Direct discrimination is when the discrimination is for example because of someone’s gender. eg. only men, black/Chinese, someone’s size, sexual orientation, age, disability, race and religion. Basically direct discrimination is directed at someone. It is when anyone is treated differently for having a difference in one of the protected characteristics. Name calling would be a form of direct discrimination. Another is stereotyping, an example of this might be saying that old people don’t have very good appetites.
This could result in old people in a home say, being underfed. Another might be not catering for vegetarians or not offering a Halal meal. Making decisions on behalf of people without their input would also be considered discrimination. Indirect discrimination is where for example a company puts a policy in place which unintentionally excludes a certain group of people. An example of this might be a company having a policy of twelve hour shifts.
This means that someone who has childcare responsibilities for example, wouldn’t be able to do that job. This isn’t particularly aimed at anyone, but still causes discrimination. It is caused by something that has been put in place. Say for example someone already works for a company and some kind of policy is established, that excludes this person from doing their role, this would be indirect discrimination and the company wouldn’t be able to make the person, for example, change their shift pattern if they can’t. Finally positive discrimination is when a particular group are favoured. It is meant to be a positive thing, but actually favours a certain group and may discriminate against the non-favoured group.
An example of this is people applying to universities, who positively discriminate towards taking on people from comprehensive schools. They may not be getting the same grades as those from a private school, and it can be seen as unfair. Other groups of people who may experience positive discrimination are women and young people. 2.2 Describe approaches to challenge discrimination
