Tokenism, quotas and white privilege...
Hello world,
I completely forgot to post last week which is really sad cause last week Friday marked my one year anniversary of writing on this blog. That's pretty crazy... For sure, this is one of the best things I got out of that entire quarantine period.
I have been watching a show recently that touched on something so important. One of the girls is a writer and she lost her job and has been hunting for a new one. So she applies for this job and it looks like she's a shoo-in when suddenly they tell her she probably won't get the job because of diversity requirements. I think quotas for diversity are a double edged sword. But before I even get into that, she was really upset because she didn't get the job cause she was white. Maybe in an alternate world where white people didn't have the privilege they do, it would have been a valid argument. But because white people are privileged, her complaint about something that people of colour go through all the time, and her insistence that diversity requirements (and maybe not the other person's competence) was the only reason she lost the chance was steeped in white privilege. And it took her a while to see it too, but at least she did I guess. I've also seen that happen in real life. White people getting upset at not having opportunities that minorities have. I think it's completely natural to be upset if you don't get the opportunity or role you want. But to be upset that a minority or person of colour got it instead.... that's a problem. Even worse, sometimes these people get angry and they don't realise the evident privilege in their argument. It's weird; wanting the same opportunities without having to carry the same burden. ANyways, the crux of this rant is don't be upset that people who have systemically and historically left out are being included.
But to talk about the whole quota and diversity requirements thing, I think it can be really complex. A part of me doesn't appreciate it because it feels like tokenism (this is a word I learnt recently that basically refers to a company intentionally recruiting people from underrepresented groups to create the appearance of racial or sexual equality). A lot of schools and companies just want to appear racially equal. It really irks me with schools, because they claim to be such diverse places and yet make it so expensive and difficult for international students... but that's conversation for another day. Maybe the opportunity is great either way.... but if it really is just for show, which is what it seems like to me, then who is gaining? Because the POC or minority will get the job or the spot and be treated inferior because people don't think they actually earned the spot. Like the girl in the show. The diversity requirement made her think that the only reason for someone else being hired was the requirement and not skill or ability. But at the same time, I think it's good that POCs and minorities are being given those chances, because they really have been denied and excluded for a long time. And sometimes, skill is not enough to get them the positions that they deserve because of their race. It's just complex, like many other matters in life.
I think everyone is going on break soon if they aren't already, so have great spring / Easter breaks.
God bless
Dera
I completely forgot to post last week which is really sad cause last week Friday marked my one year anniversary of writing on this blog. That's pretty crazy... For sure, this is one of the best things I got out of that entire quarantine period.
I have been watching a show recently that touched on something so important. One of the girls is a writer and she lost her job and has been hunting for a new one. So she applies for this job and it looks like she's a shoo-in when suddenly they tell her she probably won't get the job because of diversity requirements. I think quotas for diversity are a double edged sword. But before I even get into that, she was really upset because she didn't get the job cause she was white. Maybe in an alternate world where white people didn't have the privilege they do, it would have been a valid argument. But because white people are privileged, her complaint about something that people of colour go through all the time, and her insistence that diversity requirements (and maybe not the other person's competence) was the only reason she lost the chance was steeped in white privilege. And it took her a while to see it too, but at least she did I guess. I've also seen that happen in real life. White people getting upset at not having opportunities that minorities have. I think it's completely natural to be upset if you don't get the opportunity or role you want. But to be upset that a minority or person of colour got it instead.... that's a problem. Even worse, sometimes these people get angry and they don't realise the evident privilege in their argument. It's weird; wanting the same opportunities without having to carry the same burden. ANyways, the crux of this rant is don't be upset that people who have systemically and historically left out are being included.
But to talk about the whole quota and diversity requirements thing, I think it can be really complex. A part of me doesn't appreciate it because it feels like tokenism (this is a word I learnt recently that basically refers to a company intentionally recruiting people from underrepresented groups to create the appearance of racial or sexual equality). A lot of schools and companies just want to appear racially equal. It really irks me with schools, because they claim to be such diverse places and yet make it so expensive and difficult for international students... but that's conversation for another day. Maybe the opportunity is great either way.... but if it really is just for show, which is what it seems like to me, then who is gaining? Because the POC or minority will get the job or the spot and be treated inferior because people don't think they actually earned the spot. Like the girl in the show. The diversity requirement made her think that the only reason for someone else being hired was the requirement and not skill or ability. But at the same time, I think it's good that POCs and minorities are being given those chances, because they really have been denied and excluded for a long time. And sometimes, skill is not enough to get them the positions that they deserve because of their race. It's just complex, like many other matters in life.
I think everyone is going on break soon if they aren't already, so have great spring / Easter breaks.
God bless
Dera
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