Everyone is part of a certain social group. This inclusion can be very important. But it can also have a negative impact. For instance, there are those who will stereotype individuals simply because they are in that group. They don’t actually look at the individual characteristics that the person has but, instead, simply make assumptions about that person’s characteristics based on the group.
People tend to do this fairly automatically, but it can lead to some major problems. What if the stereotype causes discrimination in the workplace, for instance?
Technological assumptions
An example of this could be age discrimination. If someone comes in for an interview in their 50s, their potential boss may stereotype them and assume that they don’t know anything about modern technology. They may not even give the person a chance to demonstrate that they are actually very proficient with that technology. If they deny them the job on the basis of their age, that could certainly qualify as a form of discrimination.
Gender assumptions
Discrimination also happens on the basis of gender or sex. For instance, maybe a biased employer assumes that men should always be the leaders of the company and that women are not as good at fulfilling this role. This creates an obvious gender-based bias. If that person then fails to hire a qualified woman to a leadership role based on their assumption and stereotype about her as part of that gender group, that’s just another example of discrimination.
When something like this happens, it’s important for those who have been discriminated against to know about all of their legal options.
