Racism at Care Setting - Essay Example

Racism at Care Setting Inserts His/ Her Inserts Grade Inserts Inserts Introduction: It is ironic that although there are no Races, there is Racism (Dalal, 2002, p.27). Racism and discrimination are some very common terms we hear about every other day. There may not be any society in the world that exists and is not plagues by such an unnecessary social epidemic. Racism has become a part of every society’s traditions, which now seems to be indispensible or unavoidable. Most common and may be the easiest targets of racism happen to be the minority community of any society. For those, who become the target of racist attitudes and negativity, this is something un-understandable. This paper is an attempt to highlight the undeniable issue of racism prevailing in our societies; and to understand how it can be avoided with a collective effort. What is Racism? Farhad Dalal (2002) explains the concept of racism as “Racism is anything- thought, feeling or action- that uses the notion of races as an activating or organising principle. Racism is a form of organising people, commodities and the relationship between them by making reference to a notion of race.” Jason Luey (2008) establishes another fact about racism that, “Racism functions in different ways and at different levels. Expressions can be willful, deliberate, conscious, or they can be indirect, unintentional, reflexive and unconscious”. With racism comes the terminology discrimination. American Heritage Dictionary (ANA, 1998) explains discrimination as, "Making a difference in treatment or favor on a class or categorical basis while disregarding individual merit; (2) acting on the basis of prejudice; and (3) the denial of equal opportunity (i.e. for education, employment, promotions, loans, housing, and health care)". Discrimination may not be easy to prove but its effects are everlasting. Prejudice is included in the explanation, and is considered directly proportional to racism or discrimination. But if we try to evaluate the definition of prejudice, then it becomes clear that prejudice is a judgment made in advance about a person, on the basis of stereotyped assumptions. It incorporates several factors like thoughts, attitudes, insensitivity, and ignorance, not actual behaviours or demonstrable denials of opportunity (ANA, 1998). Stereotype, is something that constitutes prejudices. It is a shorthand way of labeling some particular community, or race with some inappropriate or unconditional statement. For example, the inaccurate stereotype that Gypsies are dirty, may give rise to the negative prejudice: I dont like Gypsies because they are dirty. Racism is in particular, a negative and a very prominent product of prejudice. So, when a stereotype creates a prejudice, it leads to discrimination and further collaborates with racism. These terms are correlated with each other and contribute to the affectivity in a broader spectrum. Kendall (2010) believes that, in our society color and caste play an important role in providing the grounds of discriminations and racism. In almost every society which is dominated by any particular race of color, for example, like Whites in America or England there would be some discrimination and racism against the blacks. It is hard to believe but is an established fact, that in the most modern and contemporary societies, such racist attitudes are still prevailing. Though are always thrashed by the media and on a larger scale, but there are enough examples of racist attitudes by people at the highest of ranks and posts, which establish the fact that racism does exist. Racism at Care Setting Racism at workplace has become an everyday culture at every organisation. According to Gupta (1996), “Even though research on Racism in nursing is sparse, the examples of gender, sexism and class in this profession are readily available”. In order to analyze and understand the prevalence of racism at workplace, we may take examples from some particular setting, or profession where it exists and there are authentic facts that prove its existence. Care Setting refers to a place, where people are looked after or simply cared. It incorporates a wider area and happens to be a broad category. It involves hospitals, nursing homes, NGOs, social works, old houses, child care and day care etc. Some examples from more recent racist incidents; may help in understanding how racism can prevail at a place, which is among the most established and open minded societies of the world i.e. America. Racial disparities, particularly in medical profession, are usually associated with some African Americans in USA; and there is evidence, which suggests that patients, who perceive greater level of racism and have greater distrust of the medical system (Constantine & Sue, 2006). Rosie Purves incident, can prove that racism does exist and its probable targets are often those who cannot do much to refrain themselves from it. Purves, is a black ethnicity nurse who made headlines after she won a racial discrimination case against her employer in 2004. She was awarded 20,000 £, which happens to be the highest payout possible for her type of claim (Sivaramakrishnan, 2007). Rosie worked, at Southampton University Hospital’s NHS Trust as a nurse. In 2002 she was prevented from looking after a white baby and the child was moved to another ward. The reason behind this was not because the child’s mother had doubt on her nursing skills, but because of her skin color. The fact that she was black, encouraged the decision of refraining Rosie from nursing and caring for the innocent child. Rosie had faith in her abilities and her workplace, which was shattered when the NHS Trust management gave in to the request of the patient’s mother, and prohibited Rosie from doing her job. It was a collective effort of the workplace and the racist mother that not only prevented Rosie from conducting her job, but, put her abilities to question, and made her think endlessly over the age old dilemma of WHY ME? When she filed a case against the Trust, she won the battle after keeping quiet for seven years. According to the ruling of the employment tribunal, the Trust was “effectively silent and complicit” in the racist demands made by a woman, who did not want her baby treated by black staff (Johnson & D’Souza, 2008). This was a result of not one, but, two of such attempts to prohibit Rosie from doing her job; and each time there was a white child involved. After the first such racist attempt in 2002, she kept mum about the encouragement shown from her administration regarding discrimination. But, in 2004, she had to go through the same experience all over again, when the same mother encouraged another of her friend to not to give her child under Rosie’s or a black nurse’s care. The trust again agreed with the mother, and obliged her. This completely broke down Rosie. The question that arises here is why the management couldn’t take a stand in that particular situation. Rosie explained her experience at her work place as, “Racist abuse ruined my life. If I could put the clock back I would put my pride aside and speak up. Verbal abuse needs to be tackled. As nurses we accept patient’s anxiety but we do not have to put up with abuse- not verbal, not racist, not any form of abuse” (Cited by Johnson & D’Souza, 2008). If we assume that, this racist attitude at various professions is largely directed towards females, as they tend to be more prejudiced in nature than men, then this will not be true. Racism is not based on gender in most of the societies; it’s the color that provides the raw material. To further prove the hypothesis, that racism is prevailing in our society at a broader scale, irrespective of the gender contribution in any way, another example of the social worker Elvis Malcolm may help in making the assessment. Elvis Malcolm, is a black male working at a health care institute; and experiences racist and discriminative attitude every now and then by his clients. In a detailed account of his experiences, he has clearly expressed his disappointment on how often he has to go through the humiliating phase of negative or restrictive attitude, from the patients. To quote his own words, “Sometimes you walk in the client’s house and as a black guy like when you go in there first, they have attitude”. Malcolm often thinks about why is he always on the receptive end of negative attitudes? “You are going to say ‘why don’t you want me?’ I have come to take care of you”. But in a general way, Malcolm feels offended, but is not disappointed or heartbroken like Rosie. That is due to the fact that, his workplace management makes it a point that he is allowed to do his job, and he gets to take care of the patient. In an interview, he explained the reason why he is not as affected by the reactions, and negative behaviours of people he cares for, is because his management is supportive, and takes his side. Whenever such situation arises, where the client does not want to be cared by a black guy, the administration immediately consults the client’s social worker, to convince him/her in letting the black guy do the job. It does need some extra effort, but, the management makes it a point that Malcolm is allowed to carry on with his work. “When they (the client) report it to the office, then they obviously have to send somebody out to see that person, individual or get in touch with the person’s social worker. And then they will visit there and talk to the person and tell them the situation.” –Elvis Malcolm. Contrasting Behaviours With an analysis of the contrasting situations, faced by both Rosie Purves and Elvis Malcolm, it appears that racist beliefs and attitudes prevail in societies; and at a broad level. As detailed in the above mentioned examples, the organisation’s reaction and conduct is of integral importance in combating racism at workplace. In Rosalie’s case, it was her workplace management that behaved in a submissive manner, which brought along the notion that they too agreed with the mother of the patient in this respect. If they did not believe in racism or discrimination, then they would have taken some serious action. Or, if it was about the fact that, such organisations have to respect the demands of their clients, even then they had the choice of making the right decision; and set an example for others to follow. Had they shown some rigidity, and taken a stand against the woman, they might not have had to pay the penalty, and might have saved the hurt and disappointment which Rosalie went through. In a complete contrast, Malcolm’s workplace behaves in an entirely different retrospect. They understood the need to eradicate the false racist notions, and inappropriate demands of their clients. They chose to go through a similar situation, as Rosie’s with a completely different approach. This played a positive role in encouraging Elvis to do his job, with an open heart and a positive feeling. To quote him seems appropriate here, “I am doing something for society and donating to society. I see myself as a role model for other black people”. That sadly, was not the scenario in Rosie’s work environment. How to deal with Workplace Racism In order to deal with such situations, it is important to take notice before any such incident happens. This can be done through adopting the rule of a proper policy line, and clauses related to workplace racism, should be properly addressed and clearly laid. The lack of a clear organisational policy, paves way for such hurtful experiences by the staff, and controversies surround that workplace for a long period. This policy should, be acted upon by the management at all levels; and no matter how influential or dominating a client appears, the organisation should never give in to their demands. From a worker’s perspective, the best way of redressing a case of racial harassment, or discriminative behaviours is to rely on anti-harassment and anti-discrimination clauses, in one’s collective agreement. It may seem unlikely, but, is a possibility that such a contractual agreement of fair play and equality may not be observed by the organisation and colleagues, in the real environment of the workplace. Gunaratnarn, agrees that written policies make it easier to talk about racism, and deal with it later on when a need arises, but he admits that they are not a guaranteed substitute for actually becoming a target of racism; and the difficulties of dealing with it in the workplace. He further adds that “Equal opportunity policies have a vital role to play ... but real change can only be accomplished by the development of an organisational culture and climate that not only empowers staff to speak out, but also recognises that working towards race equality can feel threatening” (Gunaratnam, 2000, p. 148). So, besides just narrating and establishing the clauses in the written document, realisation of the fact that racism is not only a hurtful tradition, but, is more of a social epidemic than culture will effectively solve the issues at workplace. Bibliography Dalal, F. (2002). Race, Color and the Process of Racialization: New Perspectives from Group Analysis, Psychoanalysis, and Sociology. Psychology Press. Luey, J. (2008). Understanding Social Work Experiences of Racism in the current Health Care System. Viewed 4 June 2012 Johnson, J. and De Souza, C. (2008). Understanding Health and Social Care: An Introductory Reader. SAGE Publications Ltd. Gupta, T. D. (1996). Racism and Paid Work. University of Toronto Press. Kendall, D. (2010). Sociology in Our Times. Cengage Learning. Sivaramakrishnan, A. (2007). Through A Glass Wall. ICFAI Books. Constantine, D. and Sue, D. (2006). Addressing Racism: Facilitating Cultural Competence in Mental Health and Educational Settings. John Wiley & Sons. ANA. (1998). Department of strategic planning: Discrimination and Racism in Health Care. Viewed 4 June 2012 < http://gm6.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/Policy-Advocacy/Positions-and-Resolutions/ANAPositionStatements/Position-Statements-Alphabetically/Copy-of-prtetdisrac14448.html> Gunaratnam. (2000). International journal of palliative nursing. Mark Allen Pub. Read More