• Why does discrimination continue to exist in the workplace?workplace portrait image by DXfoto.com from Fotolia.com
  
  Discrimination in the workplace occurs when an employee finds unfair treatment because of their race, sexual origin, religion, national origin, physical and mental disabilities or many other characteristics. Not only does discrimination exist in the workplace, but it exists outside the workplace and is very hard to get rid of. Traditional labels and other unfair generalizations learned from others, parental discrimination, fear and the general imperfection of the world are major reasons for discrimination.
  
  

Inperfection of the World

• The world is imperfect and unjust. And some people in the world are small-minded when it comes to changing their views of other peoples.
  
  

Fear

• Some people are fearful and unwilling to unlock their chains of ignorance, hatred, and bigotry. So they use discrimination as a way to socialize. Many people don't know what will happen if they changed their views of others and accepted them, therefore they remain fearful of what they don't know.
  
  

Traditional Labeling

• Around the world other races and sexes are labeled by people and those discriminatory labels are passed down from generation to generation. For example, India's traditional caste system, while officially illegal to use as a tool of discrimination, is still heavily observed in some regions of the country and up to half of the country is labeled as one of the OBC or Other Backward Classes. This sort of labeling can easily lead to workplace bias.
  
  

Parental Discrimination

• Some parents raise their children with negative beliefs about others. This is a huge reason why it is so hard to get rid of discrimination in our workplaces. Having a parent who is an extremist will obviously have negative effects on how a child will grow up and how that child will treat others.
  
  

Unfair Generalizations

• When a single person of a race or sex does something wrong, people tend to group the entire race or sex with that single person's flawed actions. This tends to happen with minorities quite often in the workplace and even outside of the workplace in public.