L01 Impact of Privilege and Discrimination

To make things worse, demographic characteristics have a compounded effect when it comes to salary and other types of discrimination; this is often referred to as intersectionality. One way to explain this concept is when individuals have more than one demographic characteristic, social or political identity that has traditionally been discriminated against or privileged, the effects of such combinations are greater than they would be in isolated fashion. 

For example, it was shown earlier that African Americans and Hispanic Americans earn a fraction of Whites’ median earnings. When we examine the same numbers by gender, the pay gap increases:

• African American women’s median earnings are 67.6% of White males’
• Hispanic women’s median earnings are 61.9% of White males’
• Conversely, Asian American males make 124.1% of their White counterparts, but Asian women only 100.1% of White men, which statistically might not be different

Groups that share these characteristics are known as “protected classes”, an important term in our course. An essential reason why individuals in these groups are protected by law against discrimination in all employment phases is that, historically, they have been excluded from access to opportunities in a manner that is unrelated to work needs. Both for privilege and for discrimination, having more than one of these characteristics is likely to have compounded measurable effects for individuals in our society.

Being aware of the existence of privilege and discrimination and their consequences is the first step we need to create more inclusive workplaces. Inclusion is another term for just, equitable, and is based on personal merits and business needs, instead of characteristics that an individual is unable to control.

Next, we look at other demographics that can also be sources of discrimination.