Discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably than others by their race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, etc.
My hometown Jaffna is rife with discrimination. An age old caste system discriminates a person based on the family he or she was born into. A Brahmin’s son is a Brahmin, demands respect and special privileges, irrespective of whether the young Brahmin adheres to conduct worthy of Brahmins. As a child, I have seen many of lower caste were not allowed into temples in Jaffna, because of their castes. The caste based discrimination changed gradually, thanks to legislative interventions, enforcement by Police, and the code of conduct demanded by LTTE, which controlled Jaffna for many years. Some of the progress made in this regard is disappearing, but I am confident that it will not recede to the practices of pre-1960s.
The Government of Sri Lanka instituted statutory forms of discrimination in the 1970s. Tamils, one of the ethnic communities of Sri Lanka were required to obtain higher University entry scores compared to other two major communities of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka paid dearly for this type of discriminatory policies over 30 years, including a loss of over 70,000 lives and migration of over a million Tamils. The brain, property and productivity losses to the country had been immeasurable.
I am one of those emigrated, first to the USA for higher studies and later to Australia for employment. As a student in the US, I need not worry about discrimination. I was better than an average student, won a National Award, scored high GPAs for my MS and Ph.D., and earned a post-doctoral position. I know I did not experience any form of discrimination and I have many fond memories of my life in the USA for seven years. Later too, I worked with Americans in Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, some of them were my bosses and the others were colleagues. Almost without exceptions, none discriminated me because of my origins.
Australia too was very fair to me during my early days. As an immigrant, I soon realised that I need to produce 120% instead of 100% if I have to make progress, and I did. The Agency I worked for recognised my productivity and rewarded me regularly until I reached a point at which I sought administrative or leadership positions. I was not successful twice. It was then I thought of seeking employment in the international arena.
My first international appointment at UN-Director Level appointment in an International Agency was in Pakistan. I could swear that I NEVER felt any form of discrimination there. Despite the prevalence of feudalism, and I being a Hindu in a Muslim country, these differences did not make ANY impact at any level I dealt with. I recall dining with the President, Governors, Generals, Ministers, Secretaries and Peasants. Wherever I went, my ethnicity, my religion, my colour of skin, my national origin – none of those were detrimental to me.
My second international appointment was in Oman. In Oman, Omanis received special privileges not provided to expatriates – but only in very few circumstances, such as highest executive positions in Universities and Ministries. But at middle and senior level positions that type of discernment was not there. I moved steadily through ranks and became a senior level administrator. I was fairly and affectionately treated by my Omani superiors, colleagues, and students for nine years. They were very good days.
My third international appointment was in India; again a UN-Director Level appointment at an International Agency and I never felt discriminated either. In fact, some of my Indian colleagues would say that there’s no premium for the skin colour, a scorn that was in place for many years, where whites held senior positions in the British Raj, because of their skin colour.
Now I am back in Australia, trying to secure a managerial or leadership position at mid to senior level without any luck. These positions are at lower levels than those I held in Pakistan, Oman or India at agencies of International stature. I get rejection letters which contain polite language with zero feedback on why I am not good enough. They remind me of the rejection letters I had received in Australia before I took on international assignments.
Am I being discriminated because of my age and ethnic origin, I wonder! A State Government agency in Australia which employs about 350 staff, 20 to 30% of migrants, mostly from Asia, has appointed approximately 30 new Directors and Managers, not a single one has dark skin. Everyone appointed through external advertisement is a white woman, and every internal candidate got promoted is white.
My reflections are leading to a new hypothesis about discrimination in the Public Sector in Australia. I am beginning to think that the white Australians can not see coloured skin people as potential managers or leaders, irrespective of their educational background or experience. Non-Anglo-Saxon names on applications and resumes turn them off straight away. This invisibility problem may not be there for my kids, who are growing up with white kids, who are seeing them from their childhood. I wish I am correct.
I think one of the solutions to fight discrimination is to talk/write about it. Single handedly fighting discrimination and winning is very difficult. Most of the time, we are discriminated by something much stronger and bigger than us - like a Govt agency. I was afraid to complain because I feared that I could be punished. My insecurities and ambitions inhibited me from taking on the big guys. At younger ages, fighting is even more difficult, because there's always a possibility of being branded as a 'trouble maker', which then affects the rest of the career. It would have been too hard on us, who grew up with discrimination, trying to establish a new life in a completely new environment and culture. Now I am about to retire, I feel I should voice it because it may do some good to the next generation, including my kids.
Will this lead to under productivity at the workplace? Isn’t this is what the ultimate price of discrimination? Only time will tell. I am only hoping that the Australian public sector will wake up soon to the folly they are in. When almost all Asian countries around Australia are rapidly developing, Australia can ill afford to be colour-blind for long.
My hometown Jaffna is rife with discrimination. An age old caste system discriminates a person based on the family he or she was born into. A Brahmin’s son is a Brahmin, demands respect and special privileges, irrespective of whether the young Brahmin adheres to conduct worthy of Brahmins. As a child, I have seen many of lower caste were not allowed into temples in Jaffna, because of their castes. The caste based discrimination changed gradually, thanks to legislative interventions, enforcement by Police, and the code of conduct demanded by LTTE, which controlled Jaffna for many years. Some of the progress made in this regard is disappearing, but I am confident that it will not recede to the practices of pre-1960s.
The Government of Sri Lanka instituted statutory forms of discrimination in the 1970s. Tamils, one of the ethnic communities of Sri Lanka were required to obtain higher University entry scores compared to other two major communities of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka paid dearly for this type of discriminatory policies over 30 years, including a loss of over 70,000 lives and migration of over a million Tamils. The brain, property and productivity losses to the country had been immeasurable.
I am one of those emigrated, first to the USA for higher studies and later to Australia for employment. As a student in the US, I need not worry about discrimination. I was better than an average student, won a National Award, scored high GPAs for my MS and Ph.D., and earned a post-doctoral position. I know I did not experience any form of discrimination and I have many fond memories of my life in the USA for seven years. Later too, I worked with Americans in Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, some of them were my bosses and the others were colleagues. Almost without exceptions, none discriminated me because of my origins.
Australia too was very fair to me during my early days. As an immigrant, I soon realised that I need to produce 120% instead of 100% if I have to make progress, and I did. The Agency I worked for recognised my productivity and rewarded me regularly until I reached a point at which I sought administrative or leadership positions. I was not successful twice. It was then I thought of seeking employment in the international arena.
My first international appointment at UN-Director Level appointment in an International Agency was in Pakistan. I could swear that I NEVER felt any form of discrimination there. Despite the prevalence of feudalism, and I being a Hindu in a Muslim country, these differences did not make ANY impact at any level I dealt with. I recall dining with the President, Governors, Generals, Ministers, Secretaries and Peasants. Wherever I went, my ethnicity, my religion, my colour of skin, my national origin – none of those were detrimental to me.
My second international appointment was in Oman. In Oman, Omanis received special privileges not provided to expatriates – but only in very few circumstances, such as highest executive positions in Universities and Ministries. But at middle and senior level positions that type of discernment was not there. I moved steadily through ranks and became a senior level administrator. I was fairly and affectionately treated by my Omani superiors, colleagues, and students for nine years. They were very good days.
My third international appointment was in India; again a UN-Director Level appointment at an International Agency and I never felt discriminated either. In fact, some of my Indian colleagues would say that there’s no premium for the skin colour, a scorn that was in place for many years, where whites held senior positions in the British Raj, because of their skin colour.
Now I am back in Australia, trying to secure a managerial or leadership position at mid to senior level without any luck. These positions are at lower levels than those I held in Pakistan, Oman or India at agencies of International stature. I get rejection letters which contain polite language with zero feedback on why I am not good enough. They remind me of the rejection letters I had received in Australia before I took on international assignments.
Am I being discriminated because of my age and ethnic origin, I wonder! A State Government agency in Australia which employs about 350 staff, 20 to 30% of migrants, mostly from Asia, has appointed approximately 30 new Directors and Managers, not a single one has dark skin. Everyone appointed through external advertisement is a white woman, and every internal candidate got promoted is white.
My reflections are leading to a new hypothesis about discrimination in the Public Sector in Australia. I am beginning to think that the white Australians can not see coloured skin people as potential managers or leaders, irrespective of their educational background or experience. Non-Anglo-Saxon names on applications and resumes turn them off straight away. This invisibility problem may not be there for my kids, who are growing up with white kids, who are seeing them from their childhood. I wish I am correct.
I think one of the solutions to fight discrimination is to talk/write about it. Single handedly fighting discrimination and winning is very difficult. Most of the time, we are discriminated by something much stronger and bigger than us - like a Govt agency. I was afraid to complain because I feared that I could be punished. My insecurities and ambitions inhibited me from taking on the big guys. At younger ages, fighting is even more difficult, because there's always a possibility of being branded as a 'trouble maker', which then affects the rest of the career. It would have been too hard on us, who grew up with discrimination, trying to establish a new life in a completely new environment and culture. Now I am about to retire, I feel I should voice it because it may do some good to the next generation, including my kids.
Will this lead to under productivity at the workplace? Isn’t this is what the ultimate price of discrimination? Only time will tell. I am only hoping that the Australian public sector will wake up soon to the folly they are in. When almost all Asian countries around Australia are rapidly developing, Australia can ill afford to be colour-blind for long.
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