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TABLE OF CONTENTS have to unite and dig deeper as to where you fit in. Learning
Title
Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Define Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Types of Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . .
Causes and Effects of Discrimination .
How to Build Defense Against
Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Quotes about Discrimination . . . . . . .
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about lives of people with diverse characteristics can be done
through reading. It is also a good way to learn how different
your experiences are from others. You can start to change the
Page way you think about individual differences by being aware of
the words you use. The words you use can affect the ways you
1 organize your world and others. The words you use can often
be your subconscious way you perpetuate discrimination.
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The greatest prevention plan may come from parents.
4 Parents must set good examples in their attitudes, words and
behavior towards others. Children are able to recognize
6 differences and hold sectarian prejudices from the age of
three. Do not think children are too young to know about
prejudice and discrimination. As children grow, speak to them
about prejudice and discrimination and how that hurts people.
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Speak to them about the need to appreciate differences.
10 Encourage our children to think through the consequences of
prejudice & discrimination for themselves.
Encourage and support children who have been
discriminated at. Doing nothing is not a good idea, as it will not
make discrimination go away.
It is very important that you realize that the world is a
very big place and there are humans living in many other
places, very far from you. Because of that, people do things
differently and are brought up differently. That means what you
think is cool may not be so for another person, because of
where they come from. Being different is a good thing. Can you
imagine if every human was just like you?
Learn to appreciate diversity and respect people who
are different in any way. People may be disabled, transgender,
dark-skin or have a different hair color. No one chose to be that
way. If even people choose to believe or join specific groups,
they have a right to belong and a right to believe what they
want. We MUST learn to respect that, just as you would like
others to respect you for who you are.
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 How to build defenses against discrimination?
Discrimination is something that can have blur barriers
and may be a bit difficult to prove that you were discriminated
against. For example, you were dropped from your school’s
music team and replaced by another student. It could be that
that person has some additional skills that are needed for the
common good of the team. It may be a reasonable action even
though an individual may see that in another light. Some
people are quick to make conclusions about racial
discrimination or feel threatened by any little thing.
The baseline is that no one deserves to be treated less
than other humans and no one should put up with it. Here are
some ideas for dealing with discrimination:
 Be sure or certain that there is a case of discrimination.
Make sure you document the event and what was said
to you or done to you. Do not wait as you may lose
memory of the actions and words used against you.
 Speak to a senior person. (Your parents, teacher or
head teacher, manager at work, or a supervisor at the
restaurant, or any person in authority at the place of
the incident). Politely make your case and trust that
they will take it up. Follow it up and ensure that the
issue is resolved and that the culprit is aware of the
consequences if it happened again. Forgive the
person and try not to have any hate in your heart for
the person.
 Speak to a law enforcement officer if you feel the case
is a very serious one that needs serious attention. Do
not be quiet about it. Let your parents help you make
the right choices about what to do.
Act and educate yourself about discrimination is the first
thing to do. Speak up when you hear offensive jokes.
Discriminatory speech and actions should be denounced. You
have to learn to speak up to let everyone know that biased
actions and speech are never acceptable. Explore your own
stereotypes. Get involve on community outreach activities. You
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Discrimination is defined as the practice of unfairly treating
a person differently from other people. It can happen anywhere
and anytime like discrimination at work. Discrimination is an
unjust treatment on the grounds like race, sex or age.
Discrimination against homosexuals or racial discrimination
are common examples.
To discriminate is to treat people unfairly because of
their association with or perceived connection to a group. Acts
of discrimination take many different forms. For example, a
tourist is made to pay a higher price for a place to stay because
the landlord thinks he has a lot of money, whiles the locals pay
a lower rate for the same facility.
Unknowingly many of us have treated others unfairly. In
the same way, many of us have also been victims of unfair
treatment.
Sometimes, there could be a reasonable explanation for
a perceived discrimination act, and unlike physical abuse or
rape, there may be no evidence of the act, and it may be
difficult to prove that there has been a discrimination incident.
Exclusion and rejection are key ingredients in
discrimination. They occur when people do not appreciate
diversity or differences. They occur when people are
prejudiced or have formed their own opinion about others
because of their social, political, religious, sexuality, interests,
culture, traditions, and so on.
In the past, nations have also treated its citizens and
other nations unfairly. For example, some jobs (Example:
kindergarten teaching) were done by women because they are
thought to be more nurturing. That is stereotype. In many
countries, professions such as driving, army, police, and
construction workers were all considered male jobs and
women had a hard time getting into them.
 Types of Discrimination
 Direct discrimination:
o Probably the simplest and most common form,
this kind is an unfair treatment of another person
because of specific protected characteristics,
or perceived characteristic, or their association
with someone with that protected characteristic.
 Indirect discrimination:
o Sometimes there are laws and policies that put a
person in a disadvantaged position. Such
policies apply to every person in that circle
(school, workplace or community) but because of
some particular characteristic that you have, the
law hits you harder than others. If the
policymakers can prove that they considered
your characteristics and ended up with the policy
with the least effect, it can be disqualified as
discrimination.
 Harassment:
o This is an unwanted, offensive, humiliating and
intimidation act directed at you because of your
age, disability, gender, race, sexual orientation or
religion. Harassment can be in the form of
gestures, spoken or written words, images or
jokes.
 Sexual harassment:
This is a kind of harassment, as explained above, but sexual
in nature. Sexual harassment incidents often leave you
degraded, humiliated, and offended. It tends to violate your
dignity and makes one feel inferior in many ways. This kind
Social, educational and financial impacts:
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Discrimination, harassment and victimization leave the
individual confused and broken. They may take to alcohol or
drugs, or may form their own opinions on others, develop a
hatred for others, or withdraw from people. It can affect them
financially, may lose their job, quit school or do poorly at
school.
Society and Businesses
Communities and businesses that fail to take strong
action on discrimination tend to be lower in productivity. This is
because people feel disgruntled and lose interest in working
hard. There is a drop in morale, trust and confidence on the
part of the employees. People with talents and exceptional
skills and abilities are not attracted to these places because
they do not want to be discriminated against.
Politics
People who face racial discrimination may regroup with
some vengeance in mind against other groups. This can fuel
conflicts and social discords. In fact, many conflicts and wars
have been started in this way.
The Culprit
There are very strict laws on discrimination that may be
applied to individuals who discriminate. There is no excuse,
even if you did not know that your actions were discriminatory.
Employees and individuals can bring legal action on the
business or individual who did the act, and there are
consequences for guilty parties.
Causes and Effects of Discrimination
 Prejudices from family backgrounds
 Belief in myths and superstitions about a certain area,
 Victimization:
religion etc. or Ignorance and cultural misunderstanding
 Experience and belief in stereotypes that mean nothing
to the true character of an individual
 Over generalising a certain thing about a certain
category of people
 Socialisation
 Scapegoating
 Poor reasoning ability
 Fear
 Discrimination by Association:
Most of the causes of that discrimination is given by fear of
difference, through ignorance or because people want to be
cruel and show that they are stronger.
Effects of Discrimination
Like abuse and bullying acts, there are effects and
consequences and no one wins. Here are a few:
 Discrimination by Perception:
The Victim
Physical and emotional impacts:
Exclusion or rejection directed to you by others for
reasons that you often have no control of can cause extreme
worry to an individual. It results in anxiety, sadness, depression
and a feeling of guilt and emptiness. These often translate into
depression, loss of interest, eating disorders and stress-related
ailments.
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of discrimination may also come with threats and
promises that make you feel vulnerable.
o This is the unfavorable treatment one receives,
often as a reaction to the person's claim of
discrimination, or because the person is
supporting someone’s claim of discrimination, or
the person’s intentions about something. In an
office setting, the person can be excluded from
many activities as a punishment, until the person
decides to leave the job at his own will.
o If you are treated unfairly because someone you
know or are associated with has a protected
characteristic, this may be construed as
discrimination by association. For example – you
are refused service in a restaurant because you
are with someone who belongs to a particular
race.
o Receiving unfair treatment because someone
thinks you belong to a group with protected
characteristics, you may be experiencing
discrimination by perception. For example – you
are heterosexual but an estate agency refuses to
lease out a flat to you because they assume you
are gay due to their misconceptions about how
gay people look, dress or behave.