• Inclusive work climate
• Lessons learned
• Policy recommendations
• Recommendations for actions
• Sexual harassment

Striebing, C. , Müller, J. , Schraudner, M. , Gewinner, I.V. , Morales, P.G. , Hochfeld, K. , Hoffman, S. , Kmec, J.A. , Nguyen, H.M. , Schneider, J. , Sheridan, J. , Steuer-Dankert, L. , O’Connor, L.T. and Vandevelde-Rougale, A. (2022), "Promoting Diversity and Combatting Discrimination in Research Organizations: A Practitioner’s Guide", Striebing, C. , Müller, J. and Schraudner, M. (Ed.) Diversity and Discrimination in Research Organizations , Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 421-441. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-956-020221012

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023 Clemens Striebing, Jörg Müller, Martina Schraudner, Irina Valerie Gewinner, Patricia Guerrero Morales, Katharina Hochfeld, Shekinah Hoffman, Julie A. Kmec, Huu Minh Nguyen, Jannick Schneider, Jennifer Sheridan, Linda Steuer-Dankert, Lindsey Trimble O’Connor and Agnès Vandevelde-Rougale

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This work is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this work (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Transfer to Practice

It is a particular concern of ours to provide practitioners in academic organizations with the insights that they can draw from the contributions presented in this edited collection for their work and their specific organizational contextual conditions. With this essay, we therefore want to offer a comprehensive orientation on the question of what measures can be taken in practice to create discrimination-free working conditions for a diverse workforce, whereby we especially address academic leadership and research managers. Our prototypical program is described in the following steps:

Based on research on effective gender equality policies in research organizations, we derive four conditions that policy-makers should consider to provide sufficient framework conditions for reducing social and systemic discrimination in academia (see “Recommendations for Policy-Makers” section).

We outline a compact program of measures at the organizational level, which is essentially based on the studies of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018) about the sexual harassment of women in science and experience of this article’s authors, which we have gained in our own projects (see “Recommendations for the Design of a Discrimination Resuction Program” section).

We discuss the role that research management can – or should – play in creating a diversity-inclusive team climate as well as preventing and managing cases of discrimination (see “Recommendations for Academic Leaders and Research Managers” section).

Finally, we discuss how the contributions in this edited collection add to the current state of research on the effective prevention and fair treatment of discrimination in the scientific workplace (see “Our Lessons Learned” section).

Recommendations for Policy-Makers

For more than two decades now, the European Commission has been funding research projects that address the question of how to increase the participation of women researchers in research teams and decision-making positions in the European Research Area. Without claiming to be exhaustive, examples include the Helsinki Group on Women in Science reports first published in 2002 ( EC, 2008 ), the PRAGES project ( Cacace, 2009 ), and the STAGES project ( Kalpazidou Schmidt and Cacace, 2017 ).

A subsequent assessment of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s ( OECD, 2018 ) Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook appears to be rather skeptical concerning the impact of gender equality interventions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The authors recognize the strong prevalence of gender equality measures among OECD countries, mainly aiming to increase the number of students in the STEM fields and the provision of support to individual women scientists. However, they criticize the fragmentation of current policy actions “[…] characterised by multiple institutions acting independently, and limited co-ordination between education, science and innovation actors” ( OECD, 2018 : 178). They attest an insufficient sustainability of the various initiatives and the need for more systemic evaluations and indicators as well as mutual learning formats. Especially regarding the importance of long-term monitoring and evaluation of gender equality challenges and measures, the OECD report confirms the policy recommendations of the mentioned EC reports. Moreover, the nub of equality measures addresses the quantitative equalization of women and men, yet the quality of work and working climate are a rare issue.

The following framework conditions for success in promoting gender equality in research – and, by analogy, promoting underrepresented or disadvantaged groups of people – can be derived from the reports mentioned above.

Gender monitoring: Highly institutionalized gender monitoring that comprises a high number of research institutions and indicators keeps gender equality on the broader political and organizational agenda and enables problem-framing and impact evaluation of gender equality measures.

Leadership: A clear commitment of political and organizational leaders gives legitimacy to those actors like working groups, equality officers or intrapreneurs who work every day to improve gender equality in their organizations.

Networks: Networks enable mutual learning for research organizations and enable coordinating extensive actions at multiple levels between versatile actors from local to global.

A fourth condition for success – which is not explicitly mentioned in the reports above but should not be underestimated – is the binding nature of anti-discrimination measures. Research shows that a lack of consequences often restricts the effectiveness of gender equality measures ( Matthies and Zimmermann, 2010 ; van den Brink and Benschop, 2012 ). Firm accountability provides measures such as quotas, voluntary agreements and gender equality plans with the necessary binding force and therefore will be considered in the following discussion, along with the other policy approaches.

Recommendations for Designing a Discrimination Reduction Program

Structured according to a simplified policy cycle that distinguishes the phases of policy formulation, implementation and evaluation and has an iterative sequence, Fig. 22 lists a number of measures to reduce, prevent and manage experiences of discrimination in the research workplace (see also Marquis et al., 2008 : 4–6).

Building Blocks of a Coherent and Comprehensive Program to Ensure a Discrimination-Free and Diversity-Friendly Workplace.

Evaluating the Status Quo and the Achievement of Objectives

The basis for developing an effective anti-discrimination program is a sound knowledge base on the distribution of employees according to different socio-demographic characteristics (e.g. age, gender, care responsibilities, ethnicity, etc.). For the purpose of evidence-based development of a discrimination reduction program, ideally data is collected that relates the respective socio-demographic characteristics to organizational status characteristics (e.g., hierarchical position, function, income) or employee perceptions and experiences (e.g., survey of work climate, experiences of social misconduct, compatibility of professional and private obligations). 1

The finer the units of analysis, the more meaningful the evaluation of the status quo and the achievement of objectives. For example, to identify potential outcomes of systemic discrimination, data should be differentiable by scientific or non-scientific activity or hierarchical level. The work climate may considerably vary between individual teams and across disciplines, depending on conflict constellations that are very situation-specific. 2

For an evaluation to be successful and – above all – practically relevant, it is important to plan for budget and working time. Evaluations not only involve sending out an online survey and presenting the results in PowerPoint; rather, they require a person or group of persons with sufficient expertise to develop an evaluation concept (key questions are: What do we want to know and why?), implement it using suitable survey instruments (questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, document analyses, etc.) in compliance with data protection regulations, and generate meaningful data that meet social science quality standards (e.g., validity and reliability, transferability, representativeness). In the meantime, there are a number of tools that enable an easily applicable organizational survey tailored to research organizations, e.g., on gender equality. 3 However, without social science expertise, even these tools cannot be used optimally, nor can the data generated be interpreted well.

Statistical methods such as questionnaire surveys often reach their limits when researching minority groups such as employees with health impairments or LGBTQI+ employees. Since social minorities are obviously often small groups in terms of numbers and therefore difficult to reach, collecting data on them often violates data protection regulations. Person-related inferences are easily made possible when – for example – two out of 80 respondents assign themselves to a third gender category. In these cases, qualitative methods such as interviews or focus groups, must be used to gather information about any experiences of discrimination. Another strength of qualitative methods is that they enable understanding correlations in data (e.g., why one social group evaluates the work climate worse than another), whereas the strength of quantitative methods lies in detecting and confirming such correlations.

Another necessity for an evaluation that holds practical relevance is a process for its utilization. Within this framework, questions arise concerning how often an evaluation should be carried out, what happens to the results of the evaluation, what happens in the case of conspicuous or critical values at the organizational or team level, who determines the threshold values for the critical values, and who manages this process. The clearer and more binding that the process is for utilizing the evaluation results, the stronger the practical impact of the evaluation.

The data collected and the evaluations carried out on it should be handled transparently to counteract the creation of organizational myths within the workforce about positive and negative discrimination among them, potentially compromising the effectiveness of anti-discrimination policies. 4 The results of the status quo and progress evaluation can be reported in the annual or equality report of a research organization. Continuous progress monitoring requires that the data collected meet social science standards from the outset (see the discussion of evaluation teams above), since data are no longer comparable between two or more time periods if the questionnaire design is changed in significant ways.

The knowledge base generated by the evaluation can be used to develop targeted policies. Noteworthy, the evaluation of the policy program to be established should already be considered during its development ( Palmén et al., 2019 ). Key questions are which indicators can be used to determine whether a program has been successful or whether adjustments are necessary. Furthermore, how are the data needed to answer this question generated, and who collects and evaluates them? Adequate human resources must be planned for ongoing evaluation.

Policy Formulation: Defining Clear Behavioral Expectations and Consequences

When designing a social intervention such as an anti-discrimination program, it is important to formulate a set of goals that are as specific as possible for the state to aim for. Specific goals enable the effective planning and use of the human and financial resources available to implement the program, means-ends relationships can be assessed for appropriateness, and goal achievement can be evaluated. Insofar as an organizational cultural change is aimed for, it should be clearly presented accordingly which behavior is expected from the employees in concrete terms, which complaint channels are open in the event of violations and which consequences may occur ( Daley et al., 2018 ).

A code of conduct can be formulated as a key document that provides a framework of orientation for employees and the anti-discrimination program. The code of conduct should be short and compact. It should not be formulated only by the leadership team but in a participatory process involving employees. This promotes the acceptance and implementation of such a code of conduct. In practice, such codes of conduct regularly address the key issues of workplace integrity and the prevention of workplace incivility. Such broad framing signals that protection against discrimination requires the active cooperation of all employees and that not only extreme cases of discrimination that can be proven in court are to be prevented, but rather that the general aim is to create a positive inclusive working environment in which even minor forms of discrimination cannot flourish in the first place.

Broad framing as workplace integrity or incivility also emphasizes the integrated nature of an anti-discrimination policy. In practice, in most academic institutions, equality officers, disability officers, anti-racism officers, work councils and other bodies are separate institutions that often have to establish mutual intersections. For example, if a sexist work environment prevails at a university or other academic institution, organizational change should not only be the responsibility of the equal opportunity officers, but must be driven by the management level and lived by all employees. Moreover, it is very likely that other types of discrimination are also taking place. A smart anti-discrimination policy takes into account and bridges the functional differentiation of institutional discrimination prevention and management.

In the sense of an integrated approach with clear behavioral expectations, it is also important to explicitly include personnel management competencies in job profiles and subsequently also evaluate academic leaders based on these competencies. At present, the suitability of researchers for leadership positions is often assessed solely based on their academic performance and very few leaders are trained to recognize or effectively address inequitable behaviors. Management and personnel leadership skills are expected in very few job requirements, although “team science” ( Wang and Barabási, 2021 ) is on the rise.

When designing policies, it is also important to encourage bottom-up approaches, i.e., initiatives coming from employee representatives, team members, and not decided by an institution’s management. Such initiatives are more likely to promote equity in a grounded and reflexive approach that might challenge dominant views on personnel management in academia and research organizations. Bottom-up approaches could inter alia help thinking research policies and practices outside a neoliberal managerial grid (see Vandevelde-Rougale and Guerrero Morales in this collection) and thus contribute to fostering a more caring environment, with more time and resources allocated to thinking and creating, and less to complying with evaluation indicators based on international rankings that tend to reinforce power imbalance and competition both between individuals and between organizations instead of acknowledging the contribution of research to society ( Hodgins and McNamara, 2021 ).

Policy Implementation: Embedding Objectives Through Context-Specific Measures

An anti-discrimination program should generally be implemented through context-specific interventions ( Palmén et al., 2019 ). This means that the program should be tailored as appropriately as possible for the specific situation and challenges in an organization. Individual interventions should be adapted to the requirements and needs of different target groups, such as research managers, early career researchers, administrative staff, and others. Measures should also take into account organizational characteristics: for example, in a research organization with low staff turnover, targets for the representation of certain social groups will only be realized in the long term.

In terms of content, a wide range of measures is available, which should be coordinated with evaluating the status quo and formulating goals. Typical measures include welcome actions for new staff, training for employees to enable them to implement the goals of the anti-discrimination program in their daily work; for example, to recognize and overcome implicit prejudices against certain social groups, work productively in diverse teams, or behave appropriately as a bystander to discriminatory behavior in the workplace. Training such as anti-discrimination or anti-gender bias training as part of institutional onboarding after hiring and repeated refresher courses can also help to ensure that managers have the appropriate skills for inclusive leadership and conflict management.

As already mentioned above, the commitment of the academic leaders in a research organization is a central condition for the success of an anti-discrimination program. This commitment should be visible in the organization; for example, through speeches or circulars (provided that these discourses are linked to means and practical actions). 5

Fig. 22 lists a range of other possible measures through which the goals of an anti-discrimination policy can be implemented: regular career-related and documented development discussions between leaders and their employees promote joint career development and partly counteract biased preference or disadvantage in interactions between leaders and their employees (vertical discrimination), especially early career researchers and their supervisors, as well as among employees (horizontal discrimination). Low-threshold, confidential, and well-advertised reporting channels – which can not only be consulted in cases of tangible discrimination – may enable leaders to intervene at an early stage. In cases where the personal supervisor is excluded as a reporting channel due to a conflict, research organizations should offer “neutral” reporting channels that are not embedded in local hierarchies and dependencies. Depending on the context, measures aimed at improving the reconciliation of scientific work and private life are potentially suitable for reducing gender-related discrimination, e.g., crediting parental leave and care responsibilities when assessing the scientific performance of an early- or mid-career researcher, waiving meetings at off-peak times, or offering childcare.

Recommendations for Academic Leaders and Research Managers

Research managers are considered to be those individuals who provide support services to researchers and academics and themselves have an academic education and – in some cases – experience in research and teaching ( WR, 2018 : 85). 6 They work in staffs or decentralized units, monitor compliance with quality standards, supervise committees, and are involved with personnel processes in a variety of ways.

While the integration and productive use of diversity in research teams in everyday work is the task of traditional academic leaders – e.g., chair holders, research group leaders or the dean – research managers are regularly entrusted with diversity monitoring and developing and implementing strategic action programs (as exemplified above) from an organizational perspective. A comparable division of labor also exists for preventing and handling discrimination, which are regularly to be resolved initially by “line management,” i.e., the immediate leader in accordance with the academic hierarchical order, but which can be handed over under certain criteria or alternatively to specially established committees, staff units or service providers. Examples include academic ombudspersons, equal opportunity officers, compliance officers, representatives of the severely disabled, staff councils, psycho-social counseling centers, lawyers or other external reporting offices. Nonetheless, as studies in this volume show, these organs do not always interfere flawlessly, which require further optimization of their work and anti-discrimination actions.

Integrating Diverse Teams

Regarding gender-diverse teams, Nielsen et al. (2018) discuss how to create a diversity-inclusive team climate in research and innovation development. First, the quality of collaboration and problem-solving ability of diverse teams (and homogeneous teams as well) is considerably influenced by their diversity belief and openness to diversity. Diversity belief refers to the conviction of individual team members that their difference is a strength in the work process ( van Dick et al., 2008 ). Openness to diversity refers to the awareness of – for example – visible, informational or value differences in a team and the willingness of a team member to engage with dissimilar individuals and learn from them ( Hobman et al., 2004 ). Accordingly, it is recommended that academic leaders interact with their teams to determine whether they view themselves as homogeneous or heterogeneous in terms of the professional and socio-demographic characteristics of their members and whether they view each as positive or negative. A low openness to diversity or a low diversity belief would have to be explored in an exchange with the team or a bilateral exchange with the team members.

Second, teams that work productively are those whose interactions (i.e., conversations and collaboration) between team members are determined by the expertise and experience of individual team members rather than social relationships ( Joshi and Knight 2015 ). For leaders, this implies clearly identifying and communicating to the team the competencies and responsibilities of each member of their team. Larger work tasks in research projects should be differentiated according to the competencies that they require to be mastered and how the team members can optimally complement each other in their competencies.

Third, the same applies to the integration of diverse teams that applies to team processes in general, namely teams need team players. Team members should have a certain level of identification with their team, a shared sense of purpose and they must trust the team’s ability to accomplish tasks, the team’s processes should be transparently coordinated, and team members should treat each other with mutual respect and openness ( Nielsen et al., 2018 ). The team structure should thereby regulate itself based on the competencies and expertise of the team members, as noted above. Too much team cohesion in turn can lead to isolation and silo thinking in an organization and may even be more conducive to exclusion and discrimination processes ( Feldblum and Lipnic, 2021 ).

Preventing and Managing Discrimination

The expectations placed on leaders and research managers to prevent and deal with discrimination in the workplace are sometimes high and sometimes seem contradictory. An idealistic and a realistic perspective can be distinguished.

In the idealistic perspective, organizations strive for rationally acting leadership and management personnel. These personnel are sensitized through training and show zero tolerance toward discriminatory behavior and structures in the workplace. They regularly and perceptibly commit to zero tolerance in the organization, set an example through their own behavior, and deal with discrimination claims promptly and fairly (prototypical Daley et al., 2018 ).

On the other hand, a realistic perspective takes better account of the complexity of social conflicts in the workplace. It is often not possible to say clearly who are the perpetrators and who are the victims in a conflict case. Typical of this are claims of systemic discrimination based on institutions – i.e., implicit and explicit rules and practices – in an organization or in cases of scandalization. In his studies on academic mobbing, Westhues (2021) recommends a sober and critical approach to complaints of workplace misconduct within the line authority. The respective academic leaders in charge would have a broader perspective to deal with claims sensitively and fairly, whereas individuals and committees specifically appointed to investigate would sometimes tend toward zealotry. Westhues emphasizes that social conflict in the workplace is often borne out of social relationships. The individuals involved in each case seek empathy and allies, which can lead to the aforementioned scandalization, i.e., criticism by a group against an individual (also conceivable in relation to accusations of inaction regarding dismantling discriminatory institutions), without there being any concrete misconduct against the group.

In turn, the realistic perspective reaches its limits where problem-solving by academic leaders does not take place; for example, because they are involved in the conflict themselves, they are not willing to adjust supposedly discriminatory structures and rules, or an adjustment of the structures simply exceeds their work capacities.

In summary, it can be deduced from the comparison of the two approaches that universities and research institutions need sensitized leadership and management personnel who are aware of their role model function and trained to deal with employee complaints objectively, discreetly and rationally. At the same time, due to their embeddedness in the work processes of their own organization, academic leadership personnel are also only capable of objectively and conclusively resolving cases of social misconduct and discrimination complaints to a certain extent. This requires contact points that deal with preventing and managing discrimination on a structural basis (and not exclusively based on a specific case).

Our Lessons Learned

Lesson 1: identifying and knowing the majority group in a research organization is key to understanding discrimination processes.

Our first lesson learned is anything but a novel insight; rather, it is the core of social identity theory. The theoretical assumption that there are so-called in- and out-groups in (research) organizations, whose boundaries are constitutive of experiences of discrimination partly formed through experiences of discrimination, is supported in particular by the contributions of Sheridan et al., Striebing, Pantelmann and Wälty, Nguyen et al. and Gewinner. The contributions discuss and/or provide evidence of the negative consequences of deviating from a norm type that can typically be described as male, healthy, and belonging to the ethnic majority in a country. In their paper, Pantelmann and Wälty comprehensively explain the historically formative role of this in-group, leading to what the authors describe as an androcentric academia. A typical example of the androcentric character of work processes in academia is the traditionally very high proportion of men in scientific leadership positions and the low proportion of men in administrative assistant functions [ e.g., Kolboske (2021) shows this for the German Max Planck Society].

The respective in-groups – which vary in their composition depending on the local context – have defined the implicit and explicit rules and practices in research organizations over time and continue to play a major role in determining their interpretation. Examples of such indirectly exclusionary rules include processes that appear to create rationality and transparency, such as evaluation rules or review committees. These kind of rational processes are problematic when they only aim to create decision legitimacy through processes seen as legitimate rather than a truly legitimate, just, “good” outcome, free of cognitive bias (van den Brink and Benschop, 2012, on the concept of legal legitimacy: Mayntz, 2010 ). The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated problem of double jeopardy – especially for the parents of young children – is an example of how processes that appear objective can lead to systemic discrimination when research organizations evaluate process outcomes as “neutral.” The constraints associated with the pandemic have led to an average decline in publication output among female researchers, which will disadvantage their long-term career development if research organizations maintain their unilateral focus on process justice rather than outcome justice ( Squazzoni et al., 2021 ; Nature Editorial, 2021 ).

Examples of informal practices shaped and reproduced by an in-group that can have an indirectly exclusionary effect may seem trivial in some cases, but they can be highly meaningful in individual research organizations. One can think of regulars’ tables, meetings in the evening hours, 24/7 lab hours, hiking groups, and other forms of interaction that promote exchanges based on expectations of presence and personal sympathies rather than professional skills and expertise ( Nielsen et al., 2018 ).

In their study of Vietnamese social scientists, Nguyen et al. illustrate that individuals who assume a higher level of effort in informal household and care work are disproportionately less able to meet academic performance expectations than individuals who assume fewer household duties. In Vietnamese society, it is also usually women who are influenced in their career advancement by more informal work.

In his study on work climate in the Max Planck Society, Striebing also shows for Germany that women with responsibility for minor children rate their work climate lower than men with children or women without children. In Striebing’s studies on work climate and bullying, women generally rate their work climate lower than men and experience bullying more often. 7 Moreover, according to Sheridan et al., it is the employees who deviate from the norm due to their sexual orientation, skin color or health impairments who seem to most frequently experience hostile and intimidating behavior in the academic workplace (see lesson 5).

Using the example of women researchers from the former Soviet Union working in Germany, Gewinner provides a comprehensive picture of the extent to which institutions shaped by the respective national majority society and the in-groups in academic organizations pose special challenges to individuals who deviate from the in-groups; for example, due to their gender, living circumstances, or nationality.

Since academia – shaped by its respective local in-groups – cannot necessarily provide equal opportunities for a diverse workforce, good academic leaders and research managers strive in a self-reflective manner to dismantle those structures and processes that can lead to implicit and indirect disadvantage for certain groups of employees. This means that strengthening disadvantaged groups through mentoring and networking programs as well as training can only be one part, but it is equally important to be attentive to structures and processes that can lead to disadvantage, and to dismantle them.

Lesson 2: Managers Are Not Neutral Regulators and Conflict Resolvers

Creating an inclusive work culture, designing and implementing anti-discrimination prevention programs, reducing discrimination, and intervening in cases of conflict in the workforce are especially the tasks of academic leaders and research managers. A number of the studies in the edited collection imply that this group of people is not itself a neutral entity and is itself part or non-part of organizational in- and out-groups, as well as one of the most important levers for successful diversity management.

The study by Kmec et al. supports the relevance of belief systems in the interpretation of illegal harassment behaviors. The authors found that individuals who hold more gender egalitarian beliefs (that women and men are equal) are more likely to recognize factually illegal acts of sexual harassment than individuals with traditional gender beliefs. Their study also points to the special importance of merit beliefs: people who believe that they live in a just society tend to regard sexual harassment as neither illegal nor inappropriate in cases that are (in everyday perception) ambiguous.

Striebing’s work climate and bullying studies show that a gender gap in the perception of the work climate and the experience of bullying narrows from the PhD level to group or institute leadership. The author interprets this observation as a filtering mechanism of the science system. His results suggest that the “successful” women and men who hold scientific leadership positions perceive and evaluate their work environment differently than early career researchers and – as a conjecture – may have limited empathy for problems of their employees due to this different perception.

Vandevelde-Rougale and Guerrero Morales’ case studies demonstrate the high complexity of bullying constellations. They argue that management ideology and practices force individuals who perceive themselves to be affected by bullying or discrimination into a formalized discourse. They highlight that what a person complains about and how they do so is not only essential for perceiving conflict dynamics but also for how managers and research management perceive and evaluate the person, and that it can influence the likelihood of success of a complaint:

[…] even in organizations where policies to guarantee dignity and respect have been adopted, showing one’s hurt to managers or human resources department is not sufficient so that steps would be taken to ensure a saner working atmosphere; it can even be detrimental to the person showing his/her vulnerability. (Vandevelde-Rougale and Guerrero Morales in this collection)

The two authors also highlight that it can be problematic to apply seemingly rational approaches (e.g., measures to reduce discrimination and strengthen reconcilability) to issues that primarily have an emotional impact on those involved. For example, a person’s perceived work-life balance is not only influenced by organizational factors such as the range of flexible working time models and workload, and not only by cognitive-psychological factors such as a person’s ability to cope with stress or the pace at which a person works, but also by situational aspects such as individual career prospects or the management style, or societal aspects such as traditional views on parenting or care. If the individual work–life balance is nevertheless not right in an organization with comprehensive reconciliation offerings, it is therefore not necessarily the individual who is “defective,” but rather the broader social context must also be taken into account.

The contributions of Kmec et al. and Vandevelde-Rougale and Guerrero Morales imply the strong importance of patience and reflexivity – or “attentive listening” – in academic leadership. Thus, on the one hand, leaders and research managers are required to reconcile the different interests and personalities of individual team members and – in cases of conflict – weigh the perspectives of all stakeholders, including both co-workers and organizational goals. In doing so, it is important that academic leaders and research managers not only obtain a comprehensive picture – i.e., take all perspectives into account – but they also need a detailed picture, and they should perceive employees in their entirety as the people they are, with their multiple overlaps of status, character or social background. In doing so, evaluating leaders and research managers must also be aware of the relativity of their own perspective: Why might I find one person in a conflict more sympathetic than another or be better able to understand their perspective?

The article by Kmec et al. also shows the importance of drawing clear boundaries for misconduct in the workplace and sensitizing management personnel to this. Only in this way can clear decisions be made – even in “gray areas” – concerning what is judged to be appropriate or inappropriate, and managers must be supported in setting an example of the conduct desired in the workplace. In this context, with reference to their case study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Sheridan et al. state that most academic leaders and supervisors had no knowledge of how to deal with misconduct in general. They recommend that universities should essentially develop a process and disciplinary measures for this.

Lesson 3: The System Can Tend to Individualize and Normalize Discrimination

Just because a problem is not visible, this does not mean it is not there: in their case study of a German university, Pantelmann and Wälty form a diagnosis that could certainly be extended to other types of organizations:

The university approach to the problem [of sexual violence] paints a picture of sexual harassment as an individual (women’s) problem for which individual solutions must be found. Acts of harassment and violence are normalized, minimized, and dismissed by patriarchal gender norms and power relations […] as well as by complex and uneven systems of loyalty and hierarchy […]. (Pantelmann and Wälty in this collection)

By the university approach, the authors mean the interplay of patriarchal institutions (see lesson 1), the self-image of a non-discriminatory, neutral and enlightened academy, combined with market-oriented organizational and management structures (e.g., performance evaluation, dependency and competition situations reinforced by fixed-term employment relationships, competition for external funding).

The authors note – similar to Vandevelde-Rougale and Guerrero Morales (see lesson 2) – that there seems to be a contradiction between the rational world of science and experiences of discrimination, harassment, and bullying that primarily take place on an emotional level. The latter are seen as remote from science and more societal in nature. On the part of research managers, this led to a failure to accept their (co-)responsibility for the campus as part of society and a good working atmosphere to the necessary extent, as well as combatting social misconduct and systemic discrimination, even if it remained below a threshold punishable by criminal or labor law.

From these considerations, it can be concluded that in most research organizations an institutional commitment to responsibility for a good research culture and combating discriminatory behavior and structures (as well as other forms of social misconduct) is an essential milestone. Often reviled as “paper tigers,” in this sense codes of conduct are important markers of the way forward and institutional self-assurances that can then have an indirect impact on an organization’s discrimination policies. However, due to the tendency to normalize, relativize, and downplay discrimination as described by Wälty and Pantelmann, one or the other skeptical leader must be convinced that the formulation of a formal institutional commitment against discrimination is desirable (but not sufficient per se ). In this regard, Sheridan et al. emphasize the added value of employee surveys, not least to counter skeptics of the need for anti-discrimination measures with data.

Lesson 4: How Identity Characteristics Shape Conflicts and Conflict Perceptions Is Difficult to Predict and Strongly Depends on Situational Circumstances (in Individual Cases)

In particular, the contribution of Vandevelde-Rougale and Guerrero Morales conveys how the multiple socio-demographic characteristics of individuals involved in conflict can shape conflicts and conflict dynamics. Identity categories such as gender, class, nation or race can be intertwined with different power positions. These identity-related power positions may be the starting point of conflicts, and they can be mobilized by participants in conflicts to place themselves in a stronger position (e.g., as part of the search for allies or to normatively underpin their own position), and they also shape the way in which third parties (such as leaders and research managers) perceive and interpret a conflict.

Accordingly, Sheridan et al. highlight that in practice they have found that individuals who receive and process complaints against social misconduct must be well trained in implicit/explicit bias and discrimination. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the view of persons making a report against social misconduct is biased. Thus, the reported person’s behaviors would sometimes be interpreted depending on their gender, sexual orientation, race, or other socio-demographic factors.

Striebing’s paper builds on this consideration and explores whether a person’s gender is related to whether that person perceives one or a series of negative experiences as bullying or sexual discrimination. In practice, it is possible for individuals who complain to a leader or other entity about misconduct or discrimination to be (implicitly) confronted with accusations of being too sensitive ( Hinze, 2004 ). A reference to the identity of the reporting individuals then functions as an easy legitimation for leaders and research managers to justify doing nothing or decide and act along their sympathies and (maybe biased) intuition.

Striebing concludes that the relationship between experience(s) of negative acts in the workplace and their assessment as bullying or sexual discrimination is indeed influenced by the gender of the person concerned. However, the pattern of this correlation – i.e. which specific negative acts are more often seen as “transgressive” by women or men – is so complex and weak in its entirety that a practical effect is questionable.

As a result of these considerations, leaders and research managers should be sensitized to perceive and deal with the identitarian dimension of workplace conflicts and reflect their own positioning appropriately. At the same time, leaders and research managers should be sensitized to be attentive and critical whenever a person’s credibility is placed in the context of his/her socio-demographic characteristics.

Lesson 5: Measures Aimed at Very General Groups of People Waste Financial and Personnel Resources

Often academic support programs target very open groups of people, such as “the women,” “the students with an immigrant background,” or “the working-class children.” However, this does not sufficiently take into account the fact that people have a variety of identities and balance them with each other.

The studies by Gewinner, Nguyen et al., Striebing and Sheridan et al. show that – for example – women are not fundamentally less able than men to compete academically and in the working environment, experience a qualitatively poorer working environment or misconduct more frequently. Moreover, women might perceive programs addressing women as discriminatory by themselves, since they subtly and unconsciously label them as less productive, thus manifesting the gender or national differences. Even women in a conservative male breadwinner partnership who take on the main responsibility of raising children in their partnership are not necessarily at a disadvantage if – for example – they are supported by their (in-)parents, as Nguyen et al. show. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to gender aspects in organizing the most suitable form of support programs such as training courses for female researchers. Striebing also shows for the German Max Planck Society that self-perceptions of bullying experiences are more frequent – for example – among male social scientists than among women in the STEM disciplines. In Sheridan et al., among the group of women, women of color and those with disabilities most frequently report experiences of hostile and intimidating behavior in the workplace, and in the group of men, gay men and those with disabilities.

Research management should apply an intersectional perspective 8 when analyzing the need for organizational support measures and conceptualizing these measures. Vulnerable target groups and their needs should be defined and analyzed as precisely as possible. For example, if a measure is to be developed to increase the proportion of women, it should be asked in as much detail as possible which women can benefit from the measure and under which circumstances, as well as which ones cannot. If a measure is to be developed to prevent, e.g., sexism or racism, it should be asked which groups of people are to be protected from which groups of people in particular.

Lesson 6: It Is a Long Way from Raising Awareness through Trainings to Factual Effects on the Incidence of Discrimination Experiences

Sheridan et al. show in their study that short-term effects of anti-discrimination measures such as training or information campaigns cannot be expected. Based on the authors’ data, it can be surmised that such measures can immediately and quite persistently increase sensitivity to discriminatory and inappropriate behavior in the workplace and knowledge about how to deal with it, but that there are pitfalls for a long-term effect on reported cases of social misconduct in the workplace (see also Chang et al., 2019 ). The authors conclude: “We have found supplemental education and resources are necessary to empower individuals to interrupt HIB [hostile and intimidating behavior] in their work environments” (Sheridan et al. in this collection).

It also seems conceivable that local efforts to promote diversity in academia may also be undermined by developments at the regional or national level. For example, Sheridan et al. emphasize a more adversarial political and social climate under Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States. They speculate that this overall climate change might provide a possible explanation for why counterintuitively LGBT individuals were the only ones among the groups of individuals studied to even report an increase in experiences of misconduct in the academic workplace during the study period.

Steuer-Dankert and Leicht-Scholten also highlight the challenges of a multi-level perspective in diversity management. In doing so, they adopt a holistic perspective by analyzing the framework conditions of the German science system and reflecting on the different influencing factors. They link this perspective to a systems theory approach, which highlights the complexity of key positions and emphasizes the need to develop measures that address the specific framework conditions of the respective organization. Using the example of a complex research organization with several management levels – i.e., the institute and network level or the chair and university management level as well as institute-specific cultures – Steuer-Dankert and Leicht-Scholten identify the general challenge in the fact that the diversity climate experienced by the research teams is ultimately a function of the diversity management of the different levels. The authors therefore point to the importance of a common diversity strategy that is co-formulated and supported by all levels of an organizational network and fits the needs of the respective organizational levels. Steuer-Dankert and Leicht-Scholten emphasize the potential of academic leaders as multipliers for establishing an open diversity belief and climate. In their case study of a large German research association, Steuer-Dankert and Leicht-Scholten found that the leadership style attributed to management and the leadership style that they aspired to themselves were closely linked. The authors see these effects of homosocial reproduction as an explanation for this ideational similarity between managers (managers hire and promote people if they feel connected to them due to perceived similarities) and the role model effect of top managers whose style is adopted in practice by team members. Linked to the examined perception of diversity, Steuer-Dankert and Leicht-Scholten also see a direct effect of leadership behavior in the diversity management context on the next generation of scientists. In order to counteract these effects in the long term, they recommend a stronger link between diversity management and the change management approach, which at the same time underpins the long-term nature of corresponding measures.

We Can only go Ahead

Within the framework of the texts published in this collection, not only the extent of discrimination in research organizations was measured and described, but often implicit or direct criticism of established structures was also voiced. The main object of criticism was the effects of “neoliberalization” of universities ( Block, Gray, and Holborow, 2012 ; Hodgins and McNamara 2021 ) and “bureaucratization” and “corporatization” of research administration ( Sørensen and Traweek, 2021 ), and in particular the role of academic leaders, research managers as well as representatives and officers for the concerns of the employees. The critique collected here highlights that restructuring the research system does not necessarily lead to a rationalization of personnel processes and career paths. Moreover, academic leaders and research managers are also by no means neutrally administering, measuring, evaluating, and deciding entities, but rather these are embedded in and emerged from the very research system to whose rationalization they are supposed to contribute.

Finally, it should be emphasized once again that we do not believe that the “old research system” – in which research organizations hardly conducted any performance evaluations, academic leaders had more discretion, and third-party funding was not awarded in open competition – could have integrated or managed diversity better. We welcome the increasing reduction of power imbalances in the scientific workforce and see major potential in the professionalization of diversity management and the handling of experiences of discrimination in research institutions, especially in the newly-created professional field of research managers ( WR, 2018 ).

The fact that we increasingly talk about and problematize diversity and discrimination in research organizations can also be seen as a positive sign. The idea of the “integration paradox” ( Mafaalani, 2018 ) highlights that equal treatment of social groups is only demanded when a group and society (or an organization) have become aware that the respective group is to be treated equally. In this sense, it remains to be hoped for the future that conflicts and disputes – as an indicator of an increased awareness for discrimination processes – around the diverse socio-demographic character of the scientific workforce will continue to increase in the future.

Funding Note

The present contribution is not related to externally funded research.

Potential guidelines concerning the assessment of diversity initiatives: J. Marquis, N. Lim, L. Scott, C. Harrell, and J. Kavanagh (2008) , [online] Rand.org. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2007/RAND_OP206.pdf accessed 10 February 2022. Guidance on measuring socio-demographic characteristics: J. H. P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik and U. Warner, Measuring Ethnicity in Cross-National Comparative Survey Research; GESIS-Schriftenreihe Band 4 (Bonn: GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, 2010); J. H. P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik and U. Warner, Measuring Occupation and Labour Status in Crossnational Comparative Surveys ; GESIS-Schriftenreihe Band 7 (Bonn: GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, 2011). Guidance on measuring diversity and inclusion: K. April and E. Blass, Measuring Diversity Practice and Developing Inclusion (2010). https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kurt-April/publication/228668437_Measuring_Diversity_Practice_and_Developing_Inclusion/links/0a85e534e003f59ba3000000/Measuring-Diversity-Practice-and-Developing-Inclusion.pdf , accessed 10 February 2022.; S. Thompson, “Defining and measuring ‘inclusion’ within an organization”, K4D Helpdesk Report (Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies, 2017).

At the same time, the units of analysis should not be chosen too finely. Data protection requirements are crucial here. The data collected and reported regularly must not allow drawing any personal conclusions, i.e., the identification of a respondent based on the data shared by him or her (which can quickly become the case, especially for research organizations with a three-digit or lower number of employees). Furthermore, when surveying the work climate, opinions and experiences of employees, valid results can only be expected if “shaming” is excluded. The results should not be used to compare individual teams or groups to identify high- or low-performers.

See for example the GEAM Tool: “The Gender Equality Audit and Monitoring (GEAM) tool is an integrated environment for carrying out survey-based gender equality audits in academic organizations or organizational units”, https://act-on-gender.eu/nes/gender-equality-audit-and-monitoring-geam-tool accessed 15 March 2022. For another example, see the Immunity to Change Tool, which helps people identify and subsequently alter “competing commitments” that conflict with change (e.g. a change in the gender composition of research spaces), https://www.gse.harvard.edu/hgse100/story/changing-better , accessed 16 March 2022.

Organizational interventions such as diversity measures or data collection in the context of such measures are naturally questioned by organizational members. Organizational members interpret such measures based on how they perceive their organization. These assessments can tend to be positive or negative, which is why proactive communication management in relation to diversity policies is important. For a detailed discussion of the causes and effects of diversity resistance, see Thomas (2020) .

Of course, visibility per se is insufficient and adverse effects can be observed where there is a discrepancy between managerial discourse (including against discrimination and/or workplace bullying) and organizational practice (see inter alia: Clasches, 2019; Bereni, 2020 ; Vandevelde-Rougale, 2016 ).

With the emergence of professional research management, the status of faculty changes from autonomous members of their respective scientific profession to employees of the respective university or research institution, as Gerber (2014) states for the United States. In the European research area, the emergence of the professional group of research managers has been accelerated by the Bologna reform (to harmonize the system of higher education teaching across Europe) and the increased importance of third-party funding for research financing, as a result of which universities have been increasingly entrusted with management tasks ( WR, 2018 : 85).

The influence of nationality presents a more complex picture, for which an obvious explanation is that nationality groups are attributed different statuses and possibly also different stereotypes.

For us, this means considering the complexity of identities and that, e.g., two positive linear effects do not necessarily add up to each other. It also means taking into account “power domains” and “power vectors” ( Bilge, 2013 ).

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Block, Gray, and Holborow, 2012 Block , D. , J. Gray , and M. Holborow , Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics ( New York : Routledge , 2012) .

Cacace, 2009 Cacace , M. , “Guidelines for Gender Equality Programmes in Science: Prages - Practising Gender Equality in Science” ( Rome : Ministry for Economy and Finance , 2009 ).

Chang, Milkman, Gromet, Rebele, Massey, Duckworth, and Grant, 2019 Chang , E.H. , K.L. Milkman , D.M. Gromet , R.W. Rebele , C. Massey , A.L. Duckworth , and A.M. Grant , “The mixed effects of online diversity training” , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , 116 no. 16 ( 2019 ): 7778 – 7783 .

Clasches, 2019 Clasches , “Retourner l’arme du droit. Contre le harcèlement sexuel dans l’enseignement supérieur et la recherche” , Travail, genre et sociétés , 42 ( 2019 ): 191 – 194 .

Daley, Travis, and Shaffer, 2018 Daley , L.P. , D.J. Travis , and E.S. Shaffer , “Sexual harassment in the workplace: how companies can prepare, prevent, respond, and transform their culture” ( Catalyst , 2018 ).

European Commission, 2008 European Commission , “Benchmarking policy measures for gender equality in science” (Updated 2008 ). Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_gender_equality/benchmarking-policy-measures_en.pdf accessed 23 October 2017.

Feldblum, and Lipnic, 2021 Feldblum , C.R. and V.A. Lipnic , “Select task force on the study of harassment in the workplace | U.S. equal employment opportunity commission” ( 2021 ). Available at: https://www.eeoc.gov/select-task-force-study-harassment-workplace accessed 14 December 2021.

Gerber, 2014 Gerber , L.G. , The Rise and Decline of Faculty Governance: Professionalization and the Modern American University ( Baltimore, MD : Johns Hopkins University Press , 2014) .

Hinze, 2004 Hinze , S.W. , “‘Am I being over-sensitive?’ Women’s experience of sexual harassment during medical training” , Health , 8 no. 1 ( 2004 ): 101 – 127 .

Hobman, Bordia, and Gallois, 2004 Hobman , E.V. , P. Bordia , and C. Gallois , “Perceived dissimilarity and work group involvement” , Group & Organization Management , 29 no. 5 ( 2004 ): 560 – 587 .

Hodgins, and McNamara, 2021 Hodgins , M. and P.M. McNamara , “The Neoliberal University in Ireland: institutional bullying by another name?” , Societies , 11 no. 2 ( 2021 ): 52 .

Joshi, and Knight, 2015 Joshi , A. and A.P. Knight , “Who defers to whom and why? dual pathways linking demographic differences and dyadic deference to team effectiveness” , Academy of Management Journal , 58 no. 1 ( 2015 ): 59 – 84 .

Kalpazidou Schmidt, and Cacace, 2017 Kalpazidou Schmidt , E. and M. Cacace , “Addressing gender inequality in science: the multifaceted challenge of assessing impact” , Research Evaluation , 26 ( 2017 ): 1 – 13 .

Kolboske, 2021 Kolboske , B. , “Hierarchies. Lotta support, little science? scientists and secretaries in the Max Planck Society” , in Fundamental Questions: Gender Dimensions in Max Planck Research Projects , 1st ed., Eds U. Weber ( Baden-Baden : Nomos , 2021 ): 105 – 134 .

Mafaalani, 2018 Mafaalani , A. el, Das Integrationsparadox: Warum gelungene Integration zu mehr Konflikten führt [The integration paradox: Why successful integration leads to more conflict.] , 2nd ed. ( Cologne : Kiepenheuer & Witsch , 2018 ).

Marquis, Lim, Scott, Harrell, and Kavanagh, 2008 Marquis , J.P. , N. Lim , L.M. Scott , C.H. Harrell , and J. Kavanagh , Managing diversity in corporate America – an exploratory analysis ( RAND Corporation , 2008 ). Available at: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2007/RAND_OP206.pdf

Matthies, and Zimmermann, 2010 Matthies , H. and K. Zimmermann , “Gender equality in the research system [Gleichstellung in Der Wissenschaft]” , in Handbook Science Policy [Handbuch Wissenschaftspolitik] , Eds D. Simon , A. Knie , and S. Hornbostel ( Wiesbaden : VS Verlag , 2010 ): 193 – 209 .

Mayntz, 2010 Mayntz , R. , “Legitimacy and compliance in transnational governance” , MPIfG Working Paper, No. 10/5 ( Cologne : Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies , 2010 ).

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine , Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine ( Washington, DC : The National Academies Press , 2018) .

Nature Editorial, 2021 Nature Editorial , “COVID is amplifying the inadequacy of research-evaluation processes” , Nature , 591 no. 7 ( 2021 ). doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-00527-9

Nielsen, Bloch, and Schiebinger, 2018 Nielsen , M.W. , C.W. Bloch , and L. Schiebinger , “Making gender diversity work for scientific discovery and innovation” , Nature Human Behaviour , 2 ( 2018 ): 726 – 734 .

OECD, 2018 OECD , “Gender in a changing context for STI” , in OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2018 Adapting to Technological and Societal Disruption , Ed. OECD, OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook ( Paris : OECD Publishing , 2018 ): 163 – 284 .

Palmén, Schmidt, Striebing, Reidl, Bührer, and Groó, 2019 Palmén , R. , E.K. Schmidt , C. Striebing , S. Reidl , S. Bührer , and D. Groó , “Measuring gender in R&I – theories, methods, and experience” , Interdisciplinary Science Reviews , 44 no. 2 ( 2019 ): 154 – 165 .

Sørensen, and Traweek, 2021 Sørensen , K.H. and S. Traweek , Questing Excellence in Academia ( London : Routledge , 2021) .

Squazzoni, Bravo, Grimaldo, García-Costa, Farjam, and Mehmani, 2021 Squazzoni , F. , G. Bravo , F. Grimaldo , D. García-Costa , M. Farjam , and B. Mehmani , “Gender gap in journal submissions and peer review during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A study on 2329 Elsevier journals” , PLOS ONE 16 , no. 10 ( 2021 ).

Thomas, 2020 Thomas , K.M. , Diversity Resistance in Organizations ( New York : Routledge , 2020) .

van den Brink, and Benschop, 2012 van den Brink , M. and Y. Benschop , “Slaying the seven-headed dragon: the quest for gender change in academia” , Gender, Work and Organization , 19 no. 1 ( 2012 ): 71 – 92 .

van Dick, van Knippenberg, Hägele, Guillaume, and Brodbeck, 2008 van Dick , R. , D. van Knippenberg , S. Hägele , Y.R.F. Guillaume , and F.C. Brodbeck , “Group diversity and group identification: the moderating role of diversity beliefs” , Human Relations , 61 no. 10 ( 2008 ): 1463 – 1492 .

Vandevelde-Rougale, 2016 Vandevelde-Rougale , A. , “Discours managérial, lissage de la parole et vacillement du rapport au langage: l’empêchement de l’expression subjective des émotions” , Langage et Société , 158 ( 2016 ): 35 – 50 .

Wang, and Barabási, 2021 Wang , D. and A.-L. Barabási , Eds, The Science of Science ( Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2021) .

Westhues, 2021 Westhues , K. , “Three stories and five questions arising from research on academic mobbing1” , Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung , 1–2 ( 2021 ): 118 – 127 .

WR (German Research Council), 2018 WR (German Research Council) , Empfehlungen zur Hochschulgovernance (Recommendations on university governance). Print 7328-18 ( 2018 ). Available at: https://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/archiv/7328-18.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=15 accessed on 13 August 2020.

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Ending Discrimination in Education: a key instrument to protect the right to education

With the world’s most vulnerable children and youth at risk of missing out on education as a fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, UNESCO is urging all countries to protect better the fundamental right to learn by ratifying the Convention against Discrimination in Education, adopted on 14 December 60 years ago. 

As part of a new campaign to raise awareness of the Convention, UNESCO is  launching a conversation  about extending our understanding of the right to education to reflect increasingly crucial global needs, namely digital inclusion, learners’ data privacy and access to lifelong learning.

The Convention, the first legally binding international instrument entirely dedicated to the right to education, has been ratified by 106 countries to date: 28% of countries in the Asia Pacific region, 46.8% in sub-Saharan Africa, 60.6% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 63.1% in Arab States to 68% and 88% respectively in Western Europe and North America, and Eastern Europe.

When they ratify the Convention, countries establish, or upgrade, policy and/or legal frameworks to meet international standards, guarantee the right to education and counter discrimination. As such, the Convention represents a powerful tool to advance the 4th Sustainable Development Goal “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all."

Discrimination remains pervasive in education, whether on the basis of disability, gender, language, income, ethnicity, religion, migration or displacement status. About 258 million children and youth around the world are out of school, while 773 million adults, two-thirds of whom are women, are illiterate, according to data from UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing inequalities worldwide, increasing the likelihood that vulnerable students be left behind. UNESCO estimates that over 24 million learners, from the pre-primary to tertiary levels, including more than 11 million girls, risk dropping out of education. According to UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report, about 40% of low and lower-middle income countries have not been able to support disadvantaged learners during school closures, exacerbating inequalities. One third of students – close to 500 million – were not able to access remote learning solutions, underlining the urgency of making connectivity a right.

To build back better, education systems must integrate rights-based, inclusive and non-discriminatory practices in line with the obligations enshrined in the Convention. 

UNESCO’s “End Discrimination in Education” campaign aims to raise awareness of the Convention, strengthen implementation and monitoring, extend ratification and stimulate reflection on new related rights needed to prevent an exacerbation of inequalities in the digital age.

• Media Contact:  Clare O’Hagan
• Read the  text of the Convention
• Join the UNESCO  ‘Say no to discrimination in education’  #RightToEducation campaign 
• UNESCO’s work on the  right to education
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics

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This article is related to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals .

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Neag School of Education

Reducing racism in schools: the promise of anti-racist policies.

• by: Britney L. Jones
• September 22, 2020
• Community Engagement

Introduction

In 2020, the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others led to a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement across the nation and around the globe. The revitalization of this movement has come with increased public demand for policy change, and specific calls for anti-racist policies in schools. As a result, many educational leaders are grappling with what this means for their respective contexts, and the extent to which their school or district’s current policies measure up to public demand.

Educating and training teachers and administrators on how to enact culturally relevant and inclusive practices is one step towards eliminating racism in schools.

Educating and training teachers and administrators on how to enact culturally relevant and inclusive practices is one step towards eliminating racism in schools. Expressing a commitment to anti-racism through school policies, statements, guidelines, or codes takes these efforts a step further. Within the last decade, some schools and districts have penned their own anti-racist policies to detail the steps they are taking to disrupt racism within their locale. In this brief, I describe these policies and highlight recent initiatives aimed at eliminating racism in schools. As school and district leaders advance their own anti-racist policies and objectives, this policy brief provides guidance based on the practices of diverse districts in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Anti-Racist Policy in Schools

Anti-racist policies are usually documents drafted by a governing body and disseminated to staff, parents, and students in a particular district or school. Similar to a code of conduct, school handbook, or anti-bullying policy, the policy states the organization’s commitment to anti-racism and lays out procedures that must be followed in order to uphold the organization’s commitment to the cause of dismantling racism to create an inclusive, equity-oriented environment. Over the past decade, schools and districts, both nationally and internationally, have written and adopted policies to address racism, discrimination, and inequity in schools. U.S. districts often refer to these policies as equity policies, while in places such as the United Kingdom (U.K.), Australia, Ireland, and South Africa, similar policies are usually entitled anti-racist policies. Despite the difference in name, they often share similar objectives and features. Anti-racist and equity policies typically start with a statement of assurance that the board or governing body has considered the importance of racial equity, followed by a renunciation of discriminatory behavior within their context. Next, the document includes a definition of racism. Then, these policies describe the steps taken by the governing body to ensure equity or anti-racism.

Components of Anti-Racist Policy: Areas to Address

For this brief I examined over 25 publicly available equity or anti-racist policies from several states in the U.S. and from schools in Australia, South Africa, Ireland and the U.K. I found that most policies address racism through the lenses of:

• school environment,
• incident reporting,
• data analysis, and

After addressing these components, policies typically offer guidance or present action steps to support implementation. These include:

• providing a clear and accurate definition of racism for consumers of the policy,
• devising a plan for policy dissemination,
• appointing an anti-racist committee or point person,
• coupling equity/anti-racist policy with other school or district-wide policies, and
• partnering with external organizations.

Below I briefly describe each of these components.

School Environment: Creating an Anti-Racist/Equity-Oriented Culture and Climate

Most of the policies discuss the school environment at length. Generally, they describe ways in which school staff can create and maintain a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students. One way policies describe achieving this goal is through representation of multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds in curricula, texts, hallway displays, and digital media. They also state the importance of incorporating positive role models and discussing issues of race and diversity within classrooms and during school-wide events. Several anti-racist/equity policies advocate events focusing on diversity and empathy building, such as Friendship Week or Multicultural Week. Policies also describe building teachers’ awareness of racism and bias as a means to shift culture and climate in the school. These policies require teachers to be mindful of cultural assumptions and bias, develop racial literacy, enact cultural responsiveness, and understand their own identity. In the Anti-Racist Policy of Bure Valley School in the U.K., the authors offer specific examples of how this can be done, asserting that students “should be confident to speak, hear or read in their home language in school” and have their names “accurately recorded and correctly pronounced” by teachers (p. 2).

Reporting: Developing a System for Reporting Racial Incidents

Most policies also detail reporting requirements. Authors of these policies aim to ensure a system is in place to deal with incidents of racism and discrimination. This component often lays out a specific procedure for responding to an incident including requiring a written report, timeline for resolution, documentation of resolution, and family notification. In addition to forms for reporting, many anti-racist/equity policies require a racism logbook or place for complaints to be recorded permanently. These policies also describe ways in which schools could support students who may be victims of a racist or discriminatory act. Some policies note that support for students involved in an incident should be ongoing and coupled with psychological or mental health services. Additionally, some policies encourage schools to help students feel empowered to report incidents and develop strategies for dealing with racial conflict.

Staffing: Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining Diverse Staff with Equity/Anti-Racist Mindsets

Many of the policies emphasize the need to recruit and retain staff members dedicated to anti-racism, and committed to providing equity-based training for new and veteran educators. In its equity statement, the Princeton Public Schools District in New Jersey states, “The goal is to attract, develop, inspire, and retain a diverse workforce within a supportive environment.” Several other schools and districts echo this sentiment within their policies by describing their efforts to diversify their staff, both in terms of demographics and beliefs. They attempt to fulfill this goal through recruitment of culturally and linguistically diverse teachers and administrators. They articulate the importance of hiring staff that mirrors the student population. Some districts or schools call for staff hiring to follow equal opportunity hiring procedures and the use of equity-oriented criteria for selection. For teachers already employed, policies name professional development and new staff training as opportunities to provide new learning around racial consciousness and inclusivity.

Data Analysis: Employing an Equity Lens to Identify Disparities and Inform Decision-Making

Several policies aim to challenge racism through race conscious data collection and review. According to these policies, “effective” review of data means testing for differences across student demographic groups in access, performance, and discipline. The Portland Public School District in Oregon suggests using data to identify and modify assessments that lead to over or under-representation of minoritized groups. For example, some policies identify focus areas such special education identification and suspension for review given the history of over-representation of students from minoritized groups in special education and among suspensions. Some state the goal of increasing the number of minoritized students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses. Others call for a closer look at how selective admissions criteria for enrollment may lead to adverse effects and the ways in which admissions testing may disadvantage students of color. Baltimore City Public Schools in Maryland states their plan to disaggregate data to “analyze trends, identify gaps, and develop racial equity priorities” (p. 4). To fulfill this objective of equity-oriented data analysis, some policies highlight the need for constant monitoring and reporting on progress towards goals.

Funding: Assessing and Allocating Funds for Equity Purposes

While undoubtedly important, funding is mentioned in only a few of the anti-racist/equity policies. Policymakers in Baltimore include the following line in their policy: “Ensure that purchasing/procurement practices provide access and economic opportunities within communities represented by students of color” (p. 4). This is one way that educational institutions can be mindful of their economic impact on the community. Schools may also decide to allot funds to ensure attainment of aforementioned objectives such as equitable hiring, staff training, and data analysis resources.

While undoubtedly important, funding is mentioned in only a few of the anti-racist/equity policies.

In sum, the policies reviewed tend to address five areas to enhance anti-racism and equity in their contexts. Creating equity-oriented objectives in the areas of school environment, incident reporting, staffing, data analysis, and funding is an important start. However, when drafting these documents, policymakers should include additional guidelines to support the implementation of anti-racist policies. Next, I describe some of the ways existing policies attempt to ensure attainment of policy objectives.

Components of Anti-Racist Policy: Process Elements to Support Implementation

Clearly and Accurately Define Racism

One way to create strong anti-racist policy is by providing a clear definition of racism to frame the policy. In addition to setting context for the policy, opening with a definition creates an opportunity to educate readers and norm on the school or district’s understanding of racism. Such definitions vary across policies. Some of the international anti-racist policies begin by distinguishing between personal and institutional racism and offer clear definitions for each. For example, in the U.K. the Truro School’s Anti-Racist policy relies on a definition from The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report, which states that institutional racism is “the collective failure of an organisation to 
provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin.” The policy continues: “when a child is subject to racist bullying or harassment, their behaviour and attainment are likely to be affected; if the behaviour is treated in isolation without taking into consideration the issues and effects of racism, this can be described as institutional racism. The racist element must be explicitly recognised and dealt with” (p. 2). This definition is provided before any other components of the policy are explained. Policymakers should consider how their context defines equity and racism before laying out a plan to address these issues. Consumers of anti-racist policy may be better equipped to follow subsequent guidelines if they have a foundational understanding of the problem and the purpose of the policy.

Policy Dissemination

The second way policymakers intend to make these policies come alive is through a plan for dissemination. Many policies are available online, on the school or district website. Other strategies for distribution include a physical copy in a designated location such as a school’s main office and inclusion in student and staff handbooks. One district states that a summary of the policy will be included in students’ yearly planners. Other ideas for dissemination include public displays in prominent areas of the school, placement in newsletters, and discussions during assemblies. Importantly, several anti-racist/equity policies name all parties that should review the policy, including staff, parents, students, contractors, service provides, and any other school visitors.  

  Appointing a Committee or Point-Person

The third way policymakers support implementation of these policies is by putting an individual or group in charge of monitoring the school’s progress towards goals. In some cases this is the superintendent or another school leader; in other contexts, an equity committee is charged with this responsibility. For example, in Shaker Heights, Ohio there is an equity task force made up of 11 educators, nine community members, and two students. In general, the governing body or individual is required to report to the school board, make recommendations based on data, promote alignment between equity and other goals, present tools or resources, and ensure compliance with state and federal laws. Most policies describe the need for an annual report or review as part of their action plan.

Coupling Anti-Racist/Equity Policies with Other School Policies

A fourth way to promote accountability and adherence to anti-racist/equity policy is by associating it with other school policies, especially those that are well established. Most of the policies reviewed for this brief are linked to other policies focusing on topics such as: discipline, behavior, anti-bullying, school safety, the staff code of conduct, and the student code of conduct. Several anti-racist/equity policies identify their relationship to standards and curriculum and federal laws regarding race and discrimination. Attaching these policies to existing initiatives helps to integrate them into the organizational fabric of these educational institutions.

Partnering with External Organizations

Finally, to support implementation of anti-racist policy, schools and districts should seek guidance from organizations already committed to anti-racist work. Several policies name equity-based or anti-racist organizations with which they were affiliated. This is an important component because it lessens the burden on educational systems to deal with complex issues of race and equity on their own and presents the opportunity to rely on the expertise of government agencies, universities, community organizations, research organizations, and anti-racist nonprofits. This can also facilitate and strengthen relationships between schools and communities.

A Promising Example

As mentioned above, many of the existing anti-racist and equity policies were drafted after 2010. Yet, recent events and the current sociopolitical climate signal the need to revisit and strengthen these policies. One district has done just this. In June 2020, the Indianapolis Public School District in Indiana, led by superintendent Aleesia Johnson, unanimously adopted a new Racial Equity Policy and publicly affirmed that Black lives matter in a resolution. Resolution No. 7861 and Board Policy 1619 – Racial Equity Mindset, Commitment, and Actions comes at a time when the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement is palpable. This district is demonstrating how to use policy, first, to take responsibility for systemic failure to adequately support Black and Brown students in the past, and, second, to plan for a better future.

In June 2020, the Indianapolis Public School District in Indiana, led by superintendent Aleesia Johnson, unanimously adopted a new Racial Equity Policy and publicly affirmed that Black lives matter in a resolution. Resolution No. 7861 and Board Policy 1619 – Racial Equity Mindset, Commitment, and Actions comes at a time when the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement is palpable.

With this new policy, the Indianapolis Public School District details specific action steps to increase racial equity. These include:

• partnership with the Racial Equity Institute (which helps organizations challenge systems of power and increase equity);
• restructuring, reducing, and auditing police presence and practices in schools;
• implementing a Supplier Diversity Policy with the aim of supporting local businesses (particularly those owned by women, people of color, and veterans);
• creating school-based equity teams for data analysis;
• increasing the recruitment and retention of Black staff;
• ensuring equitable enrollment across school types;
• shifting the budget to be more student centered and allocating funds to aid schools demonstrating the highest need; and
• considering how housing segregation impacts school choice and limiting boundaries to school access in the enrollment process.

We can all learn from this policy, with its high level of detail alongside the very public commitment by the board and superintendent. Not only does this new policy incorporate many of the aforementioned components such as commitment to reform in the areas of funding, data analysis, and school environment, the Indianapolis Public School (IPS) District has also developed strong plans to support its implementation. The district has partnered with the Racial Equity Institute to refine goals and train staff. IPS also signals the importance of considering other areas of anti-racist policy reform such as police presence in schools, and recognizing Juneteenth as a district holiday. It is also worthwhile to note that the IPS district acted swiftly by moving up the release of this new policy (initially set to be released later in the summer) to respond to recent acts of racism and injustice in the national news. Other districts around the country should follow IPS’s lead.

Recommendations for Creating Anti-Racist Policies

The components of existing equity/anti-racist education policies described above provide a general understanding of what these policies should include: equity-oriented objectives for school climate, incident reporting, staffing, data analysis, and funding. The creators of these policies should also consider providing a clear definition of racism, laying out a plan regarding how to communicate the objectives of the policy to the broader community, specifying the individual(s) who will oversee policy implementation, identifying the connections between anti-racist policy and other school policies, and outlining how to leverage partnerships with external organizations committed to increasing equity.

In addition to these components, I share two additional suggestions for those drafting anti-racist policy. The first addresses the accessibility of anti-racist policy and associated tools or resources. The second deals with attention to the personal and interpersonal work that must be done to implement anti-racist policy. I describe each in further detail below.

Accessibility

Several schools and districts made their policies and equity tools easily accessible to staff and the public alike. Having materials and policies readily available increases the likelihood that teachers and school leaders have access to and use resources. It also creates a more collegial environment as other schools and districts attempt to create their own anti-racist policies. For example, the Minneapolis Public School District in Minnesota shares an Equity and Diversity Impact Assessment tool on their website, and the Jefferson County Public School District in Louisville, Kentucky publicly shares their tools for equity analysis. Rather than reinventing tools, other districts may choose to cite and borrow from such existing assessments. The Shaker Heights, Ohio School District website provides a link to an equity resources page with suggested reading and links to equity-oriented organizations, while the Indianapolis Public Schools website has a link to its  “Say Their Names” toolkit “to help foster productive conversations about race and civil disobedience.” Links to these sorts of additional resources, readings, and campaigns offer helpful guidance as schools and districts across the country, and beyond, attempt to strengthen their anti-racist efforts.

Attention to the Personal and Interpersonal Work of Anti-Racist Policy Implementation

Districts and schools seeking to advance anti-racism and equity can attend to the aforementioned components to create effective policy. However, they must also consider the deeply personal work that is required alongside anti-racist reform. Many of these policies ask school staff to interrogate their own biases, positions of power, and privilege. The extent to which these types of personal reflection are encouraged and occur contextualizes policy implementation. Based on a study done with schools in California, the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education identified characteristics of schools with a record of narrowing the impact of racism and inequity. The authors stress the need for equity-oriented school leaders to guide staff and high levels of trust among members of the school community. This report highlights the need to consider the ways in which school-level features and interactions matter for the implementation of anti-racist or equity policy. Thus, in addition to focusing on the components within anti-racist or equity policies, we must also consider the characteristics and dispositions associated with positive change and increased student performance at the school and district level.

Some districts have supported educators in engaging in the vital personal and interpersonal work necessary to advance anti-racism and equity. Pat Savage-Williams, president of Evanston Township Board of Education in Illinois, shares advice for fellow board members looking to challenge racial inequity. In her article posted on the school board website , she promotes many of the components described in this brief, such as being data informed, using school budgets to limit disparities, and developing external partnerships. Additionally, she suggests that board members be willing to undergo a personal journey of reflection and understanding to expand their knowledge of racial issues, and should “expect opposition.” This example underscores the work that must be done on an individual and interpersonal level to make these policies come alive.

This policy described the topics addressed in anti-racist schooling policies and outlined the shifts educational leaders are making to strengthen and clarify not only their policies, but also their personal stance on racism and equity.Policymakers must consider how they define racism, the objectives of anti-racist policy, and how to make the policy actionable. After creating and revising anti-racist policies, policymakers must also consider the characteristics of the school community in which these documents will live. Following these steps can lead to policy changes that interrupt the status quo. As students and communities demand change, educational institutions must consider how they will respond and whether that response disrupts or facilitates systems of inequity.  

Britney L. Jones is a doctoral candidate in the Learning, Leadership, and Education Policy program at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. Her research interests include culturally relevant and inclusive practices in K-12 contexts with a focus on teachers’ sociopolitical consciousness. Her doctoral work follows a BA in education studies and an MA in elementary teaching, both from Brown University. Britney also worked previously as a fourth-grade teacher and science curriculum developer. For more information, contact [email protected] .

CEPA is a research center based at the Neag School that seeks to inform educational leaders and policymakers on issues related to the development, implementation, and consequences of education policies.  Learn more about CEPA at  cepare.uconn.edu . Access the original PDF of this issue brief (including the complete Appendix).

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Five actions you can take against racism and discrimination

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) says that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and that we all have the right to a life free from discrimination and degrading treatment.  

Unfortunately, the history of the world has seen too many crimes of hate and discrimination. But this doesn’t have to be the reality we live with . From the civil rights movement in the USA in the 1960s, to the fall of apartheid in South Africa, many people have come together to fight racism and discrimination , and they have achieved remarkable things.  

But the work is far from finished and we all have a role to play . There are things we can do as individuals, but we can also call on our decision makers to put in place policies and programmes to bring lasting change to our communities. 

1. Listen and educate yourself 

Pay attention to the voices of people who experience racism every day – listen to friends, classmates, neighbours, and community leaders. 

There are also a lot of articles, books, documentaries, films and podcasts on issues of racism, discrimination and privilege.  Listen to what the people in them have to say. Understand and confront your own privilege. Be prepared to feel uncomfortable at times. Many of us absorb biases and prejudices at an early age, so they are not easy to unlearn.

2. Raise awareness 

Share the resources that you have found useful with your community to help them learn how they can play a role in ending racism and discrimination. If you have younger siblings or family members, set a good example for them. Try to look for games or books that can help them learn that we all have a right to dignity and safety - there are lots online.  

3. Challenge everyday discrimination and racism  

Racism and discrimination happen around us all the time. Often it is in the form of jokes, stereotypes or insensitive comments and questions from our friends, family members or colleagues. If you witness a friend or family member saying racist or discriminatory things, you should talk to them, if you feel safe to do so. Approach them privately first – in person or via direct message.

They are more likely to be receptive if they don’t feel publicly embarrassed. Point out to them that what they are saying is racist or discriminatory and remind them that everyone has the right to dignity and that in many countries it is against the law to discriminate against a person because of the color of their skin, their ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Encourage them to learn more about the historical context of racial prejudice and discrimination, and share resources that you have found helpful.   

If you see someone being bullied or harassed, intervene if it is safe to do so. 

4. Report racist or discriminatory content online 

Many social media platforms want their platforms to be safe and empowering for people of all backgrounds. If you see content that you think violates their guidelines, report it to the platform. 

If you see content in a newspaper or other traditional media that reflects prejudice, leave a comment or  send a letter to the editor to let others know that intolerant remarks are unkind and uncalled for. 

5. Is your school or university against racism and discrimination? 

Schools and universities should be safe places for children and young people of all races and ethnicities. Find out whether your school or university has a policy on non-discrimination and racism, safe ways to report incidents, support services, and programmes or initiatives to promote tolerance, diversity and inclusion. If not, work with other students and school/university management to start a discussion and identify ways in which your place of learning can become a safer and more empowering environment for all students.  

If you have other suggestions, share them in the comments below or submit a blog or spark .

Extra actions for young storytellers 

share your story .

It is important that the stories and experiences of people who face racism and discrimination are told. At the same time, we understand this can be very difficult and painful.  If it feels safe and empowering, tell your story and share your experiences.  

? Amplify the voices of people who experience discrimination and racism 

Rather than speaking for people, use your platforms to amplify the voices of people who experience discrimination and racism directly. 

✍️ Telling someone else’s story 

If you are telling the story of someone who comes from a very different background to you based on their race or ethnicity avoid using words or phrases that are stereotypical or insensitive. Think about how you are portraying the person – are you presenting them as a full human being with a range of interests and experiences? Make sure you do your research beforehand and think about the images you use – do they treat someone with dignity and respect, or do they perpetuate stereotypes? Would you like to be portrayed in this way? 

This also applies to telling the stories of people who have different experiences form you based on their gender identity, religion, socioeconomic group, migration status or disability.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Five things you and your family can do now to help create a more just society

Learning about racism and discrimination

View the discussion thread.

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Why voices need to be heard

SAVE & PLANT TREES! - Empowering Climate Activism and Environmental Awareness on a Global Scale

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C 2019 Voices of Youth. All Rights Reserved. 

Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Discrimination — Discrimination in the Workplace

Discrimination in The Workplace

• Categories: Discrimination Social Justice Women's Rights

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Published: Mar 16, 2024

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Racial discrimination, gender discrimination, other forms of discrimination.

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How to Avoid Discrimination

Last Updated: April 20, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by James Fett . James Fett is a Lawyer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in alternative dispute resolution, civil litigation, civil rights, class actions, commercial litigation, employment litigation, and labor & employment. James earned a J.D. from The University of Michigan Law School as well as an MBA and BA from The University of Michigan. In 2001, he was awarded a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, and the Washtenaw Trial Lawyers Association named him Lawyer of the Year in 1996. He’s also been named a Michigan Super Lawyer by Law & Politics Magazine and one of the ten Most Outstanding Lawyers of the Year by Michigan Lawyers Weekly. There are 18 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 220,819 times.

Discrimination is defined as treating someone differently based on race, religion, gender, sexuality, age, or disability. It is important to foster an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere to avoid discrimination. In the workplace and school, put equal opportunity policies in place. If you rent or sell homes, take care that you do not accidentally include exclusive language or barriers while advertising your property. Even in daily interactions, you can reduce your bias by trying more open and accepting practices.

Avoiding Discrimination at Work

• Emphasize that jokes based on gender, sexuality, race, or religion are not acceptable to make in the workplace.
• Forbid derogatory language, such as racial slurs or insults based on age, disability, gender, religion, or sexuality.
• State that promotions, raises, and other opportunities will be decided on experience and skills, not on race, gender, sexuality, age, or religion.

• Consequences may include anti-discrimination training, a workshop with HR, or (depending on your industry) temporary leave.
• Make sure that employees understand that incidents of discrimination will be factored into their performance reviews.

• Focus on skills, such as years of experience, technical capability, or degree requirements. Do not state that the ideal job is for young people, retirees, men, U.S. citizens, or other groups, as these can all be considered forms of discrimination.
• Insert a diversity and inclusion policy into your job advertisement. State that you are an equal opportunity workplace and do not discriminate based on gender, race, religion, ethnicity, or disability.

• Do not tell the person that they are being “too sensitive” or “imagining things.”
• Depending on the severity of the accusation, you may need to enforce disciplinary action, such as sensitivity training or job probation.
• If your business is too small for a dedicated HR position, appoint someone to be a “contact officer,” who is responsible for handling discrimination issues in addition to their normal duties.

• Training should include topics of gender, race, LGBTQ+ status, size, disability, religion, and age.

• Installing a ramp at a retail location, installing a sit/stand desk for an employee with a chronic back problem, or protecting an autistic person's ability to fidget at board meetings helps people with mobility issues, physical disabilities, or mental difficulties.
• If an employee asks to leave early for a doctor’s appointment or to work from home because of medical issues, it's best to give them the flexibility that they need. If the requests become extensive or constant, it may be time to chat with the employee about what's going on.

• For example, a formal restaurant can refuse service if the customer is not wearing formal attire.
• A formal restaurant, though, cannot refuse service solely because the customer is wearing a head covering for religious reasons.

Stopping Discrimination in Schools

Joseph Meyer

Support social justice practices in your school. Use data to explore social justice issues. Analyze who's enrolling in classes at school by factors like race and gender to identify potential inequalities. Discuss the implications of these findings with others and brainstorm solutions to promote equity.

• Reasonable accommodation includes allowing them to use special devices in class, using a note taker, giving them extra time on tests, or giving the student more time to get between classes.
• Make sure that your school has ramps, elevators, and other structures to improve accessibility at the school.
• Even if the child does not have an IEP yet, work with them and their parents to create an accommodation plan that will help them succeed. This will help you avoid any claims of disability discrimination.

• You might give the bullies detention or move them to a different class. You can also offer after-school counseling and sensitivity training to repeat offenders.

Reducing Housing Discrimination

• For example, don’t say that you would prefer young women to live in your home or that you don’t rent to students.
• Even words like “ideal for families” or “a perfect bachelor pad” can be seen as discrimination, as it might seem as though you are requesting a certain type of applicant.

• For example, don’t ask 1 person for more references just because they are young and single. Ask each potential tenant for the same number of references.
• If someone calls and asks about the home, make sure to give them the same exact information as you do everyone else. Don’t make assumptions about them based on their name or accent.

Speaking without Bias

• If you're not sure what language a specific person prefers, don't be afraid to ask them!
• When you're uncertain of someone's gender, stick to gender-neutral terms like “partner” instead of "boyfriend" or "girlfriend," “they” instead of “he” or “she,” and “parent” instead of “mom” or “dad.” Use your best judgment for when it is appropriate to use more gender-specific words.
• You may think a derogatory term is “okay” because a friend from a certain group might say it. Keep in mind, however, that this does not necessarily mean that it is acceptable for you to use that term.

• It is common for certain groups of people to be silenced, ignored, or rejected because of their gender, race, religion, or identity. Even if you disagree with an idea, thank the person for giving it.
• Repeat back what people say so that they know you are listening. You can say, “What I am hearing is that you feel upset when your ideas are ignored.”
• In a group setting, make sure that everyone has a chance to be heard. If 1 person is monopolizing the conversation, say something like, “Thanks for your time. Now let’s hear from someone else.”

• Don't ask someone what country they are from just because you think they look or sound like an immigrant.
• If someone asks you to use certain pronouns to refer to them, respect their wishes.
• If you're uncertain about something, ask politely. For example, you might ask, “Do you mind if I ask what terminology you prefer?"

• Just because something is meant to be a joke doesn't mean that others won't find it offensive.

• Volunteer at a charity.
• Join a social justice club.
• Take a class to learn a new skill.
• Visit a house of worship.
• Attend a cultural festival.
• Write to an international pen pal.

Anti-Discrimination Help for Employers and Teachers

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Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about discrimination, check out our in-depth interview with James Fett .

• ↑ https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2012/03/pdf/lgbt_biz_discrimination.pdf
• ↑ https://www.thehartford.com/business-playbook/in-depth/preventing-discrimination-job-employment-ads
• ↑ https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/dealing-discrimination-employer/if-worker-complains-you
• ↑ https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/pages/010215-cross-cultural-training.aspx
• ↑ http://employers.grb.uk.com/promoting-diversity
• ↑ http://www.understandingprejudice.org/teach/elemtips.htm
• ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/27/local/me-43565
• ↑ http://www.apa.org/pi/disability/dart/toolkit-three.aspx
• ↑ http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/discrimination.aspx
• ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1995-02-12/realestate/re-31144_1_fair-housing
• ↑ https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/choosing-tenants-avoid-fair-housing-29816.html
• ↑ https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/guidelines-inclusive-language
• ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/06/07/11-ways-male-leaders-can-adjust-communication-in-order-to-be-more-inclusive-to-women/#6e25467a4638
• ↑ https://www.glaad.org/transgender/allies
• ↑ http://open.lib.umn.edu/socialpsychology/chapter/12-3-reducing-discrimination/

About This Article

It’s important to avoid discrimination and instead encourage inclusivity by speaking out against bias. In your everyday life, use inclusive language instead of derogatory terms. For example, if you’re uncertain of a person’s gender, use neutral terms, like “partner” instead of “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.” It’s also important to listen to others when they explain their ideas or experiences, whether you agree with or understand them or not. If you’re in a group setting, make sure that no one person or group dominates the conversation. Instead, try to emphasize a variety of voices and opinions and make sure that no one person or group feels silenced. To learn how to avoid discrimination in the workplace, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Policy on preventing discrimination because of gender identity and gender expression, page controls, page content.

Approved by the OHRC: January 31, 2014 Official release date: April 14, 2014 Available in accessible formats on request

People who are transgender, or gender non-conforming, come from all walks of life. Yet they are one of the most disadvantaged groups in society. Trans people routinely experience discrimination, harassment and even violence because their gender identity or gender expression is different from their birth-assigned sex.

Under the Ontario Human Rights Code (the Code ) people are protected from discrimination and harassment because of gender identity and gender expression in employment, housing, facilities and services, contracts, and membership in unions, trade or professional associations.

Gender identity is each person’s internal and individual experience of gender. It is their sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum. A person’s gender identity may be the same as or different from their birth-assigned sex. Gender identity is fundamentally different from a person’s sexual orientation.

Gender expression is how a person publicly presents their gender. This can include behaviour and outward appearance such as dress, hair, make-up, body language and voice. A person’s chosen name and pronoun are also common ways of expressing gender.

Trans or transgender is an umbrella term referring to people with diverse gender identities and expressions that differ from stereotypical gender norms. It includes but is not limited to people who identify as transgender, trans woman (male-to-female), trans man (female-to-male), transsexual, cross-dresser, gender non-conforming, gender variant or gender queer.

Discrimination happens when a person experiences negative treatment or impact, intentional or not, because of their gender identity or gender expression. It can be direct and obvious or subtle and hidden, but harmful just the same. It can also happen on a bigger systemic level such as organizational rules or policies that look neutral but end up excluding trans people. Friends, family or others who face discrimination because of their association with a trans person are also protected.

Harassment is a form of discrimination. It can include sexually explicit or other inappropriate comments, questions, jokes, name-calling, images, email and social media, transphobic, homophobic or other bullying, sexual advances, touching and other unwelcome and ongoing behaviour that insults, demeans, harms or threatens a person in some way. Assault or other violent behaviour is also a criminal matter. Trans people and other persons can experience harassing behaviour because of their gender identity or expression (gender-based harassment) and/or their sex (sexual harassment).

Social stereotypes about gender, and prejudice and fear towards trans people are often at the root of discrimination and harassment. Negative attitudes about a trans person’s racial identity, family status or other grounds can combine or intersect to make things worse.

Everyone has the right to define their own gender identity. Trans people should be recognized and treated as the gender they live in, whether or not they have undergone surgery, or their identity documents are up to date.

An organization should have a valid reason for collecting and using personal information that identifies a person’s gender. They should keep this information confidential. Trans people can have their name or sex designation changed on identity documents and other records. The criteria and process should not be intrusive or medically based.

Trans people should have access to washrooms, change rooms and other gender specific services and facilities based on their lived gender identity.

Dress code policies should be inclusive and flexible. They should not prevent trans people and others from dressing according to their expressed gender.

Organizations should design or change their rules, practices and facilities to avoid negative effects on trans people and be more inclusive for everyone. Any exceptions must be legitimate in the circumstances, and trans people must be provided any needed accommodation unless it would cause undue hardship.

The duty to accommodate the needs of trans people is a shared responsibility. Everyone involved should cooperate in the process, exchange only necessary information and explore options while respecting privacy.

Trans people and other gender non-conforming individuals should not be treated negatively while at work, at school, trying to rent an apartment, shopping, eating a meal in a restaurant, using health care services or shelters, dealing with law enforcement and justice services, or at any other time.

Organizations are liable for any discrimination and harassment that happens. They are also liable for not accommodating a trans person’s needs unless it would cause undue hardship. They must deal with complaints, take steps to prevent problems and provide a safe, welcoming environment for trans people.

Organizations should learn about the needs of trans people, look for barriers, develop or change policies and procedures and undertake training. This will help make sure trans people and other gender non-conforming individuals are treated with dignity and respect and enjoy equal rights and freedom from discrimination.

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