Prejudice and Descrimination (Essay Sample)

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Senior Citizens have had challenges finding work or keeping the work they already have, even when they are still in a position to do the work. This is due to a discriminative policy of forced retirement when someone attains a certain age. This policy was formulated in view that as people age, their productivity lowers and thus should be replaced by more agile, youthful employees. This results in the forced retirement of people who still could work and still need their jobs. This has resulted in a state where, older women and men face the most difficulty when searching for employment as compared to younger individuals. There are many workplaces that have policies that permits the use of mandatory retirement when a person’s age is believed to limit his / her ability to work. (Gillin, Macgregor & Klassen, 2005)
Society in turn has over time accepted the age-based criteria for planning policies and programs and for making decisions on people in areas like services and employment. This is due to perceived ideas, stereotypes and myths of the aging process and older people which gives rise to their discriminatory treatment. Age discrimination may not be taken as serious as other forms of discrimination yet it has the same effects economically, psychologically and socially on the aging people. Age also works in combination with other forms of discrimination to form a different and likely more lethal form of discrimination. For instance, women face the aging process with more challenges compared to their male counterparts. It is therefore evident that the age based discrimination of senior citizens in society and at the workplace results in detrimental effects economically, socially and psychologically. (Nelson, T. D. 2005).
Provincial legislation has been enacted to remove the utilization of mandatory retirement fot aged people, even though some exceptions still exist. Many provinces have formulated policies to guard citizens against mandatory retirement. Programs have also been put in place to help the public understand how people are to be protected against age discrimination, for instance, the OHCR (The Ontario Human Rights Commission Paper), a paper published after an in-depth research on the challenges and forms of discrimination faced by senior citizens in Ontario. This paper came up with a code of conduct that would be a turning point in the handling of age discrimination. Older people are made aware of their rights to equal treatment in employment, housing sector, contracts, services and other sections of society.
The OHCR code protects people against age discrimination. The code also assists employers and service providers understand their responsibilities under the code. This code establishes dignity and equal treatment for everyone irrespective of their age. It is a clear example of a policy that has been formulated to deal with age discrimination. This form of discrimination has not been entirely eliminated and continues to exist in many spheres of society. The myths and perceptions of the aging process have not changed much either. People still continue to peg perceptions such as, as the older one gets, the less productive they are. The OHCR alone cannot deal with age discrimination in time.
In this view, more legislations and policies should be formulated to guard people against age discrimination in society. Many provinces and organizations still use policies that provide basis upon which forms of discrimination are meted out against senior employees and citizens. These...