The memory I have is that of an incident when I witnessed
someone as the target of bias. We wanted
to employ a temporary hand, but the group lead decided that a female would not
be able to cope with the rigour and stress of the job, and therefore requested
for a male. The recruiting officer did
not see the reason for the ‘discrimination’, therefore sent a female
graduate. The lead was not available at
the time the temporary hire was brought, I was overseeing the office and had to
explain to the recruiting officer and the lady that was brought; the job involved
moving from one floor to another, and one office to another on each floor,
pushing trolley to distribute letters to employees. I saw that the lady was not too happy about
the job but she was desperate to have a job, any job. On the long run, I had to fix her into
another group with a more relaxed schedule, and her terms of employment was
being renewed every six months afterwards.
I never knew because she was expected to work for some few moths and
leave. The lady met me about four years
afterwards and began to thank me and recounting how she would have been edged
out if I had not intervened. Although I
do not support bias, prejudice, or oppression of any kind, I believe there
should be dignity in labour coupled with job satisfaction for every employee.
The specific bias in the incident mentioned above does not
diminish equity which could be termed fairness; actions, treatment of others,
or a general condition characterized by justice, fairness, and impartiality. Not wanting the female temporary hire go
through the rigours of carying out the daily routine of her job, to me, is
faireness to all concerned. This helped
to properly place her and also no lost man hour was recorded as this would have
been the case after a very stressful day or week.
The incident brought up
the feelings of care and understanding for one another.
What would have ended up
a biased incident became an opportunity for greater equity as the terms of
employment was being reviewed and
renewed every six months instead of just some few months and one time.
