Everyone has been guilty of some form of discrimination -- whether subconscious or conscious.

In today’s world, we often don’t think of ourselves as being discriminatory because the unfair treatment doesn’t resemble the atrocities of the past. In America, we no longer capture and trade slaves or demand that people are of a particular religious affiliation. In fact, The Constitution has been amended to ensure legal rights for all. Despite this being written on paper, society does not fulfill its duty of maintaining open-mindedness, which has been seen through hundreds of protests around the county; namely the Black Lives Matter movement. 

The bigger question is not if we are consciously or subconsciously discriminatory; the question is -- why?

These complex topics led to a general interest in moral philosophy and then turned into a full-blown passion by the show The Good Place. While watching the show, I found specific problems and situations that were posed to be fascinating, particularly the episode discussing the Trolley Dilemma. In my head, I debated along with the characters: would I kill one person to save five? 

Beyond the show’s question, I took my scenario further, asking myself would it make a difference if they were one race over another? What if they were female versus male? Although I consider myself a very open and unbiased person, I was struck by the idea that discrimination may occur unintentionally when making a split-second decision. 

According to the Eagle, “A Cornell University report found that students were 56 percent more likely to refer to a male professor by his surname...than a female professor.” If I think about it, even though I’m female, I do the same thing. When thinking of famous figures, most of the population refers to women by their first names and men by their surnames. Hillary versus Trump, Michelle and Obama,  and Kamala and Biden are some common examples. 

Why is this? Gender inequality persists, even in the smallest of ways, such as the previous example. According to PayScale, “women earn 81 cents for every dollar earned by men in terms of bigger issues.” No country in the entire world has achieved gender equality, which is absolutely insane and simply heartbreaking. However, we are a lot better off than we were in the past, which is something to think about. Unfortunately, as a society, we have not evolved out of the societal programming that has shaped our perceptions and views since the beginning of time. 

Throughout history, issues regarding race, religion, sex, and other forms of discrimination have been prominent. However, despite all the improvements we’ve made on paper, discrimination still occurs - it might not be as glaringly obvious, but it persists. 

Sources:

smithsonianmag.com/history/158-resources-understanding-systemic-racism-america-180975029/

christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-27/persecution-in-early-church-did-you-know.html

theeagleonline.com/article/2020/10/opinion-calling-women-in-power-by-their-first-names-widens-the-gender-gap

payscale.com/data/gender-pay-gap#:~:text=IN%202020%2C%20WOMEN%20EARN%2081,job%20type%20or%20worker%20seniority.