Appearance-Based Discrimination Essay

The work-force has significantly since 1994 but small norms such as physical attractive still lives and legally is should not be that way. “…discrimination against people based on what they look like as a serious problem that should and can be addressed by law” (Rhodes, 2010, p.1).
That situation may be a lot harder to detect than a problem dealing with race or ethnic background. Even though there is a law made for this particular situation this has continued to happen and really is human nature for a like to flock together. People rather be surrounded or feel comfortable with their own kind. The rest of the word is basically broken down into ethnical backgrounds, but in the United States, the case is different. The slogan “the land of the
free” means technically that everyone is equal or should have equality. In recent event this topic comes up quite often. The presidential race and the law enforcement have brought this topic back to light. The Republican presidential candidate has of late been expressing his racist views on the world. randomly throughout the nation's law enforcement officers have be excessively violent to black individual which almost seems like they are targeting. Like everywhere in the United State discrimination happens in the work force. Most cannot obtain a job because of their race or ethnic background. There is this directory on a government agency that give more minorities a change at this particular agency that for years have been predominantly running by the United States majority or Caucasian. He experiences the struggle coming up through the ranks and now that he has a top spot in this certain career, he opens up the change for ones that might have not been to obtain the job if he was not a director. The situation of this director is not justifiable, but think of how many privileged are coming up through the educational system know they have a job and have not actually work to have it. The opportunity that someone has worked their ass off for and took out loans to just qualify and the opportunities are literally stolen away.
Body size is a discrimination that happens more often with women, but again, it is discrimination and it is wrong. “They found that obese women earn 12% less than non-obese women, but that obesity had no significant effect on men” (Hung-Lin, 2008, p.3). The problem that employers face is that, if an applicant is over weight it shows a lot about that person. One, is that it showed employers that the applicant, lack self-respect so how can they possibly be able to take work seriously. Another point employers have been that the they understand their job qualification and how time consuming the work is. If a heavyset person is hired they make only gain more because most of the work time take their time. To stay bias and combat those notions a person my complete focus on their career path even more than their own selves, so essentially an employer may be losing a potential great worker because they chose to discriminate. Along with attempting to obtain a job and being overweight, being a problem, like other opportunities in the world, being a minority and overweight. “Compared with White women, African American women reported significantly less schematic investment in their appearance” (Cash, Melnyk, Hrabosky, 2004, p.311) Gender is a recent problem that arrives when is comes to obtaining a job. Women today still are experiencing their fair share of discrimination. Prohibition ended in 1920 and women are still experiencing gender inequality. Women in the past have gone through their fair share of problems. The cliché is that women do not have the physical capacity to do what men can do and for years women were seen only as nurturers. Majority or minority, women have experienced discrimination even to this day. Recently political leaders have tried to decrease the discrimination by equal wage and even allowing female service members to be a part of combat arms in the military. History has been made recently in the military the first women to has combat arms jobs and even completed one of the toughest school United States militaries have to offer and that is Ranger school. Even more recently the United State just had the first women to accept the nomination in a major political party in Senator Hilary Clinton. There are ways change can come, but like everything it takes time.

“While some of the cases of appearance-based discrimination may be covered under existing discrimination and disability laws, most of them are not.
As a matter of fact, discrimination based on appearance is lawful in the United States—along with most other countries. Rhode establishes that there are three major justifications for banning appearance-based discrimination. First, such bias affronts principles of equal opportunity and individual dignity; second, appearance-based discrimination reinforces disadvantages based on gender, race, class, age, and sexual orientation; and third, the regulation of appearance constrains self-expression and cultural identity” (Rhodes, 2010,
p.362-363). In the military, they are not perfect by far, a feeling of discrimination is easily felt throughout the ranks. The problem of appearance never arises because if someone want to be a leader they must first show that they can lead themselves by staying in shape. The is a thin line that can be consider as a change in class. The cliché is that minority are usually enlisted personnel and majority or mostly officer. In order to make is easier to understand, enlisted personnel are “joes” or “grunts”, main people who do the dirty work and actually go out in fight. Enlisted superiors are notorious for saying they are the one who “lead from the front” and there is a lot more pride because of their work. That is why enlisted military is one of the world’s most stressful jobs. Officers, on the other hand are know for “leading from the back”, “paper pushers” and “PowerPoint stars”. Unlike the enlisted jockeys, officers are usually in the air condition calling the shots. There is discrimination in the military but to get back on topic the military usually chooses its best base from valor and time. There can be personnel that has connections but when it comes to getting in some positions leaders only pay attention to accomplishments. In the military there are a lot of training schools that certain ranks can attend. The schools are not required it is best that one attends if invited. The point is that if employers deciphered through applicants by simply looking at what each accomplishment then that would cut out a lot of discrimination. It is not fair that someone has to grind all their life to get to a desired goal just for it to be taken away because of how they look or because someone wants their child to be just as great as them. Interdisciplinary The interdisciplinary aspect of this paper comes from the student needing to be diverse in order to make themselves more attractive to employers. This shows the students work ethic for a potential employer be able to look pass appearance. When defining the diversity aspect students need to be aware of the steadily improve the world. The requirements for jobs are increasing because some many papers are getting degrees. The world is long passed to point in time where high school diplomas were all you need and now bachelors are entering the same realm as high school diplomas. In the news, people are making an uproar about this situation because politicians want to make college free for all. People see that this does sound good, but in actuality government leaders are basically extending schooling or adding another four grade levels to high school. This problem also adds more to the debt that the country already has. If the high school was not already similar to a bachelors degree then this change will make them equal. This paper is interdisciplinary because when entering the work force working applicants not only need to be qualified as far as educational background, but should be able to at least present themselves with the most possible attractiveness. Interdisciplinary could also include physical fitness to an extent. There are interdisciplinary traits for someone who can both be savvy in their educational field and have the time management skills to find ample time to stay in shape. This topic says a lot about a person, it essentially defines their work ethic. A person that is both mentally and physically sound appears to have more energy and a better attitude which leads to production. Production is all employers are looking for. Society views this grey area based on ethnicity. Some believe that the opportunities as Americas are equal. Some of the educational paths are not equal as well, so college is possibly easier for most. Solution Creating a plan to combat this type of situation will be extremely difficult, mainly in part because this problem is not easy to detect. One way that can allow the problem to be detected is to start gaining a better handle on the hiring process. There should be sort of a tracker that a government agency should be able to pay attention. Another option is to set a quota on businesses for the amount of minorities needed to either hire that year or already have on staff annually. These plans or very basic thoughts can can use a lot of improve, but it it best to at least have a starting point. Conclusion In conclusion, this review was meant to bring awareness to a problem.
Discrimination is the problem and although if will take time for this problem to subside, a start is all we need. It this article we covered different forms of discrimination when it come to people applying for jobs. Discrimination when it comes to applying for jobs comes in the shape of color, ethnical background, shapes, and sizes. In the review, the different types of discrimination were mentioned and way someone can prevent it from happening to them. The comparisons of how civilians handle people in the hiring process and how the military prevent unfairness. The problem was brought to light and hopefully employers can take this type of situation in to consideration. The struggles that many minorities received growing up should definitely be taken into consideration because everyone is not all raised the same. Those who have struggle should be seen as better candidates because it shows a great deal of resiliency. In this article a lot of recent problems were addressed about recent racial problems and possible solutions were discussed. This article is opinion based and the quote throughout the article is to bring clarity as well as a few facts that these problems
exist.