#BTColumn – Discrimination – are we doing enough?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Dr Cynthia D. Wiggins

The killing of George Floyd in the United States on May 25th, 2020, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, appears to have brought to the forefront issues relating to diversity, discrimination, racism, and inequality within the workplace, even in countries such as Barbados, where black people comprise more than a 90 per cent majority.

Within the last few months, we have seen evidence that the Mia Mottley-led Government is attempting to transform Barbados into a more tolerant landscape by creating less opportunity for discrimination.

For example, the government is seeking to recognize “a form of civil union” for same-sex couples; the abolishment of the requirement that individuals of the Muslim and Rastafarian faiths wear their headdress when taking photographs for government documents; the planned relocation of the statute of Lord Nelson from its current and prominent location in Heroes Square to the Barbados Museum; the clarification to the public that all types of couples are welcome under the 12-month Barbados Welcome Stamp; and the new Employment (Prevention of Discrimination) Act 2020, all of which seem (at least on the surface) as though the government is committed to promoting diversity not simply through lip-service but through the development of supporting policies, legislation and legal frameworks.

On July 29th, 2020 the Employment (Prevention of Discrimination) Act, 2020 passed in the House of Assembly. The Act, the first of its kind in Barbados, seeks to govern workplace discrimination so comprehensively. However, an interesting and glaring omission is that the Act fails to include discrimination against transgender persons, or discrimination based on place of residence.

I also noticed that the main channel for redress and enforcement is via written complaint to a “Tribunal”, by an unrelated third party, a group representing the individual who is being discriminated against or a trade union.

A great start, but I believe the section of the Act on enforcement needs to go further and speak to specifics aimed at removing less overt as well as more systemic discrimination.

It is logical to assume that in instances where overt discrimination (e.g. slavery, women being denied the right to vote) decline, instances of covert or systematic discrimination tend to increase.

Systemic discrimination is generally defined as “the discrimination of individuals through practice or policy”. In other words, systemic discrimination is subtle, usually based on neutral rules applied to all individuals, but which on further investigation, are disproportionately applied to some individuals more than others.

For example, systematic (race) discrimination may be at play when an employer dictates the professional requirements for a position in order to deliberately disqualify local candidates.

Systemic (age) discrimination could be the reason why a fully qualified, 50+ individual with over 10 years’ experience is consistently turned down for employment in place of younger, less qualified and less experienced applicants.

Systemic (gender) discrimination may also influence the corporate decision to pay female employees – no matter the job position – less than their male counterparts under the guise that the respective males are more committed, have more seniority, or are more qualified.

There is also a possibility that systematic discrimination may be at play in a case where a financial institution, in managing its risk exposure, only develops credit scoring models that would provide loans to black upper middle-class or white individuals, and despite statistics that show that the majority of their account holders are lower income, Black individuals, the institution makes no attempt to develop loan programs to mitigate this disparity.

Notwithstanding the previous examples, systematic discrimination often happens within the confines of already established policies, laws and social norms, which makes it even harder for the person who has been discriminated against to legally claim discrimination.

Barbados is a small nation consisting predominately of black and brown people; therefore, it is important when we speak of discrimination to admit the insidious ways in which it can occur.

We must take into consideration that discrimination unfortunately happens not because people (race, class, gender, etc.) are not homogenous but because systems are put in place by the wealth and power holders who favour themselves and people who look like them.

Therefore, despite the passing of the Act, I do not believe that discrimination can be effectively curbed without the development of a framework, legislation, and policies to regularize, monitor and review instances of its occurrence.

For example, there is a need to put legislation in place that stipulates that all job vacancy notices must indicate that an organization does not discriminate against anyone based on race, colour, age, etc.

Also, there is a need to monitor the racial makeup of employees at all levels of an organization, including at the senior management and Board level as well as the statistical monitoring of housing, financial, insurance and other similar industries for the utilization of discriminatory models and loan practices.

I also believe that it is necessary to legislate that all employers provide salary ranges and any accompanying perks for all internal and external vacancies in order to prevent wage discrimination.

Important as well would be the provision within the Act for persons to utilize a national whistle blower facility where individuals can anonymously provide information on alleged incidences of discrimination as well as the requirement that the Employment Rights Tribunal includes persons of diverse backgrounds and representative of typically discriminated against groups.

Given the space constraints, details of the recommendations have not been provided, but in its current state I believe the Act has loopholes that need to be addressed in order to be truly effective.

Minister Colin Jordan indicated that “ . . .  there must not be discrimination of any type which could potentially stop someone from earning a living.” I would however say that for the Act to truly safeguard against discrimination it is necessary to ensure that laws, policies and frameworks are put in place to prevent systematic discrimination.

Dr Cynthia D. Wiggins holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from the University of Liverpool. She is also a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and certified Change Management Practitioner, with more than 15 years’ experience in organizational transformation, restructuring and re-engineering.