In your country what is worst? Racism or sexism?

I have witnessed both but I think neither is particularly common here, or at least they are in balance. A recent survey found here there is no difference in pay for men or women. and also found that women received preferential treatment regarding promotion. On site I have had both men and women working for me and as far as I am able treat the equally, that is not to say I treat them the same but then to treat people equally does not entail treating them the same, the worker that is always on time, polite and conciousness, of course, receives different treatment from one that is lazy, incompetent and surly. The question then becomes is there a difference in the way men and women behave that demands significantly different treatment such that it colours one's perception to such a degree that it becomes impossible to treat everyone as an individual. Well, the capacities of men and women on site are significantly different. That alone is not enough to constitute sexism since there is sufficient difference within men and women that clearly some women are more capable in those areas that men are usually more capable in and visa versa and recognising the potentialities and weaknesses of an individual is not only not sexist but a virtue of a good employer. Both men and women have caused problems with clients by unacceptable behaviour, although the nature of the particular behaviour differs. Much of the possibility of discrimination is avoided by paying people on a performance related manner. So much per foot of trench dug for example, and though it is my experience that few women can sustain the intensity of hard physical labour in unpleasant conditions as men. Now it might be argued that then women are discriminated against because they would then, by and by, earn less digging trenches in heavy soil. But this is not sexism since those men that also could not sustain this level of physical labour would also earn less or be excluded from this employment, thus it is not possible to construe this as sexism. The is one area of live here were there is a operational if not intentional sexism and that is in the area of council housing. Council housing was originally set up to provide good, cheap housing for workers. But since legislation introduced requires councils to prioritise single parent families, many young girls become pregnant with the express intention of acquiring a council place. In fact now the supply is in such shortage that councils will no longer accept any responsibility to provide homes for single men or women without children. I have personally experienced discrimination at university, possibly on sexist term, though it might be argued that this was in fact a class or cultural discrimination. I have witness only very rarely racist abuse and that which I have has been more from black against white than the other way round. I have also witnessed allowances being made for those black people and Asians that would never be permitted for white folk. Let us be clear, not being prejudice means treating all as individuals, treating all equally but not necessarily the same. Thus it can quickly be seen that the idea of 'positive discrimination' is incoherent. all the best urban

in england i would say its a bit of both

I have been lucky. I never worked in offices so I never had a problem with the sexist thing. For some reason I never had a problem with it even though I worked in various types of construction. The guys usually accepted me well and respected my accumulated knowledge. I actually have seen and experienced more racism than sexism. A lot of big construction sites use hispainics for day labor and they often treat them very badly. They know that most of them are illegal and feel that they can say nasty things to them and treat them like dirt because they have no recourse. Black construction crews also seem to have a hard time winning bids sometimes so a law was passed to give them a better shot at the bidding. The law included women as minorities too so I noticed a lot of companies quickly added wives and girlfriends as superintendants, at least in name only to get preferential treatment too. Very sad.

I agree,you'd be in more trouble if you said a racial slur.I think we need to work on sexism more.I hate it in movies where you see a lot of sexism still.But its not just in movies and it is still very real today.Sexism like racism can really hurt.I think we need to be less accepting of sexism and not tolerate it.Just how longer do people have to put up with racism and how much longer are we going to put up with sexism ? They both need to stop.