What Is Discrimination?

Discrimination means treating a person unfairly because of who they are or because
they possess certain characteristics. If you have been treated differently from other
people only because of who you are or because you possess certain characteristics, you
may have been discriminated against.

The Equality Act 2010 highlights 9 protected characteristics:

 Age
 Gender
 Race
 Disability
 Religion
 Pregnancy and maternity
 Sexual orientation
 Gender reassignment
 Marriage and civil partnership

Types of Discrimination
Discrimination can occur in the following forms:

Direct Discrimination
Under similar circumstances, when a person with a protected characteristic is treated less
favourably than others, it is direct discrimination. For example – you have the qualifications and
experience necessary for the job but your application is turned down because you are ‘too
young’ or ‘too old’.

Indirect Discrimination
If there is a rule or policy in the workplace that puts you at a disadvantage as compared to
others, it may be considered indirect discrimination. For example – an organisation includes a
clause that forces all employees to work on Sunday. This puts Christians at a particular
disadvantage as it is common knowledge that Sunday is a day of worship for Christians.

You have a right to challenge the clause if it affects you directly.

Discrimination by Association
If you are treated unfairly because someone you know or are associated with has a protected
characteristic, this may be construed as discrimination by association. For example – you are
refused service in a restaurant because you are with someone who belongs to a particular race.

Discrimination by Perception
Receiving unfair treatment because someone thinks you belong to a group with protected
characteristics, you may be experiencing discrimination by perception. For example – you are
heterosexual but an estate agency refuses to lease out a flat to you because they assume you
are gay due to their misconceptions about how gay people look, dress or behave.

Harassment
Harassment comprises of unwanted behaviour that makes another person feel offended,
humiliated or intimidated. Unwanted behaviour could include physical gestures, abuse, jokes,
spoken or written words or offensive emails and expressions. For example – male gym
members passing sexual comments or telling unwelcome jokes within earshot of a female gym
member could constitute harassment.

Victimisation
When a person is treated badly or subjected to detriment because they complained about
discrimination or supported another victim of discrimination, this may be considered
victimisation. For example – you are denied training or advancement avenues at work because
you filed a sexual harassment complaint against your boss.

Defenses against discrimination

Avoid those people- You have to understand one thing: those people are scums.
They are losers of the society. They discriminate you only because they see something in
you that remind themselves of their pains. That is why they don’t want you to succeed. The
truth is they are just jealous because they know they will never beat you and they don’t
want to see you do better than them.

Just ignore it- Truth of the matter is, you can’t completely avoid discrimination.
Discrimination has been happening since humanity existed. It is very common for people to
discriminate others. It doesn’t just happen from races to races, it also happens within the
same races. Let use an example, I am Chinese and I am from Guangzhou, which is the
third biggest city in China in terms of impact and size. I will automatically discriminate
people from smaller cities like Xiangtan and Hangzhou, just because they don’t have the
same previleges as us. People from those cities tend to not enjoy as much benefits as us.
They also don’t share the same vision as us. Many people from the big cities have gone to
different countries and get to drive luxurious cars such as BMW, Benz, Rolls Royce etc.
People from smaller cities never get to enjoy those perks

Conclusion: Just be yourself and ignore what others say to you. Regardless of how you
do in life, there are going to be haters out there who just don’t like you. Don’t worry about
them.