Essay Example on Evolution of Diversity in the US Labor Industry: My Experience

Diversity has been a trivial issue in the labor industry for quite a while in the recent past. While the main disparities in most societies have been gender, with most communities and heritages being patriarchy. In America, one can say the issue of diversity has gone through a series of phases, from the time of slavery to the free and diverse working environment that the country enjoys currently. I have experienced the latest stage of the diversity evolution, which has primarily revolved around cultural issues. In this regard, this confab will elaborate on my personal views and experiences concerning diversity in the workplace as a currently employed individual in the American labor market.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Over almost a century of integration and immigration has resulted in one of the world's most diverse working environments. After all, American society itself is arguably the most integrated of all communities in the modern world. Historically, this is due to the numerous forced and liberal migrations that led to people from all the continents of the world landing on the shores of America. After the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Colombus, the first wave of Europeans arrived in America. After that, many other people followed. Notably, African slaves brought to work in the sugar plantations set up across America, especially in the southern states. Over the years, other immigrations occurred due to various driving factors. All of these factors resulted in a very diverse society that the majority of the states in America are attributed to (Kirby & Harter, 2003).

Despite the diversification of American society due to the integration across the different races, there still exist cases of racial discrimination across the employment sector in the country. Despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was enacted to protect people of color from being racially sidelined during employment, some far-right organizations still racially profile their employees (Kirby & Harter, 2003). In such organizations, it is a norm for people of color to be derailed from promotions or even get denied appointments to top positions all because of their color also if they possess the right qualifications.

Being a white person raised in the broader area of Georgia, I have had the privilege of growing up and interacting with people of color. Since childhood, I enjoyed friendships and even several relationships with black, white, and even Hispanic people. Therefore, from a personal perspective, I consider these people the same as me with no prejudice. My parents had friends from different ethnicities as well. They raised me to understand that even though my friends and even a few relatives could be Americans, the institutional structure in America rarely treated us the same way.

Later in life, I witnessed this discrimination first hand when I saw countless qualified African Americans being denied to work in my place of employment only due to the color of their skin. Even though I cannot say for sure that I possess substantial evidence of such practices, but I can attest to the notion of the same. For example, a million-dollar corporation, Bass Pro Outdoor LLC, was charged and forced to pay a lawsuit settlement of 10.5 million dollars for racially profiling potential candidates during their recruitment exercises, where Black and Hispanics were denied equal job opportunities due to their race (Valentine et al., 2020).

Another example of diversity, the most common is gender balance in the workplace. Today more than any other time in history, more women occupy various positions across all the sectors of the employment industry (Dobbin, 2009). The level of diversification is commendable since today, more and more women hold seats in sectors that were once considered a staple for the men. In science and technology, for example, there are emerging more women engineers, doctors, astronauts, chemists, mathematicians, and physicists, to mention a few. Even so, there are still several cases of gender bias where the men in such industries tend to downplay the role or the contribution of the women. Personally, in one of the firms that I worked on, I saw a superior male take completed credit for the effort and work done by her immediate subordinate, just because she was a woman, more-so, an African American woman.

In the USA, sexual harassment has been a significant cause of social contention within labor circles (Dobbin, 2009). Today, harassment and discrimination against women is not a big issue since a lot of action and effort by very many quarters managed to control the problem. Nonetheless, a little was done regarding harassment of individuals from the LGBTQ society. It is common for many employers to discriminate against individuals who are openly gay and thus denying them an equal opportunity at employment. Even in those places where such individuals find work, they get abused continuously and harassed by their colleagues or superiors.

Conclusion

Conclusively, as I progress, climb the ladders in the corporate chain, I am determined to help and clear out any discriminatory elements of human resources. Considering the projection of my career in the managerial sector of human resources, I believe that in a few years, I may possess the power to create the most diverse workforce that can ever be final. I believe in the emancipation of women, the respect of people of color, I believe in the abilities of the physically challenged and also admire the braveness of the members of the LGBTQ community. Having friends and family across these spheres of heritage, I will ensure that given the opportunity, I will diversify my workplace through protection and consideration of their interests.

References

Dobbin, F. (2009). Inventing equal opportunity. Princeton University Press.

Kirby, E. L., & Harter, L. M. (2003). Speaking the language of the bottom-line: the metaphor of" managing diversity". The Journal of Business Communication (1973), 40(1), 28-49.

Valentine, R. S., Meglich, A. P., Mathis, L. R., Jackson, H. J .(2020). Chapter 3 Equal Employment Opportunity. Human Resource Management (16 ed., pp. 70-108). United States of America: Cengage Learning