Australian Case Study Assignment Help

Australian Case Study Assignment Help

ESSAY ON CHALLENGES OF RACISM AND SEXISM FACED BY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS

Introduction

The study will analyse in depth regarding various habits and practices of racism and sexism that have been indulged within various religions and cultures. Meanwhile, the topics, racism and sexism itself had built massive controversies and chaos over the past few decades. Often racism and sexism had been highlighted as elements that are comparable and alterative to each other. Aboriginal people in Australia were one of the groups or community that was affected the most by the increasing practice of racism and sexism. The essay will extract and evaluate various challenges that have been faced by Aboriginal women and children due to the practice of sexism and racism (Bell and Blumenfeld, 1995).

Moreover, the study will also highlight and argue regarding certain elements of sexism and racism that have made life miserable of many people across the globe. Furthermore, study will analyse the interconnections of cultural difference, race, class etc, and will also highlight the consequences that are derived from social construction of sexual division of labour and considering women as chief elements of sexism.

Detailed study of the topic

Racism is a controversial word that has been derived from the practice of calling someone a ‘racist’. Racism can be defined as the practice of dividing and categorising people or communities by their skin colour, body structure, mother language or physical appearances. The most common and popular procedure of extracting and gaining most relevant literature regarding racism is by understanding the four- dimensional approach to racism. The components of the four dimensional model are racial discrimination, institutional racism, racist ideology and racial prejudice. All of these sections are identical to each other and are based on the same element, which is racism. Though all of the mentioned types of racism have similar effect on the environment and society, still racial discrimination can be highlighted as the root cause to all these elements of racism. Meanwhile another huge issue that have been faced by the Australian Aboriginal people is regarding denial of employment despite their capabilities (Guillaumin, 1995). Aboriginals have faced certain span of nightmares, which have forced them to employ in jobs with very low wages. Moving on to the various categories of racism it can be said that institutional racism is a section that has mostly affected various economies of different nations across the globe.

Racial Prejudice is a practice of pre- judging a particular community, religion or group of individual without sufficient information. The practice of Racial Prejudice also makes people create division among each other as they start showing negative attitudes to selected groups basing on their cultural or physical characteristics (Pettman, 1992). Therefore, it can be quiet reasonably argued that, racial prejudice within Australia has made life even more miserable for the Aboriginal people. Institutional racism can be referred to a pattern of distribution of social goods, which includes power that provides systematic and regular advantages to various racial and ethnic groups and at the same time disadvantages others. Therefore, the fact can be highlighted that institutional racism builds a certain type of difference between people of a society and at the same time creates division among these people as well. Aboriginal people in Australia have faced several identical issues when they were not even considered as human beings and were treated as slaves (Pettman, 1992). However, things have changed to some extent in the present era but at the same time Aboriginals in Australia still struggle to lead a normal life as other citizens due to various hurdles and sub- categories created by the government of Australia itself. Aboriginal women has faced days of nightmare due to racism and sexism as they were often used as slaves and sexually abused. Expressing of social myths regarding other ethnic and racial groups is often entitled as racist ideology. Various scholars have identified that the practice of racist ideology have increased massively in the recent era with the eruption in the practice of racism and sexism (Guillaumin, 1995). Hence, it can be argued that increase in racism is the root cause to racist ideology, as people have started judging and reacting to certain groups or communities in a negative manner. One of the most miserable facts regarding the Aboriginal Australians is that they even had to leave their families and were separated due to several causes that aroused from the practice of racism and sexism.

Another mammoth question aroused in the past decades was regarding the question that “Who experiences racism the most?”. For various reasons like blended racism, abusing particular groups etc it was not possible to answer to the aroused question was in a definite manner (Hayes and Colin, 1994). The National Inquiry steeped into the issue and took various pivotal steps that actually helped in determining a certain age group and community who was affected the most by the increased practice of racism and sexism. The Inquiry also identified that people who are seen as Muslim and Asian mostly experience the negative effects of racism. Meanwhile, another huge fact that was highlighted by the National Inquiry was regarding the Aboriginal people of Australia (Hayes and Colin, 1994). The Inquiry derived the fact from various surveys that Aboriginals were the first priority when it comes to sexism and racism. Racism was indulged with the Aboriginals to such a huge extent that they became almost familiar to these practices, but leading a normal life was just not possible. These factors made various Aboriginals choose various illegal ways of making a certain income, which was the worst part. The Inquiry also stated that men around 18 and 30 are the main victims of racism, while women around 16 to 35 were the chief victims of sexism. Apart from the data of most affected men and women of racism and sexism, the fact can also be underpinned from a report of the National Inquiry, which highlighted that 74.23 % of the total raciest people belonged to the Aboriginal community of Australia (Lee-Koo, 2009). A huge argument can be extracted from this statement regarding the Australian government, who in the past few decades has not participated in any major programs or approach to stop racism against the Aboriginal people of Australia. The argued statement can be supported by various relevant evidence, which showed that Australia belongs to one of those countries where racism and sexism are most common practices within the economy. Another survey report from the National Inquiry showed that Nigeria leads the list of countries with 43.88 % that is affected by the practices of racism and sexism in the last few decades. Meanwhile, Australia is recorded at 21.71 %, which conveys the fact that a huge bunch of Australian people faces racism and sexism. Therefore, the previously aroused argument can be supported by these relevant findings, which states that despite being a developed nation Australia have a huge number of people who are victims of racism and sexism. Meanwhile, observing various activities of the Australian government against the Aboriginal people quiet clearly unfold the fact that the government of Australia do not have any sort of genuine tendency to help the Aboriginals, rather opposes them at various stages.

Moving on to the section of sexism it can be said that various types of negative attitudes and behaviour shown by men towards women have been remarked as the practice of sexism. Some of the most common examples are individual men regarding women as sex objects, powerless individuals, or implies various sorts of violent behaviour towards them (Chambers and Barbara, 2004). A campaign against the practice of sexism, which was an initiative by the International Human Rights Association (IHRA), recorded that Aboriginal women are massively affected by the practice of sexism and the same holds a huge percentage of 63.19 %. Another massive argument can be highlighted from the findings of IHRA, which is regarding the role of Australian government against sexism within the Australian economy. However, the tendency of Australian government to go against the Aboriginal people gets even clearer after evaluating the reports IHRA even further, which underlines that almost 87.49 % of the Aboriginal women have faced various nightmare practices of sexism during the span of 1891 – 1923. Aboriginal men were ignored from any kind of employment during the span of 1890 and hence the women had no option rather than searching for employment to run their family (Lee-Koo, 2009). However, situation is much more balanced regarding the practice of sexism within the economy of Australia in the recent era, which highlights the fact that the mindset of Australian government have changed to some extent.

Conclusion

The study concludes that racism and sexism are two vulgar and offensive practices that were underpinned within the minds of people among various economies across the world. Another huge conclusion that can be derived from the study is that women was not even provided with any minimum respect during the past few decades, which was one of the major reason that increases the practice of sexism. Moreover, the essay also extracts the fact that the Australian Aboriginal people has faced several number of nightmare days due to the increased practice of sexism and racism. Another last and one of the most pivotal conclusion that can be withdrawn from the literature underpinnings of the essay is that the Australian government have not taken any active action to stop practices of racism and sexism towards the Aboriginal people of Australia.

Reference List

Books

Bell, L. and Blumenfeld, D., 1995. Overcoming racism and sexism. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Guillaumin, C., 1995. Racism, sexism, power, and ideology. London: Routledge.

Hayes, E. and Colin, S., 1994. Confronting racism and sexism. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Chambers, A. and Barbara, H., 2004. Anti-racism in Europe. London: Pluto Press.

Pettman, J., 1992. Living in the margins. North Sydney, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

Rothenberg, P., 1988. Racism and sexism. New York: St Martin's Press.

Journal

Lee-Koo, K., 2009. Feminist International Relations in Australia. Australian Journal of Politics & History, 55(3), pp.415-432