Biases & Stereotypes Faced by Women of Colour

During the CNY period, we had a picnic in Botanic Gardens. Being women of colour from different continents, it was not surprising that we ended up talking about our childhood days. I was surprised to learn discrimination was still rampant in Western culture just like what we experience in our Asian culture. Common consensus indicates that most of us are made aware of the difference in our skin colour when we first start going to school. It is blatantly obvious how some children are being discriminated based on their skin colour during playtime. I don't blame the kids but I do blame the parents for playing a part in creating that awareness in them. Kids generally pick up things from their parents.

As a child, I recall those times when people will cover their noses upon seeing a person of a different skin colour enter the same lift as them. One might argue that it is because of body odor, but here is a fun fact, body odor is not restricted to a person of colour. As discrimination seems to step in from a young age, I believe we should start teaching our young children to practice unity despite being of different skin colour. I do applaud the fact that we have racial harmony days celebrated in schools once a year. But the idea of why we are having it seems to be lost among the children. It has become a day where children get dressed in their national outfits and are entitled to a half-day off. I think the main highlight will be for most children to look nice for that day, taking loads of picture and set off to play.

There you go, we have played a part to promote diversity. We could do so much more to educate them to embrace the uniqueness in each one of us and not let skin colour be a defining factor. When I joined the workforce, I assumed it will be easier since I will be dealing with mature individuals. But it is appalling to note that women in colour are still subjected to racial stereotypes and jokes. During my early days when I was just starting my career, I met a woman of colour who had just joined our company. She broke down during our lunch day, because she was being ostracized for having a strong body odor. My colleagues had taken it up to the management to have the matter resolved. Looking back now, I doubt anyone would have a problem with her if she had looked more socially acceptable.

So, we decided to have this panel discussion to address some of the challenges that we had faced growing up. We talked about the common stereotypes commonly heard in the workplace which is based on cultural background, and how that has shaped our identity. Women of colour have become more subjugated because of the false realities that have been imposed on them by society. These biases cause women to second guess themselves and feel inferior about how they look. I do hope this panel will prove to be inspirational to all the women of colour to stand tall and be proud of how they looked like.

Look out for the panel discussion which will be uploaded on this You Tube link on the first of May https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8AWtbgLR8BAGIqHPZVob3A

Photo by Clarke Sanders on Unsplash