An aspect of inequality that I feel does not get much attention is the inequality in the American healthcare system. In the healthcare field inequality extends to the employees and the patients. Often African Americans and other minorities are prioritized much less than those of the majority. In an introduction to sociology course at my previous institution we learned about how often black people are denied pain medication as it is typically stereotyped that African Americans do not experience pain like other races do and that we have a higher pain tolerance than other races as well.
Like most races, African Americans have a lot of stereotypes placed upon us such as we run faster, or we do not experience pain like I stated above. More African American women are dying more during childbirth because of negligence of caretakers, and even the infant mortality rate is higher among newborns. It is unfair that just because of the color of my skin that I will be discriminated against and that I am much more likely to receive little to no help.
Also, there is a wage gap between African American employees and Caucasian employees as workers of color are more likely to be paid less than those in the majority. That is something that has been going on for years and is not only prevalent in the healthcare field but in most jobs. I wish I could have written more about this topic, as I feel that this is not as talked about as other forms of inequality are, and I would like to learn more about this type of inequality too. I think getting rid of inequality in the workplace will be hard as it is something that has been going on for so long that I do not think that people are always able to realize when it is occurring to them. Making wages the same for each employee of the same position (for example, all cashiers will make $16.25 an hour) because unless an employee is doing a lot of extra work, been there for a while and have been consistently doing magnificent work or has the education requirements above everyone else then everyone should make the same amount. Also, I think making the workplace more inclusive and eliminating favoritism and cliques could help eliminate inequality because making everyone feel like it is an open space where they will not be discriminated against and feel like equals.
