The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

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.