Discrimination of different forms has become a normal thing in the world we live in and I don't trust a lot of people who speak against it anymore. Many of them condemn the act in public but privately, they are the pillars behind discrimination. I don't want to believe that discrimination is a problem that started today, it has been in existence for some time and social media is the reason why we are seeing many cases of it every day.
Before now, people don't have the medium to share their ordeal with the world. They suffer in silence as they deal with both the physical and mental impact of being discrimination victims. Some people were able to get through while it was the end of the road for some humans and many culprits don't still feel remorseful despite the negative impact of their actions.
Discrimination has become something huge to the extent that it now has types whereas, it shouldn't exist initially. In the world we live in today, people discriminate even skin colour forgetting that we are all humans. I read about discrimination cases and wonder how we have lost so much connection with humanity.
A few weeks ago, we saw what happened to the Real Madrid star boy. Vinicius was a victim of discrimination and we saw how things turned out, Balotelli was a victim all through his career and I don't understand the pleasure people derive from hurting a fellow human mentally and emotionally.
Gender discrimination is rampant and I am not surprised about it. It happens every day even though we don't pay attention to it.
People expect big incidents before they attach them to gender discrimination but they fail to know that little things count for gender discrimination. A very long time ago, I and my female friend was waiting for a bike when a vehicle suddenly parked close to us. The man who drove it offered my friend a lift and the moment she mentioned that I was going with her, he drove off.
It wouldn't have cost him anything to give us both a lift and as little as that might sound, he has practised gender discrimination but when you ask that man to speak about gender discrimination, he will definitely condemn it.
I have two huge experiences of gender discrimination and I will share both.
The first one happened in school during a presentation. We had to do a seminar for a particular course and the lecturer took it very seriously. We were allowed to suggest three topics and the lecturer assigned to us would choose one for us to work on.
I am not one of the close students to lecturers and the closest I get to them is during lectures. Running around them to gain favour is not my style and I give my best always to avoid needing their help.
I finally got three topics, went to the lecturer assigned to me to choose one and boom, I started having problems.
That day, I met some female students in his office and two other lecturers, they were chatting about unreasonable stuff. I was standing there waiting for him to attend to me but he didn't even act as if I was there.
I got tired and told him why I was there again, and he ordered me out of his office. I felt embarrassed because I haven't done anything wrong to him, and it was irresponsible of him to neglect his duties because he was talking to some girls.
I waited outside his office hoping that the girls will leave but they didn't. While standing, my girlfriend came to submit her topics as well because he was assigned to her as well qand I told her not to go in because he will insult her but she insisted on going in.
She entered and I moved closer to the door just to hear what would happen in there, you won't believe she was even offered a chair. The man approved a topic and even sent a cleaner to get her a pet drink because she said the sun was too hot.
She came out and was shocked, she even asked me if I am sure the same man chased me out. About two other female students got their topics approved that day but I didn't.
It went on for days and I didn't stop going to his office, he always said that he is busy and the silliest excuse he gave me was that he didn't have a pen. It would interest you to know that this man didn't approve a topic for me until about four days before the presentation. I went through hell to get prepared and it really affected my presentation. I wasn't composed but I just had to do it to get some marks.
Another experience happened while job hunting with a female friend.
We went together to a bank for job opportunities but we were both rejected and suddenly, she became their staff a few weeks after.
She wouldn't say anything about it and I didn't ask. Slowly, she cut off our friendship which is very much understandable. Years passed and I got to know from another friend that according to what our friend said, "the man we met at the bank the other day decided to help her for a reason I don't know".
I had a better result than her and can do the job properly so why wasn't I reconsidered?
I didn't let that bother me and sometimes, when I see a lady competing with me for something. I take my mind off it when a man is in charge because she has higher chances of getting it due to gender discrimination.
It is not a crime to be male or female, it shouldn't be a crime to be black or white, and I believe the world would be fair and better if discrimination can be put aside. The truth remains that it will always be a problem until severe measures are taken to curb the wings of discrimination across the globe.
If I have my way, there will be severe punishment for the culprit of discrimination and only that way can we bring a balance.
Awareness creation is not working because some people enjoy doing these things and the only way to tackle is by creating fear for culprits or people who might want to engage in the act later.