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The more recognized forms of discrimination are based on sex, age, nationality, disability, and race. You hear about those often, and especially sexual harassment, but what are the less known issues of workplace discrimination?
What issues of workplace discrimination are felt, but hardly ever talked about?
These are the top 4 issues of workplace discrimination that often go unnoticed.
- Names
What’s in a name? Is having a particular name a barrier in to success in life? If you have a name that sounds black or Mexican or Arabic will you resume be passed over in favor of a person with a white sounding name, even if you possess the same level of qualifications? Studies have shown that even “equal opportunity” touting employers still callback people with white sounding names more often. Perhaps companies should hide names on resumes before reading them.
- Accents
People sometimes think they can tell certain qualities about a person based on their accent. It’s not just foreign accents, either. Take southern accents, where the speech is slower and more drawn out. Based on those two qualities of the accent, many employers who are unfamiliar with southern accents sometimes think that those individuals are less intelligent than their peers are.
- Height and weight
Both men and women typically suffer snide remarks, jokes, unwelcome touching, or harassment due to their height or weight in the workplace if they are particularly tall, short, or overweight. Height discrimination is often perpetuated because of the entertainment field. Look at any romance movie. The women are usually petite and the men are usually tall. In reality, both men and woman can be any height. Weight discrimination is also a big issue. In many cases, weight is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and it’s a violation to pass over a qualified person for a job or promotion based on their weight.
- Hair and no hair
People with hair colors or styles that stand out from the crowd are usually unfairly targeted and discriminated against in the workplace. Men and women with punk hair styles, for instance, are sometimes judged as dangerous. Gingers and albinos are called names or joked about. Bald men are sometimes pressured into wearing hair pieces. Bald women are sometimes assumed to have an illness.
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