Assignment 5

Like I have previously mentioned in other blogs, I am a female,100% Irish and 21 years old. When thinking about on my working years, (basically since I was 16) I feel as though my race, age, or gender has really stopped me from doing much of anything. Many people today still feel as though white Americans are more privileged because that’s how the world has always been. Yet, when I think about colleges, and their standards, “Caucasian people” tend to have more difficulties getting in rather then an African American person or a Chinese person. This I believe is based on the fact that most colleges need to meet a quota of each race. Knowing that studies have shown that there are more Caucasian people trying to get into colleges rather then other races causes some problems.
I believe my age, gender, and ethnicity has helped me get a job, as well as hindered another job. The reason why I feel as though it has helped me is because I am young and a female that fits the stereotypical look of an “Abercrombie” girl I was able to get a job at a store as well as start a modeling career. It is known today that Abercrombie has a certain persona they need to follow; I was lucky enough to have fit it.
Where my ethnicity falls short is when I work at my daycare. Today it is known that the US is changing and that there are a lot more Spanish speaking people rather then English. Because I work at a Head Start Daycare, there tends to be more children who speak Spanish. I have had difficulty understanding children, and having to ask other co-workers to help me distinguish what the child is saying. Because this is my 6 year of working there, I can now see that they are basically only hiring people who can speak both Spanish and English. If I hadn’t been working there for that long, I probably would have not been hired now.
So as you can see, my age, gender, and race has both helped and hindered many things throughout my life. I wish at times, that it didn’t have to be this way, that people can just see the good in who someone is. Not their gender, race, or age.