The globalization and integration of the countries around the world caused a shift in modern society. With an increased number of immigrations, wide information consumption, and various political views, modern society presents a complex mix of different perceptions from people of many ethnicities and races. While some current workplace policies suggest that diversity brings innovation and push employee diversity, others still prefer to ignore candidates with unusual names or surnames that suggest belonging to specific ethnic groups, such as Muslims.
Despite the trend for appreciation of versatility brought by diversity, organizations often prefer candidates with more “white-sounding” surnames (Katwala). While I was familiar with the common discrimination in job applications, I personally never encountered the problem, which emphasizes its covert character. However, it turns out that the same name-based discrimination could take place even in children’s applications for kindergartens (Katwala). Even though the 21st century marks a historical point for racial equality with solid movements such as BLM and conditions where people openly request representation in the media, there is still work left to do. One of the areas that require improvement is several inconsistencies in current racial discrimination in hiring processes.
Coming back to the discrimination in hiring processes, I find it inconsistent that the racial factor only contributes to the cases in which diverse candidates present competition to white counterparts. Racial discrimination does not apply to cases of work with low wages and unsatisfactory working conditionals. Big companies and clothing brands deliberately move their production to foreign countries with weak economies to reduce labor costs for employees, such as Zara. In hiring locals from economically undeveloped countries, big companies are not contributing to the region’s economic development; they exploit the financial conditions, as no white employee would agree to work in unsuitable conditions. Refusing to recruit diverse employees emphasizes racial discrimination in assuming that people from other racial and ethnic backgrounds are more suitable for cheap labor.
Another inconsistency in hiring discrimination is that both racial and ethnic factors could have a cumulative effect in combination with other factors. According to Yemane, the influence of Muslim religious affiliation could be deprived of Muslim affiliation and “non-whiteness” in job applications (9). Applying the same principle, one could suggest that belonging to several minority groups, such as being a black female with Muslim religious affiliations, could significantly affect the hiring results. The hiring process should initially assess an individual’s skills level and potential contribution to the company’s effectiveness rather than his heritage.
I feel that a big part in discrimination is the majority opinion point, which could be solved through a collective realization that an individual’s race, ethnicity, name, and even beliefs do not define his identity. While many factors contribute to an individual’s background as factors that the individuals are not able to change, they do not limit his skills and opportunities and should not take part in the employment process. Moreover, discriminating against people by the factors that they cannot change negatively influences employment trends through a lack of healthy competition. Even though competition is a term that is frequently used negatively, healthy competition fosters the growth of human capital, which could benefit society in the future. In conclusion, I believe that inconsistencies in racial and ethnic discrimination in employment emphasize the irrational character of the discriminations and their negative influence on modern society.
Works Cited
Katwala, Amit. “Is Your Name Ruining Your Life?”Wired, 2021, Web.
Yemane, Ruta. “Cumulative Disadvantage? The Role of Race Compared to Ethnicity, Religion, and Non-White Phenotype in Explaining Hiring Discrimination in the U.S. Labor Market.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, vol. 69, 2020. Science Direct, Web.