The Impact of Discriminating Behaviour on the individual What is discrimination? Discrimination is the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.
Types of Discriminations with Examples
- Direct Discrimination – vivid difference in terms of how other people, or groups of people are treated less than the others. A perfect example for this can be apartheid in South Africa, where black people were institutionally discriminated against. Gender discrimination can also be a good example of direct discrimination.
- Indirect Discrimination – is when a law or policy is presented in neutral terms but it disproportionately disadvantages a specific group or groups. An example for this can be a job where employees are not allowed to stay away from work for more than 5 days. This policy indirectly discriminates regnant women who will need to take martenity leave.
- Intersectional discrimination – is when several forms of discrimination combine to leave a particular group or groups at an even greater disadvantage. For example, discrimination against women frequently means that they are paid less than men for the same work.
- Harassment – using violence to violate a person or a group which is different from the other.
The Impact of Discriminating Behaviour on the individual
Massive unrest in any given society can often be linked to the initial discrimination of an individual, who then regroup and mobilise with other similar individuals who suffer similar discrimination. Have a look at the following impacts of discrimination on the individual:
- Damage a person’s self-worth or self-esteem
- Discrimination may leave a victim deprived of the most essential basic services of humans, such as adequate health care, job opportunities, food,etc
- Discrimination of an individual can also be the root cause of riots and violence in a society
- Discrimination forces an individual to retaliate with a negative response towards the discriminator.