Hello everyone! This is my first post on InsideIIM, and instead of writing about my achievement, I would like to head start by addressing an issue that is considered taboo. Let's talk about homosexuality and how it is perceived in society and the corporate world. I remember during a GD (Group Discussion) round at one of the top b-schools, we were asked to discuss the gender diversity at the workplace. It was a fabulous discussion. People introduced the topic by stating the importance of the inclusivity of the third gender in the corporate sector. It was a factual and logical discussion which ended with a consensus, but as soon as we left the GD room, things turned out to be the opposite. I observed group members giggling, laughing, and bragging about being able to lie perfectly during the GD. This is exactly what I want to address through this post. During formal interactions, we all consciously support the idea of the inclusivity of people with a different sexual orientation or gender identity, but as soon as we enter an informal setup, our ideologies take a U-turn. We need to ask ourselves a few questions.
In what way does someone's homosexuality or gender affect our lives? Is it a crime to have a different choice from the so-called standards set by society?
I hope most of us would agree with the opinion that life decisions are personal and a subjective choice. Everyone has the freedom to live their life the way they want to. When we check the facts we realize that due to inferior treatment and exclusivity from peers, it's an arduous journey for the people from the LGBTQ community to progress in their career. They are more likely to experience intolerance, discrimination, harassment, and the threat of violence due to their sexual orientation than those that identify themselves as heterosexual. This is due to homophobia (the fear or hatred of homosexuality). Some of the factors that may reinforce homophobia on a larger scale are the moral, religious, and political beliefs of a dominant group.
I believe that the career progression and success of a person should be directly proportional to the talent and skills that a person bring on the table, and gender or sexual orientation has no role to play here. Let's make it a level playing ground. I thank IIM Trichy's PRISM community for giving me this task which enabled me to think about this serious issue which is most often ignored due to busy schedules. Thanks for reading this long post. Let's end the discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Let's end the stigma!
#inclusivity #acceptance #iimtrichy #PRISM_IIMT