- Published: September 26, 2022
- Updated: September 26, 2022
- Level: Secondary School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 6
[Your full June 27, Racial and Ethnic Relations Sex defines male and female biologically and the concept is the same in every culture. However, every culture has different concepts of gender roles that are assigned to males and females, and these are the gender roles that define the masculinity and femininity of an individual regardless of his physical anatomy or, in other words, sex. This difference in the gender roles combined with racial lines is a very important factor of oppression for women of Color globally. They have to face discriminatory attitude in every walk of life as compared to white women in the industrialized countries. The reason is very obvious. No matter how modern and liberal we have become, we still have not been able to come out of the so-called pride and prejudice system regarding gender and race. In the workplaces and outside, women of Color are always treated as low class citizens. If we survey through organizations, we come to know that white men are given high level job positions while employees of Color, and especially women of another race or other underrepresented minority groups, are given low level positions due to which there often arise interpersonal conflicts and the overall organizational culture gets affected. Complaints by women of Color regarding discrimination are not even heard. Due to this fact, there are a lot of discrimination cases at workplaces that go unidentified because the victims are always sure that they will not be given an ear and their problem will never be solved. The reason for this is that the offender is always someone who is at a higher job level or is of the other gender. This makes the complainant apprehensive about the issue. Women of Color also have to undergo sexual harassment at times. They suffer from workplace stress and depression when they are prejudiced against white women, and thus they become psychologically disturbed and under-confident. However, the level to which women of Color react to the gender and racial discrimination depends upon their level of ego status. If they are willing to work in a hostile environment where they are sure to be treated unfair, then there will be fewer conflicts. Many organizations do not give attention toward devising such policies that should eliminate such discrimination and thus, the environment in these organizations is usually hostile and stressful. Even in the organizations where there are policies and rules and regulations about gender and racial discrimination, women of Color still have to face implicit kinds of expressions that say that they are considered as inferior. The need of the hour is to devise such strict policies in the organizations which clearly describe the punishments in case of violations. This will make the women of Color feel empowered so that they can actively participate in the decision-making process and can file their complaints without feeling inferior and powerless. This is important if the aim is to make the (workplace) environment friendly and respectful where both the genders of any race or underrepresented group are treated on a fair basis.