Why Deliberately Making You Feel Abnormal Can Be a Covert Form of Discrimination [Research Breakdown]

There’s a lot of evidence to show that discrimination of all kinds exists in organisations.

Find out why it’s often hard to identity or intervene.

Here are some key messages from this episode:

• Covert discrimination and why it’s so insidious
• How some examples may even appear to be friendly interest
• How employee resource groups can provide a space for training, and coping with these experiences and much much more

Play the episode for more.

Here are some key takeaways from this episode:

Overt Forms of Discrimination Are Considered To Be Rare

“Overt forms of discrimination like this are increasingly rare thanks to changing attitudes and improved legislation and the Diversity & Inclusion agenda becoming more mainstream; however many covert forms of discrimination remain in the workplace”

Unelected Spokesperson For Your Entire Social Identity Group

“It was as if my friend was expected to be an authority on everything related to his ethnic culture. After a while he became exhausted with the questions and was left feeling uncomfortable. He says now if anyone asks him a lot of “cultural” questions he says he doesn’t know and politely tells them to look online”

Peter Kay’s Comedy As A Metaphor

“The comedian Peter Kay has a very famous skit where he’s talking about garlic bread. Now garlic bread is something you can pick up in most supermarkets or stores in Europe or the US. The point is, it’s not considered to be a rare or unusual thing in Western Society. He keeps on repeating garlic and bread and really draws attention to the idea that garlic and bread shouldn’t go together.”

Here are some resources so you can go deeper: 

Peter Kay

Peter Kay Garlic Bread

Professor Koen Van Lear

Dr Maddy Janssens

Ethnic minority professionals’ experiences with subtle discrimination in the workplace

Check out these related episodes of the show.

Why Welcoming Your Identity But Not Your Ability Can Be a Covert Form of

Why Back Handed Compliments Can Be a Covert Form of Discrimination

Whenever you’re ready, there are a few ways I can support your Inclusion Journey: