Discrimination

  • In December 2013 India renewed the criminalization of homosexuality. Expression of homosexuality is to be punished by up to 10 years in prison.
  • Women on average still earn less the men. In 2012 the difference between the incomes of men and women in full employment was 23 %.
  • The Jordanians are the most homophobic nation in the world. But although 97% of the population refuses to accept homosexuality, expressions of homosexual orientation are not criminalized.
  • Around three quarters of the world population live in countries with a high level of state imposed restrictions or social hatred towards other than the dominant religions.
  • Jews account for only 1% of the world population, but along with Christians and Muslims they are one of the three most discriminated religious groups by the state or the society.

(Sources: Pew Research Center, IWPR, UN)

Discrimination is understood as less favorable treatment of a person on the basis of reasons such as nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, age or sexual orientation. If unequal treatment cannot be justified by an objective legitimate purpose (i.e. national security, protection of the public health, protection of the rights and freedoms of other people), it is considered unlawful. Equal treatment and non-discrimination can be seen as the positive expression of the same issue.

Adoption of positive or equalizing measures (sometimes called positive discrimination) consist a certain accepted exception. They usually mean placing deliberate preference on members of a certain (disadvantaged) group with the aim of improving their involvement in a given field (political, economic, educational). The set of measures is wide and diverse. Different opinions regarding this issue emerged in the society. While some welcome the mentioned measures as a temporary means to preventing discrimination in the future, others consider them to be “discrimination upside down” and see in them a danger that could paradoxically inflict more hatred towards the concerned group.

Moments in history

  • In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give her seat on the bus to a white male and was arrested. Her act symbolizes the eve of the fight for emancipation of the black population in the US.
  • Eight years later the famous speech “I have a dream” was made by Martin Luther King during the march on Washington. He spoke of a wish that his children grow up in a country that would not judge them on the basis of their skin. M. L. King was assassinated in 1968 as the leader of the movement for the rights of African-Americans. The Irish rock band U2 wrote a song about him called Pride.
  • The word has become the favorite slogan of people protesting against discrimination worldwide. For instance the members of sexual minorities regularly organize marches under the name “Gay Pride“ (the Prague event is called Prague Pride and it has been taking place since 2011).  As early as 1998 a march for the rights of sexual minorities was organized at the Rainbow Festival in Karlovy Vary.
  • The first “Roma Pride“, a march for better status of the Roma in the society, in the Czech Republic took place in 2012.