Discrimination

Discrimination refers to different treatment of groups of people based on race, gender, and age. (Geog 423) Discrimination happens everywhere; in homes with families, in the workplace, in restaurants, and anywhere you can think of. There are many different forms of discrimination, such as age discrimination, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, etc. Discrimination may prohibit someone from working at a certain job, getting paid less than someone else, or prohibit them from entering a place. For example, the literacy rate in Democratic Republic of Congo is 66.8%, lower than USA’s and Canada’s 99% literacy rate (CIA Factbook). Girls are not given the chance to go to school, and this is a form of gender discrimination. Indeed, son preference is a widespread discrimination against girls, yet it is hard to stop. The son preference tradition has been passed on by parents for many generations, but it is still ongoing. In a geographical sense, the countries that tend to have high amounts of discrimination against girls (son preference, honor killing, abortion of girls) are located in the south east Asian countries, such as China, Vietnam, Korea, India, etc. However, discrimination in general is ubiquitous, and applies to all countries.