EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION DISCRIMINATION MANUAL
PANGEA
Terms and concepts What is discrimination? systematic unequal treatment of a specific group or members of group based on their characteristics or perceived properties. regular and systemic practices, where a group of people sharing certain characteristics – natural or acquired – is treated differently. This also include groups that others perceive as having certain characteristics, that face differential treatment because of these perceptions. this definition enables us to see discrimination as practices emerging in concrete political, social and historical contexts. what a culture defines as legitimate and illegitimate discrimination depends on many of factors.
Realizing how Discourses enforce hegemony and Injustice on Minority Groups If we want to achieve social justice and change for minorities and oppressed members of society, we have to focus on systems that (re)produce regulates, distributes and circulates statements that lead to oppression we need to free ourselves from any socialization that promotes oppression and normalizes the inhumanity and discrimination. this also requires open and honest discourses and above all the readiness to acknowledge the older discourses we also need to analyze how public discourses reinforce power and dominance over oppressed groups When power is integrated into laws, rules, norms and a general consensus, then power is transformed into hegemony. Examples for hegemony can be sexism and racism.
Realizing how Discourses enforce hegemony and Injustice on Minority Groups power and hegemony over a oppressed group is not only performed from the top down There are also cases in which dominated groups are convinced through an abuse of power that the domination is legitimate and natural (to make it natural for all) other strategy is denying that one group has dominance over another and to claim that all people in society are equal dominated group is mostly not allowed to speak in the discourse to refuse “prejudies” about the marginalized group. Only in specific cases, individuals from the marginalized group are allowed to speak in the public discourse, that is, when they found a minority representative that reproduces and reinforces their discourse by agreeing with their positioning
Realizing how Discourses enforce hegemony and Injustice on Minority Groups what are the main statements that are reproduced over and over again and which finally turned into “truth" (internalized beliefs)? Are concepts of “Othering” used? What is the picture that is drawn of oppressed group? “The Negroes of Africa have by nature no feeling that rises above the ridiculous. Mr. Hume challenges anyone to adduce a single example where a Negro has demonstrated talents, and asserts that among the hundreds of thousands of blacks who have been transported elsewhere from their countries, although very many of them have been set free, nevertheless not a single one has ever been found who has accomplished something greater in art or science or shown any other praiseworthy quality” (Kant, Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime and OtherWritings, p.58).
Realizing how Discourses enforce hegemony and Injustice on Minority Groups
e.i. Muslim woman, especially hijab-wearing Muslim women discriminated widely, less access to jobs, etc. --> more dependency on men
Realizing how Discourses enforce hegemony and Injustice on Minority Groups e.i. Roma and Sinti perceive discrimination caused by the public discourse, such as being dirty, thief, immoral, not taking the life serious, living for today, etc., which causes constant stigmatisation and segregation Important to note that Gadjo* is the one who is producing these stereotypes: Gadjo is the common sense, who decides and sets the social norms.
*Gadjo : Non-Romani
DIFFERENT FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION There are different forms of discrimination: direct discrimination indirect discrimination reverse discrimination / affirmative action harassment
DIRECT DISCRIMINATION one person must have been treated less favourable than another in a comparable situation. Compareble situation Different treatment
It makes no difference whether or not there is an intention to disadvantage the person An example is an owner of a kiosk who does not want to employ a young woman for the night shift because the owner thinks the job is too dangerous for a young woman.
DIRECT DISCRIMINATION If someone discriminates in order to satisfy some other person's wishes, it is also discrimination. An example is an owner of a restaurant who does not want to employ a black person, because the costumers are white supremacists
If the different treatment has a legitimate aim, then it is not a discrimination An example: a professor allow a foreign student to use a dictionary to check terms during the exams
INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION the same rule applies to everyone. there is a rule or a procedure that appears to be neutral but in fact disadvantages a group of people Different situation Same treatment
INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION Treating everyone equally can lead to inequality in society.
Examples: Making obligatory to wear hijab in public spaces Making obligatory to take off hijab before entering university campus Making no alternative test methods in an exam for people with disability
REVERSE DISCRIMINATION / AFFIRMATIVE ACTION action (especially in employment, promotion, etc.) favouring those who often suffer from discrimination such as woman and black people.
An Example: A woman gets the job in a power position even though a white man was slightly better qualified.
The purpose of affirmative action is to help eliminate racial and sexual injustice and speeding up the desired equal society.
!!! Warning for tokenizm! --> employing some BIPOC to claim "we are not racists"
HARASSMENT
Harassment is an act that violates a person's dignity. Harassment and sexual harassment are behaviours that are unwelcome.
It is the victim of harassment who decides what is unwelcome or offensive.
Examples: An offensive comment, unwanted touchings in the night club, marking ethnic groups houses.
PROTECTED GROUNDS OF DISCRIMINATION
There are 6 grounds of discrimination covered by the law prohibiting discrimination: racism or ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation.
Intersectinality How to lead the way to inclusion
An intersectional lens to equity requires us to engage in a reflective process, recognising the ways in which different social identities (including our own) produce intersecting systems of privilege or oppression, and how these systems create different lived experiences within our social context.
Crenshaw advocated that discrete definitions of discrimination as occurring within a single category (e.g. attributing discrimination to either race or gender but not both) did not capture the experiences of people who experience discrimination due to the specific intersection of their multiple identities. Focusing on the experiences of black women and other women of colour, she demonstrated that using a single-issue approach to discrimination results in the systemic exclusion of intersecting discrimination.