Racialised and Gendered Barriers in Diverse Settings Essay

Racialised and Gendered Barriers in Diverse Settings - Essay ExampleThat means, it not only includes the traditional categories of race and gender, but also people with disabilities, various sexual orientations, and other non-traditional categories considered having diversity of thought or those from different disciplines, college degrees, socio-economic backgrounds, etc. However, many organizations and professional misgivingers salvage remain resolute in embracing diversity and maintain barriers for full inclusion to be carried out. This paper attempts to answer the question, To what extent and in what sense bottomland we say that professional and managerial c arers are gendered and racialised? It was Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who inspired the concept of diversity when he advocated that character is what makes a person and not his pare color. This propelled lawmakers to come up with laws that provide equal opportunity to all (Mor Barak, 2000). These laws have been designed to protect anyone from discrimination for their gender, marital status, heathenish background, race, age, disability, religion and other factors that whitethorn point out ones difference from the rest of the group. Equal opportunity is a means by which a person receives equal gate in society. Equal opportunities approach is premised on the principle that all people can avail of certain rights or privileges such as education, employment, health care or other welfare services without any discrimination or any preference whatsoever. The evolution of the functionforce to include a more diverse population has highlighted some prejudices that mark resistance to move from more stereotypical roles. Even in todays politically correct environments, prejudice and stereotypes interdict the successful implementation of inclusive policies at the workplace. Such obstacles usually suffered by women, older adults, ethnic and racial minority groups, homosexuals and the disabled include lack of fig ht in their career planning, guidance of these nontraditional employees that is necessary for job advancement and a lonely and unsupportive work environment (Morrison, 1992). In effect, equal opportunities are not provided for all. Although there are different organizations that apply various equal opportunity practices that provide fair conditions for all their members in the process of employment and work (Equal Opportunities, 2006), managerial positions are usually reserved for men coming from the majority cultural group. For example, in a UK organization that subscribes to diversity and inclusive work environments, British men usually hold the top charge posts. This may lead one to conclude that managerial careers are gendered and racialised. One explanation for maintaining racialized top management positions may be attributed to fidelity to ones culture. Hofstede (1994) defines culture as the collective programming of the mind which distinguished the members of one human group from another(prenominal) Culture, in this sense, includes systems of values and values are among the building blocks of culture (p.19). From this definition, one can perceive how much influence culture has on people. Such a definition is paralleled to ethnocentrism. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines ethnocentrism as regarding ones own race or ethnic group as of supreme importance (1989, p. 424). This is common especially when managers hold highly of the values and level of skills their racial group upholds. Each members effectiveness and efficiency are dependent on social and cultural standards and skills of the group. This narrows down the groups views to their own culture and discourages them from being