Discussion: Diversity and You
Having developed a definition of diversity in the last module, this week we’re turning to how diversity applies to you personally. This could be related to your personal experiences or things you’ve observed of those around you. Because Milestone One is also due this week, we’ll start to discuss the issues and events that interest you. Based on the module resources and your own research, write an initial post that addresses the following:
- Describe an event related to diversity that either you or someone around you has experienced. What did you take away, and how did it enhance your understanding of diversity?
- Share a current issue related to diversity that you have found interesting or that has personally impacted you. Post an article from a news source. How does diversity help you better understand this issue?
Post at least two responses to your fellow students. In your responses to your peers, take a look through the lens of intersectionality and consider both sides of your classmates’ issues. Compare and contrast your answers. What do you like about your peers’ explanations, and what would you add?
Make sure you support your response with the readings from this module, and any additional resources if needed.
Review the module resources.
The readings this week take a critical eye on the concept of intersectionality as a lens for understanding issues and identities relevant to the study of diversity. Intersectionality has gained a reputation for being “separatist and fragmenting” (Butler, 38), but, as these articles demonstrate, it can also be used more broadly to support a diverse, yet inclusive, society. As you read these articles, consider:
- What is intersectionality, and how can it be used to better understand diversity?
- How can the concept of intersectionality be applied to the issue or event you are choosing for Milestone One?
- Do you agree or disagree with the authors’ application of the concept of intersectionality? Why or why not?
Peer post 1
In the Sage article, it speaks about the dimensions of diversity and how it includes several different layers. In one of the layers, it describes the internal dimensions which includes things such as age, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, as well as physical ability (Gardenswartz & Rowe, 2015). Gender has become a major topic in the news as well as around the world. As a female, events have occurred to me I believe just because of my gender. At a previous workplace, there were many times I as well as other women in the workplace were given large workloads while the male counterparts were not given as much. This was a business that had over half of their employees being females, however, their upper management consisted of all males. At the time, I felt like this is just how business was run since I was young and it was my first job. However, what I took away was that this is not the normal. Women and men should be treated equally and gender shouldn’t distinguish one job from another. Gender is only one of the things that make us unique and make up our diversity. After being in such a workplace, I have learned in my new company that women and men are one in the same. We are all human and deserve respect and should embrace one another’s differences.
This brings up one of the news stories that just came out in regards to the women’s world cup soccer team. At the end of the final game, fans could be heard chanting “equal pay, equal pay”. As a former women’s soccer player, I find this call to make the game equal for males and females interesting. For members of FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, which reportedly will pay the U.S. women a $4 million bonus, compared with the $38 million paid to last year’s men’s World Cup winner. Even though The Wall Street Journal reports that from 2016 to 2018, U.S. women’s games generated about $50.8 million in revenue, compared with $49.9 million for men’s games (Goldman, 2019). Having these female soccer players stand up for bringing this diversity issue to the forefront is what we need to make the idea of adopting one’s differences and acceptance is key. By bridging the pay gap and addressing gender differences in the national media, is one step closer to coming together.
Gardenswartz, L. & Rowe, A. (2015). Dimensions of diversity. In J. Bennett (Ed.), The SAGE encyclopedia of intercultural competence (pp. 234-238). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483346267.n84
Goldman, T. (2019, July 09). Equal Pay For Equal Play; The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Tackles Its Next Quest. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2019/
Peer post 2
Hi class,
i’d like to start this post with a quote from our reading this week, “When it comes to social inequality, people’s lives and organization of power in a given society are better understood as being shaped not by a single axis of social division, be it race or gender or class, but by many axes that work together and influence each other. Intersectionality as an analytic tool gives people better access to the complexity of the world and of themselves.” (Butler, 2017) There are layers to understanding diversity and the complexity behind it is seen through the different scenarios that we all find ourselves in, for some it can be often, others not so much and these events can influence how we view society. A few weeks ago, I believe during the Memorial Day weekend, I went to a big cookout with some friends, we were all playing yard games and listening to a new rap album through the speakers at the pool. After a little while, the owner of the house came over to us and in a joking manner walked over to my friend who is African American and said to him, “Hey man, did you bring your music with you too?” (it wasn’t even his playlist either) and a few of us looked at him astonished “like did he really just say that?” and we kind of fake laughed it off. The two of them ended up have a nice conversation after awhile of being there though so there wasn’t any bad blood or tension, but it made me realize that as a collective we still have a lot to learn and we should instead embrace and celebrate how special and different we are and to especially not allow for such prejudice like this to be said. I believe diversity helps bring us away from such nonsense and brings everyone closer in the end.
The current issue related to diversity that is causing a lot of division in our country right now are these migrant detention centers. “a review of the operations of the Clint station, near El Paso’s eastern edge, shows that the agency’s leadership knew for months that some children had no beds to sleep on, no way to clean themselves and sometimes went hungry.” (Romero et al, 2019) It’s scary to think this is happening in our own country, it’s an attack on specific groups of people and they’re being treated inhumanely. “Rarely have governments publicly acknowledged the use of camps as deliberate punishment.” Detainees, she wrote, are “typically held because of their racial, cultural, religious, or political identity, not because of any prosecutable offense—though some states have remedied this flaw by making legal existence next to impossible.” (Romero, et al, 2019) People and children are being singled out based on ethnicity and race when really all of them are just trying to secure a better life for themselves and their families but there’s now a stigma (that our own President has created) that these migrants are criminals and that they are here to cause trouble even though there is no proof.
Cite:
– Romero, S., Kanno-youngs, Z., Fernandez, M., Borunda, D., Montes, A., & Dickerson, C. (2019, July 06). Hungry, Scared and Sick: Inside the Migrant Detention Center in Clint, Tex. Retrieved July 8, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/
– BUTLER, J. E. (2017). Intersectionality and Liberal Education. Liberal Education, 103(3/4), 38. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-
In the last module, you explored the definition of diversity and the concept of the four layers of diversity. This helps illustrate the concept of intersectionality, which has been used both to help define individual identities and to contextualize systems of oppression (Vogel, 2018, p. 276). In this module, you are now going to explore your own intersections. Because we are all impacted by issues of diversity, and will often intersect with people of different backgrounds, it is helpful to recognize how the experiences you have had shape how you see others. There are aspects of diversity that we can see: race/ethnicity, gender, age. But there are those we can’t always see: chronic or mental illness, language, religious or political preferences, sexual identity.
In order to define yourself, it is helpful to first understand your culture, which encompasses the beliefs and behaviors that connect you to other people. Within one culture are myriad subcultures. For instance, if you are a SNHU student living in New Hampshire, your main culture might be identified as American, with your subcultures as New England, New Hampshire, Patriots fan, and skier. All of these, in conjunction with the social diversity categories, help form aspects of the overall picture of you. As you work through this module, consider the ways that you might describe yourself to other people. Consider next the categories others might use to describe you. Then consider the categories you check when filling out medical or government documents. Where do they align? In what ways does each help shape who you are?
As you develop your final project, you will explore an issue or topic related to diversity. See the IDS 400 LibGuide for some examples to help you get started. The topic you choose could be relevant to your personal experience, or it could be relevant to your future profession. For example, if your major is Human Resources, an issue you might consider is pay equality in the workplace. If you are a Nursing major, perhaps you want to explore access to healthcare in impoverished communities. Maybe you are a gamer and would be interested in exploring the representation of women and men in video games. In this week’s milestone, you will select an issue or event in diversity and begin to analyze it through the four lenses. Your selected topic should apply to all four lenses.
Reference
Vogel, L. (2018). Beyond Intersectionality. Science & Society, 82(2), 275. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/
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Responses
Peer Post 1
In the post, the peer delves into some of the major dimensions of diversity. The dimension that the peer discusses is known as internal dimension. This is a dimension that delves into certain issues such as age, race, sexual orientation, gender, and ethnicity.
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