Day 54: Discrimination – Old vs. Young

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 54: Discrimination – Old vs. Young

An HR manager recently posted a message that he had hired a woman over 50 and had taken quite a bit of heat for it from the younger generation. There were a number of comments, I put in my two cents and commended him for his decision. I added that giving the choice between a 25-year-old and a 50-year-old, I would pick the 50-year-old every time.

Most young girls marry, start a family and go on maternity leave several times. Next, the kids get sick and mom has to take time off to look after them. With a 50-year-old, you avoid all that. Women that age are not only experienced, they have grown up children.

Well, when I said as much, I was severely criticized and insulted. It was even said that I discriminated against my own kind. Maybe that’s true, but I’m no stranger to discrimination myself. Over the years I’ve been discriminated against for being too tall, too thin, too young, too old, being from a foreign country, speaking with an accent … you name it, it’s been done.

If I’m partial to older women vs. the younger generation it has a reason, several reasons actually.

Take Tina for instance. Tina’s parents spent close to $250,000 on their daughter’s law school education. She had a brilliant mind, did her articling in one of the top law firms in the city, with a firm job offer after graduation. Six months before she graduated she met a man and married him. A month before graduation she announced she was pregnant and moving to Chicago. Her parents begged her to finish her education. She could practice law in Chicago after the baby was born. But no, Tina didn’t want to listen, she wanted to be a full-time mom. Today she has two children, is divorced and her parents are still paying off her student loans.

Then there’s Betty. Betty is an administrative assistant in a bank. Shortly after she started her job she got pregnant and went on a year’s maternity leave. When she came back she back she announced she was pregnant again and took off for another year of maternity leave. When she came back to work she was already pregnant for the third time and off she went again.

Next up there’s Yasmine. Yasmine also works for a bank, has four children and shows no signs of stopping. Her children range from age 6 to 11. All four go to school and after school they are looked after by their elderly and disabled grandparents. One is blind the other in a wheelchair. When Yasmine comes home from work, she picks up her kids and promptly kicks them out. In spring and summer, they play (unsupervised) in the condo building’s garden, in fall and winter they are banished to the corridor. When it’s time to eat she calls them in and after supper sends them to bed. When asked why the kids have to go to bed so early she openly states that she can’t stand having them around. Well, if that’s the case, why then have four children?

Are there other examples of young people acting irresponsibly? Yes, tons of them, but I think you get the idea. No need to go on and on.

Now women over the age of 50, on the other hand, are a whole different kettle of fish. When they get hired, an organization knows it’s getting value for money. Women who re-enter the job market at that age are either widowed or divorced and need the job for the money. The chances of an older woman quitting because she’s getting married are slim to none, and the chances of her getting pregnant and going on maternity leave are zero.

Other benefits of hiring older women are that they will show up on time, every time. They are experienced, they know what they’re doing, and take pride in their performance.

So, if you want to say that I discriminate against young people, go ahead. My conscience is clear. 

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Is sex discrimination dead

The western world likes to pride itself on the notion that sex discrimination is a thing of the past. I would urge those people to open their eyes. Sex discrimination is alive and well.

In the newspaper today it was reported that a woman had lost control of her car and slammed into a house. This is not the first time I’ve noticed this. Several announcements of car accidents specify that the driver was a woman.

Why is it necessary to be gender specific? Why can’t an accident report merely state “The driver of the car …”

In my opinion, women are discriminated against in all kinds of situations. For instance …

I’ve been all over the Net looking for women’s sneakers. I’ve looked at Sketchers, and Sportscheck, and other places and I don’t like what I see.

Sportcheck was running a special yesterday on men’s training shoes, pricing a particular pair down from $99.99 to $49.99. In women’s training shoes they had a pair down from $189.99 to $94.99

Why are women’s shoes more expensive than men’s?

And it’s not just trainers, golf shoes, tennis shoes, etc. it’s regular shoes too. And it makes no sense. Men’s feet are bigger than women’s feet, so more leather is needed, yet women’s shoes are far more expensive than men’s shoes.

And it’s not just shoes, it’s all kinds of things.

The other day I took in two pairs of shoes for the heels to be repaired. One pair was Dieter’s, which needed a considerable patch of rubber to repair to heel, the other pair were mine, which required a tiny piece of rubber for the heel. Yet despite the fact that the rubber required for Dieter’s repair was at least ten times bigger than my repair, he only had to pay $10 while I had to pay $20. 

Now how exactly does that work?

Clothing stores are equally discriminating.

The last time I was at Zara’s, I looked at blouses and while I saw some beautiful things, they were kind of expensive. Some blouses, plain blouses, were labelled just under a $100, some over $100, others still way over my budget. The same with slacks, some hovered around the $100, some were way over that amount.

I also looked at the Zara’s men’s section and noticed some very nice shirts for just $45 and pants for $65. I was confused. More material was needed for men’s clothing, yet it was cheaper than women’s clothing.

And it doesn’t stop there. Hair stylists also discriminate.

I recently picked up a price list of a downtown hair salon.

For women

Cut and style by a creative director - $125

Cut and style by a creative manager - $95

Cut and style by new talent - $65

For men

Cut and style - $30

As for salaries, we won’t even go there. While there are probably plenty of women who get equal pay to men, there are far more who don’t. Just the other day I heard that female workers of a particular organization demanded equal pay to the male workers. The organization flat out refused, stating that it would cost them millions.

Is sex discrimination dead … not at all.

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Are we allowed to discriminate

Yesterday I was presented with an official document. In addition to the usual questions (name, address, phone number, email address), I was asked to specify a few details. Was I any of the following:

An aboriginal person

A person of color

A francophone

A person with a disability

Male or female

Deaf

Blind

And I wondered, if discrimination is against the law, are they allowed to ask these questions?

If sex discrimination is against the law, what does it matter whether I’m male or female?

If racial discrimination is against the law are they allowed to ask if I’m aboriginal, a francophone, a person of color or just a plain Caucasian?

Is it a good thing or a bad thing to have a disability? Does having a disability gain you point over being in perfect health?

Does a blind aboriginal male stand a better chance at getting accepted than an aboriginal female with 20/20 vision?

Does a person of color have an advantage over a francophone or the other way around?

If all people are equal on God’s green earth, why are they asking all these questions? The way I see it, this is discrimination.

As for age discrimination, there those asking the questions have come up with a loophole to find out how old someone is.

Since they are not allowed to ask “How old are you?” or “In what year were you born?” they’ve come up with the question “In what year did you graduate high school?” 

Now unless someone graduated from continued education, the cat is pretty much out of the bag. 

We as individuals are not allowed to discriminate, but it seems that organizations are.

Employment agencies - friend or foe

There’s no denying that the unemployed are having a hard time.  Let’s take Laura as an example.

She spent a considerable amount of time constructing the perfect resume and cover letter, surfed job sites for hours on end, and applied to positions of interest until she was blue in the face.

Some of those applications went out to organizations, some to employment agencies.  The result … a few times she was invited for an interview, but nothing came of it.  Agencies invited her to register with them if she wanted to be considered for upcoming opportunities.

When Laura visited the employment agencies, registration usually took about three hours.  First there was a profile to be created: name, address, contact information, etc.

Next there were a string of tests to do: MS-Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, plus a typing test.

Finally there was the interview. 

Every time Laura left the agency sure in the knowledge that it was only a matter of time before she went back to work.  While some people indeed find work through an employment agency, Laura didn’t.

Options Personnel

The first agency she ever registered with was Options Personnel.  Shortly after registration she was contacted for a three day temporary assignment.  On her way to the company she got struck by a car, nothing major, but enough to keep her from working that day.  She never heard from Options Personnel again.

Adecco

Laura also registered with Adecco.  Three months after registration she responded to an ad online, but was told that her consultant had left the agency.  If she wanted to be considered for future assignments she had to re-register.  Laura did.  Two months later she hadn’t heard from Adecco and called for an update.  Again she was told that her consultant had left the agency, if she wanted to be considered for future assignments she had to re-register.  All in all, Laura registered four time with Adecco.  She was never contacted.

Altis

Laura’s experiences with Altis are much like with Adecco’s.  She registered with the agency, her consultant left and she had to re-register.  She did so three times.

Hays

She registered with Hays about five months ago and hasn’t heard from them since.  She’s emailed her consultant several times and left him voice mail messages, all of which were ignored.

Randstad

Through Randstad, Laura met Michelle.  They were both placed with a laundry detergent company and were actively encouraged by their consultant to cheat on their time sheet, booking more hours than what they actually worked.  If they worked 500 hours, the company had to hire them.  Having no scruples, Michelle did so.  When she worked 35 hours she charged the company 40 hours, every single week.  Laura didn't and booked her hours honestly.  Randstad terminated Laura's assignment and never called her again.

Still, every day Laura scans the job sites and is encouraged when she sees agencies such as ZSA, Cartel, and Bilingual Source posting as much as ten jobs. 

When she registered with them, she was told that they had nothing at the moment. 

“What about all the ads?” she questioned.

“We had one job and ten consultants advertised,” she was told.  “In the meantime that position has been filled.”

Since that time, Laura has never been contacted by either ZSA, Cartel or Bilingual Source.  Questioning an employment agency is career suicide.  If a candidate asks questions, she's seen as a trouble maker.

Part of the reason Laura remains unemployed is that she has to put up with discrimination.  They say that discrimination is against the law, but organizations and agencies have found loopholes.

For instance, organizations can’t say that they’re looking for a young person, so they word it as “Junior assistant required”.

Those who give preference to a Chinese assistant word it as “Must be able to speak Mandarin”.

Is it any wonder that Laura slowly but surely is giving up hope?