The world has been clouded by inequality and inequity for quite some time. But it has become more evident in the last 3 months and has hit us hard, right in the gut these last 3 weeks. Be it the way that migrant workers have been deprived of their basic human rights, or the end of George Floyd’s life in the most inhumane of ways. Be it the ludicrous behavior of leaders from Level 4 countries or mainstream media consistently and conveniently neglecting the coverage of important news in favor of clickbait and sensationalism to increase viewership. Not to forget the imposition of trade debt on emerging countries. There is discrimination everywhere and at multiple levels. This discrimination may have different labels - rich/poor, black/white, upper caste/lower caste, your god/my god, high IQ/low IQ, male/female/other, strong/weak, etc., But it is this same pervasive discrimination that has already put humanity through two world wars, and so much bloodshed, injustice, loss of life and tyranny.
To comprehend the world around us, we created language to classify and differentiate everything. Well this differentiation has helped us in some aspects, but in recent times it is doing more harm than good (could be my recency bias). I’m surprised that we have figured out science and engineering to send astronauts to ISS but still unable to figure out the ways to solve core problems of humanity - treating each other as equals and moving forward together.
How do we go about solving this inequality? How do we take action? What should I do?
“Things which are equal to the same things are equal to each other” - Euclid’s first notion
The first step to solving any problem is recognizing the problem. Then understanding the problem, then figuring out the possible solutions, then taking action, and lastly iterating based on the progress. No solution is a perfect solution and every solution requires iteration.
Throughout my life, I have spent majority of my time in three spaces - Home, School, and Workplace. These are the spaces where I got exposed to opportunities, learning, discrimination, and all other life experiences.
Home
This is the most secure place where most of the habit development happens for a human being. This is the place where the roots of equality or inequality are formed. Some ideas I could think of to teach about equality:
Empower all genders of kids to have exposure to similar experiences and opportunities.
Inculcate the habit of sharing things with others.
Curtail the exposure to any form of racial slurs or content related to discrimination.
Consciously talk about the discrimination children need to be aware of and teach them ways to handle it.
Normalize interracial, intercultural, inter-religion, inter-caste marital affairs.
School
This is where we learn, form our social circles, and start identifying ourselves with a tribe. In general, the way education is delivered in schools should change. Now is a better time for that change. The current classroom structure though designed with the right intentions is failing to deliver intended outcomes. It doesn’t take into account the factor that every individual has different learning capabilities. Because of this average kids like me were always left behind in the learning process. This leads to inequality and inequity. Some ideas I could think of to change this:
Stop labeling kids based on IQs. Here is an interesting piece on why IQ is a pseudoscientific metric.
Deliver education in a customized way by world-class teachers to match the learning capabilities of the individual.
Have learning emphasis on humanities subjects like sociology.
Welcome kids from different economic backgrounds to the classroom.
Structure activities for kids to interact with kids from a different race, economic, religious, etc backgrounds.
Make education accessible to everyone in the first place.
Workplace
This is a space where we spend the majority of our life-time (10hrs a day, for 30yrs). We better get things right at the workplace. Some ideas I could think of to fight inequality at the workplace:
Have a no-tolerance policy for racial and sexist viewpoints and jokes.
Fire hateful customers, churn in the short-term and meaningful relationships in the long-term.
Have a diverse group of people in leadership - invite people from different gender, different race, different nationality, etc.
Be intentional about investing time in developing the talents of people from underrepresented communities.
Give a voice to everyone and listen to all perspectives.
Look at your team, does it look like YOU? Then there is a big problem. Change that.
Give equal opportunities to everyone.
Everything that’s happening around in the world currently concerning discrimination is bad and uncalled for. Black lives matter. All lives matter. We can surely end this discrimination by developing empathy and taking action to be more inclusive in all spheres in life.
My understanding and learning about inequality and inequity is still a work in progress. I would love to hear any book suggestions, ideas, and thoughts on solving inequality and inequity. I’m ready to take action.
P.S: Some interesting reads that I came across on these issues -
Blood on all our hands - https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-moment-for-civilisational-introspection/article31705361.ece
Diversity in Marketing -History will remember the complicit - https://sairamkrishnan.substack.com/p/history-will-remember-the-complicitBarack Obama’s voice - https://medium.com/@BarackObama/how-to-make-this-moment-the-turning-point-for-real-change-9fa209806067