A lot to appreciate in this post, especially the recognition of disability as an area of discrimination and exclusion - this is forgotten all too often, and thank you for including it.
I really, really hope you will consider writing a post about issue of colourism and skin attitudes in South Asia. People don't write about it enough. In the U.S., it affects not only how Indian Americans view ourselves, but also raises important, unsettling questions about where our community stands in debates about race.
Why is human discrimination so resilient? I would argue it's because we (humans) tend to forget or opt not to fight against it when we don't experience it ourselves.
In his latest cup of Filter Coffee Pras has dealt with discrimination in terms of race, gender, disabilities and complexion. I may add language, accent and pronunciation.
My wife and I were denied hotel accommodation in Antwerp way back in 1966 because of racial prejudice. We were also at the receiving end in England about our accent. In France the petrol pump attendant refused to converse in English(which he knew)but was happy with Hindi and Malayalam which he did not.
Discrimination against women is a different story. Women are handicapped when they compete with men. Responsibilities of child bearing and child care cannot be borne by men. As a result children are more attached to mother. Household chores are mainly undertaken by women. These are all unaccounted, unpaid and unappreciated work. Men have to change the mindset and help by sharing household chores. In addition married women must be paid a basic pay by the government as in Sweden. It may also be worth considering to reserve teaching in school only to women as this gives them paid summer holidays. In elections, in each constituency is to choose one man and one woman, the disparity of representation of women in politics will disappear.
Let us look forward to a better tomorrow with less discrimination of any kind.
Pras, while I agree to your experiences and opinions, I must state that, perhaps, because I lived most of my life in my home state Kerala, I have not seen the kind of rank discrimination. I know that we have not been untouched by its ill effects, but I was not introduced to it until much later in life. We did not have any discrimination against any particular religion or caste, often even taking it as just a joke to be laughed at. In my school and college days I have had lots of friends of different religions and castes and it did not serve to be a barrier of any sort.
As for colour, yes I agree fair skin was considered very desirable and even there was a generally accepted bias towards to it, especially when considering marriage, but it was not something to be looked down at when determining who was a friend or not. Often we had siblings in the family, some of whom were as black as any skin could be and some as fair as fair could be. It never determined who had to be looked down at.
Of course men had certain privileges which the ladies did not, but, perhaps being in Kerala, it was not something that we thought needed change. Nevertheless yes, I do agree that there were differences that should have been best avoided. Then came the politically accepted words that we have now and perhaps with it also came the below-the-belt type of hits. Of course it is education that taught us there were differences in our midst. In our age and time, these were not something to be scoffed at. Just something you lived by and we often did not even recognize that the differences were there. Agreed that mixed or inter caste marriages were rare those days but that was more of a social thing and it did not have the connotation that it does now.
A lot to appreciate in this post, especially the recognition of disability as an area of discrimination and exclusion - this is forgotten all too often, and thank you for including it.
I really, really hope you will consider writing a post about issue of colourism and skin attitudes in South Asia. People don't write about it enough. In the U.S., it affects not only how Indian Americans view ourselves, but also raises important, unsettling questions about where our community stands in debates about race.
Why is human discrimination so resilient? I would argue it's because we (humans) tend to forget or opt not to fight against it when we don't experience it ourselves.
In his latest cup of Filter Coffee Pras has dealt with discrimination in terms of race, gender, disabilities and complexion. I may add language, accent and pronunciation.
My wife and I were denied hotel accommodation in Antwerp way back in 1966 because of racial prejudice. We were also at the receiving end in England about our accent. In France the petrol pump attendant refused to converse in English(which he knew)but was happy with Hindi and Malayalam which he did not.
Discrimination against women is a different story. Women are handicapped when they compete with men. Responsibilities of child bearing and child care cannot be borne by men. As a result children are more attached to mother. Household chores are mainly undertaken by women. These are all unaccounted, unpaid and unappreciated work. Men have to change the mindset and help by sharing household chores. In addition married women must be paid a basic pay by the government as in Sweden. It may also be worth considering to reserve teaching in school only to women as this gives them paid summer holidays. In elections, in each constituency is to choose one man and one woman, the disparity of representation of women in politics will disappear.
Let us look forward to a better tomorrow with less discrimination of any kind.
Pras, while I agree to your experiences and opinions, I must state that, perhaps, because I lived most of my life in my home state Kerala, I have not seen the kind of rank discrimination. I know that we have not been untouched by its ill effects, but I was not introduced to it until much later in life. We did not have any discrimination against any particular religion or caste, often even taking it as just a joke to be laughed at. In my school and college days I have had lots of friends of different religions and castes and it did not serve to be a barrier of any sort.
As for colour, yes I agree fair skin was considered very desirable and even there was a generally accepted bias towards to it, especially when considering marriage, but it was not something to be looked down at when determining who was a friend or not. Often we had siblings in the family, some of whom were as black as any skin could be and some as fair as fair could be. It never determined who had to be looked down at.
Of course men had certain privileges which the ladies did not, but, perhaps being in Kerala, it was not something that we thought needed change. Nevertheless yes, I do agree that there were differences that should have been best avoided. Then came the politically accepted words that we have now and perhaps with it also came the below-the-belt type of hits. Of course it is education that taught us there were differences in our midst. In our age and time, these were not something to be scoffed at. Just something you lived by and we often did not even recognize that the differences were there. Agreed that mixed or inter caste marriages were rare those days but that was more of a social thing and it did not have the connotation that it does now.
Thank you Bro for those insightful comments. I felt as if you are writing an addendum to FC. That's a compliment!