Reference no: EM132196415

Poverty as a Diversity Concern

Poverty is a specific area of emphasis for the ILO, which points out that poverty remains widespread in the developing world and some transition countries.41 However, it is not limited to developing and transition countries—it is deep and widespread in some developed nations as well. The horror of the unnecessary loss of lives as a result of Hurricane Katrina in the southeast- ern United States awakened the country to long- denied and ignored, yet long-lasting and stable, distinctions based on class, poverty, and race. At the time Katrina hit, 26.9% of the population in the region lived in persistent poverty although the U.S. poverty rate was 12.7%. Many affected by the disaster were working poor, employed in restaurants, hotels, and casinos, or driving cabs, trolleys, and limousines for affluent tourists, par- tygoers, and conventioneers.

Despite mandatory evacuation orders, persis- tent poverty left tens of thousands of people, largely Blacks, unable to flee the natural disaster and vulnerable to its destruction. Without cars, credit cards, or money to rent hotel rooms out of town, the persistently poor went to the Louisiana Superdome (a large sports facility) and Conven- tion Center for shelter. After the hurricane and in the midst of unprecedented flooding, their poverty left these victims vulnerable to the further, human- made destruction of insensitivity and neglect.

In the United States, the poor and disenfran- chised live in public housing projects in commu- nities near toxic waste dumps in Chicago, Memphis, and Cleveland; near cancer-causing refineries in Baton Rouge and Houston; and in flood-prone areas of Tucson, Dallas, and New Orleans, and struggle to make ends meet.42 Every day, in cities all around the United States, poverty, persistent segregation, poor housing, and separate and unequal schools contribute to preventable disease, violence, and suicide.43 Although widely perceived as an urban problem, many people in poverty live in rural areas, also struggling to make ends meet and in poor living conditions.44 Regardless of their location, those affected by poverty are disproportionately minor- ities, with American Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans consistently about twice as likely as Whites and Asians to live at or below the poverty line.45 Although minorities are dispro- portionately poor, Whites are the majority of the

U.S. poor numerically. Media representations, however, portray significantly more Blacks as poor and support other erroneous perceptions— such as that the poor primarily live in cities and that they are lazy. One study found that only 30% of the poor adults in media representations were depicted as working or in job training, although 50% of the poor work full- or part-time.46

Erroneous perceptions aside, being poor has similar consequences worldwide—from poor health to inadequate schooling to early death in Africa, Brazil, England, India, Mexico, and the United States—everywhere one would venture to look. Favelas, barrios, projects, shanty towns, slums, and the backwoods are where the impoverished can be found. Although who is impoverished varies by where one is in the world, persistent poverty is a universal diversity concern. The ILO views “discrimina- tion based on race, caste, ethnic origin, skin col- our, religion, gender, sexual orientation, health status and disability” as an “underlying feature” of persistent poverty.

In France, the motto liberté, égalité, fraternité (“liberty, equality, fraternity”) has little meaning to immigrants of color and their French descendants. As in the United States, in France, unemployment, underemployment, and poverty among the foreign-born, who are often racial and ethnic minorities, is considerably higher than among the natives, and this is consistent across education levels.48 Discrimination against immigrants in Eur- ope is correlated with higher poverty.

Questions to Consider

1. Given equal education and opportunity, why is it easier for Whites in the United States to escape poverty and discrimination than it is for people of color?

2. Why is it easier for men to avoid or escape poverty than it is for women?

3. The ILO proposes that discrimination is an underlying feature of poverty. How are dis- crimination in employment and poverty related for workers around the world? Discuss.

4. In this and previous chapters, the un- and underemployment of non-dominant group members were documented. How do such employment patterns negatively affect the productivity of a country.