Job Discrimination Hurts

What is job discrimination and why is it a phrase we often hear repeated from the lips of others?

Essentially,job/employment discrimination is the act of finding another person unworthy to perform a job based on a variety of factors which include, but are not limited to, race, religion, gender, background, age, sexual preference and physical mobility.

It's common knowledge that, for most of history, women were to remain home and raise the children, while tending to household obligations. Many of these women accepted their lives as such and were content because it was all they knew.

However, somewhere along the way, as more recent generations of females were born, a change began to take place. Girls began to grow with ideas and dreams of their own - which they even used to establish their own goals.

Granted, in most recent years, women are seen all over the workplace. However, it wasn't always this way and the struggle to find acceptance is not completely over. Furthermore, even in 2011, women are sometimes looked down upon because they choose to have a child, or another child, which will take them from the workplace for an extended period of time.

Once upon a time, our religious beliefs were carried and shared everywhere - from church, to home, to the workplace and even amidst our friends. It was a lifestyle which we lived and breathed. During those times, it could become a hostile workplace, indeed, if an employer had twenty employees with a variety of religious backgrounds.

However, nowadays, we are living in a society in which, for the most part, religion is not allowed to be brought up in the workplace. As such, as an employee, does it really matter what the person next to us believes? After all, these beliefs are not being shoved in our direction.

Christian, Catholic, Buddist or Muslim - at the end of the work day, as long as there is no physical threat to anyone and everyone works together efficiently as a team - does it really matter what the person sitting next to us believes?

In this area, there has to be some level of discrimination so as not to have legal charges brought against an employer. After all, an eight-year-old can't be expected to perform as an eighteen-year-old. Likewise, a forty-year-old is generally more capable of performing a job than a ninety-year-old.

However, the lifespan of the average person in developed countries has increased over recent years. As a result, older people are capable of assuming roles which, in the 1970s and 1980s, would have been deemed unrealistic.

However, many employers would rather see a twenty-five-year-old walk in the door than a fifty-year-old person with years of experience in the field. Granted, many younger people get the jobs whereas, a lot of benefit could be brought to the company by employing older individuals.

Whether a Caucasian is trying to find employment in Africa or an African is seeking employment in Canada, as long as there is no language barrier, there should be an equal opportunity in receiving jobs for a person who qualifies - regardless of skin color.

Even when there are language barriers, there are courses which can be taken so individuals can learn other languages. It makes transitioning to another culture much easier. Granted, it might take a while but the rewards would far outweigh the costs involved.

Skin color never has dictated capabilities of the mind, nor strength of the body and it should not determine whether or not a person is suited to a job.

I'll be the first person to admit that I'm heterosexual and could not imagine living any other type of lifestyle. I could abstain altogether and live single forever but I would not choose homosexuality as a lifestyle.

However, sexual orientation - as with religion, race and other factors - should not determine a person's capability to perform a job, in generic situations. After all, it is a lifestyle which has no contributing factor to intellect, performance or educational capabilities.

From personal experience, I did have a lesbian business colleague who was able to get more accomplished than many of her counterparts, regardless of their gender and sexual orientation. I do not share her lifestyle, nor did she hold any interest in me, but we did work together and I definitely respected her in the workplace.

Granted, in terms of seeking positions where religious affiliations, beliefs and lifestyles do play a factor - such as that of a pastor or other member of a clergy in denominations where homosexual lifestyles are not accepted - there may be issues involved which is to be expected.

For years, many buildings and establishments catered solely to "walking" clients - those of us who have the use of two legs which take us from points A and B. Because there was no way to access the building for physically-challenged individuals, holding a job in these places was next to impossible. 

Thankfully, time has seen numerous changes occurring in architecture - enabling physically-challenged individuals to enter buildings by using ramps. It was definitely convenient for those with wheelchairs or using crutches to get around.

The infrastructure has also changed but there's no getting away from the fact that when you go inside of a standard business operation, 99.9% of the employees you see will approach you while using their own two legs. Granted, the majority of the population does walk but, in time, the number of physically challenged individuals in the workplace will likely rise.

In the meantime, however, just because a person wheels his/her way into your office - instead of using his/her legs - it's no reason to look down upon the individual. Give him or her a fair chance; as an employer, you may get a nice surprise.

With the invention of the Internet and how it has changed the world - and even one's ways of thinking over the past several years - has come answers to many prayers, in terms of finding employment.

Granted, there are many scams available to try and deceive the average individual. However, there are people who are thriving from their work online. They don't need to worry about leaving home each morning, trying to impress the people surrounding them. They don't need to be concerned about their religious beliefs, lifestyles, age or ethnic origin; their work speaks for itself and they gain the respect many wish they could get in the real world.

Employers really do themselves a disservice when they close their minds to individuals who are different than themselves. Whether those differences come in the package of religious beliefs, perceptions of age and gender or even the skin color, sexual preference and mobility of an individual, doesn't matter. 

Employers really need to look beyond what is in front of them and take a chance on finding the hidden treasure which may be buried beneath the surface of the person standing/sitting in front of them. The person could bring a wealth of knowledge and information to the workplace, enabling everyone to benefit. 

Imagine if all the women were removed from the workplace - whether in corporations, grocery stores, attorneys, online writers, nurses, doctors and so on. It would be a different world and no one would really want to go back to the way things used to be, even if they believe they would.

Go a step further and take all of the non-Caucasian people out of North America's workforce and you'd have a major undertaking to fulfill those roles. There would be a major lapse in the economy, as well, if all of these non-Caucasians decided to go back to their countries of origin to find employment.

Yes, I agree, that employers have come a long way over recent years but, in issues of employment discrimination, I believe there is always room for improvement.