Biases or pre-conceived notions are an outcome of culture, upbringing, education, and society. An individual’s inherent nature however has the maximum bearing on such pre-conceptions though it does get influenced by the above outlined factors. These biases play a major role in the corporate life too. The discipline of diversity and inclusion is gaining momentum because of these pre-conceived notions and organizations are making a conscious effort to have parity at the work place.
Life however is more than just work, these biases are visible and come into play in various walks of life.
Just think of a situation, where you are driving and the car in front of you is going much slower thereby impacting your speed. Our first reaction is the outcome of the biases that we nurture…. “must be a woman driver” is the most common reaction. But on passing the car, most of the time we see it’s a young man talking on his mobile and therefore has poor control of the vehicle…. So much for the women driver thing huh!.
People reading this post would immediately think that this article is written by a girl that’s why she is saying so but no that’s not the case. I started driving very early so I have noticed that mostly the above situation is a result of people talking on the phone while driving, an old person being extra cautious or a man escorting an expecting lady. It is not always a woman driver which however is the most common misconception or a pre-conceived notion.
Let’s talk about a few others. Apologies if I offend anyone but, in my experience, I have seen, Asians are obsessed with fair skin colour. A man may have a complexion as dark as coal but wants a bride with a milky white complexion. Due to these preconceived notions of beauty, some very attractive but dusky-complexioned girls feel insecure about their looks. They end up using filters to lighten their skin colour. The question is why? Beauty is not just about being fair-complexioned. A face cut, features, and skin texture all contribute to a beautiful-looking person.
The other extreme is a dark-complexioned man married to a fair-complexioned woman or vice versa. They are judged by all and sundry and become a butt of jokes. A question I want to ask is… “You marry a person, you live with a person, you love a person as he or she is”, you don’t marry a skin colour so who gave these people a right to judge a couple with extreme complexion dissimilarities? They may love each other, respect each other and are happy with each other. It is their life, who are we to judge them?
In a corporate set-up, we come across specially-abled people. The first reaction is “PITY”.. why? They are working at par with us. They are competent that is why they are there. Did we know that the person was specially-abled, till we met him or her? Then why the first reaction is “Pity”. Who are we to pity them? Are we superior to them and if you think so then in what respect? Just because we can walk, talk and see… we are better??? No, absolutely not. The specially-abled people are working in their current capacity by virtue of their competency. Who are we to look down upon them and pity them? They deserve as much respect as any other colleague so refrain from being sympathetic and trying to help them unless explicitly requested by them. A specially-abled person is not inferior so come out of this preconceived notion and give them the respect they deserve.
“fatso”,”specy”, “shorty”, “queer”, “weird”, “squinty”, “baldy”, and “oldie”…are some of the words that stem from the pre-conceived biases that a lot of us have. Judging someone on how they walk, talk or look is an extremely shallow behaviour. As human beings, we need to respect a fellow human being for what he or she is. They may be acting in a certain way or have a certain appearance based on their genetics or circumstances that we are not aware of.
Taking this topic back to corporate life, if a colleague is timid… don’t bulldoze them. They may be the ones with the best ideas. A reticent individual is not necessarily dull or incompetent. He/she may be having psychological issues like maybe an inferiority complex, anxiety or depression. As a supervisor or a colleague, encourage them subtly rather than ignoring them. Similarly, if a person is a non-performer, don’t just yell and scream at them. They may be going through personal issues, so take the time out to talk to them, and understand what is the reason that they are unable to concentrate or perform as required.
Judging a person or a colleague based on ethnicity, family background, religion, caste, or culture will limit us from knowing the real potential of the individual and we will lose out on the opportunity of knowing maybe a wonderful human being.
Hence, by way of this article, I humbly implore all readers to fight their existing biases and look at people objectively. Everyone deserves a fair chance at life, don’t let your preconceived notions stop you from giving others a chance to succeed.
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