Relevant to Health and Social Care

Introduction

The aim of this reflective assessment through the application of the Gibbs models (1998) is to highlight how the practice of inequality and discrimination by gender, age and sexual orientation are relevant to health and social care settings and in society. Apart from these, the reflective assessment is also concerned about the issues highlighted in the lectures in the form of Equality Act, diversity, human rights and discrimination within the social situation. The reflection also outlines the method through which this model would be assisting me to better understand the subject. I was really interested in gender discrimination precisely in women and sexual orientation discrimination this exists intensively at work and in society.

One problem happened to my work. One of staff refused to participate in the meeting for LGBT because she doesn’t like them. Another colleague has been refused to be on top of the management because of her gender. In the module, the lecture was talking about the Equality Act 2010. Under this legislation no one can be discriminated against on the basis of his/her gender, sexual orientation, religion, belief, race, age, disability and so on. Furthermore, diversity management is another critical issue under which it is necessary to be understood that individuals claim to be different by identities and this difference has to be respected since human beings are do have different orientations from each other.

One learning experience in the module is about the issue of an elderly violet Simpson of 84 years of age. The doctor discriminated against her because of her age. In this case the doctor shouldn’t discriminate. She has the right for life and treatment. She is supposed to be treated equally according to Equality act 2010. An article about equality legislation and diversity says that patient shouldn’t be discriminated on their sex orientation because of their sexual orientation. Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGBT) and women they often are discriminated. For instance, low pay wage between men and women and this should not be done because all humans have the right to make the choice of what they want to be and follow human rights legislation. It is my response to the issue about a patient suffering for irreversible diseases because of kidneys failure and the hospital treating him inappropriately. They should avoid discrimination and promote equality, dignity, human rights, inclusion and understand diversity and respect article 2 the UK human rights Act 1998 which outlines the right to life for everyone.

Feelings

I firstly felt very excited about the module to learn all the theories about the ethics and values as human being such as equality, diversity, inclusion, human right, discrimination and so forth and always follow the code of conduct to be morally responsible when you are working in health and social care. I was confused by the content of the lecture and the issue and case study was presented in each lecture to read and find the answer to resolve the problem and I was generally unaware of how much significant discrimination takes place in our society and in health and social care setting. I was also sad seeing in 21th century steel have people discriminated because of their choice also their gender, sexual orientations and ages. The other thing I was unsure about was the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. Women steel are discriminated even in UK in terms of the wages. I, for myself thought this no longer take place in this day and age. And I was unsure to advice my colleague when she refused the meeting of LGBT. I feel good for now as this new set of information made me feel well prepared to face a professional context. However, more than all it made me conscious of the huge extent of work I needed to do to be totally prepared to enter in my job and most vitally, to care correctly and to put the service users at the centre of care. A result of it has been the necessity to learn and research supplementary on the topic of discrimination and bias.

Evaluation

Things went very well during the progress of the model. The lecture helped me to understand to a well extent the problems linked to discrimination which can be by age, gender, sexual orientation, race and bias in a professional and social context. I consider an accent should have been situated, for instance, on discrimination based on disability, age, gender, sexual orientation or religion. Because there are so many forms of discrimination such as bullying, labeling, infringement legal and moral right and so on. Also the lecture clarifies to as the theories that are against those inequalities in every case study such as Equality Act 2010, diversity, and Human Rights Act 1998 moreover the issues about stigma, labeling and stereotyping how often mental health is stigmatized in society mostly in Black minority ethnics in UK (BME). I was excited to know all theories and how to prevent a service user from getting discriminated as a student in health and social care.

Health inequality still exists in the work place, for example, women are discriminated because of their gender. They are paid low wages than men and age discrimination takes place on older people even in health and social care setting. I begin to see in other angles because of all concepts which I got during the module to not put some people in priority than others as it is unfair because we are all human beings and right to treat others with equality is a responsibility as we are coming from different ethnic groups, races and genders. In my professional career I will treat people with dignity and equality.

Analysis

I really feel that this lecture and its content helped to transform my perspective on discrimination and bias in a social and cultural setting. Moreover, highlighting how people still prefer to criticize others on the basis of their own gender, sexual orientation, age, or religion, it prepared me to be conscious of how much this type of discrimination can distress people’s lives also professionally. The UNESCO defines the gender as the roles and responsibilities of men and women which are created in our societies and families along with characteristics, aptitudes of women and men. (UNESCO.2003). It is essential to know how gender inequality touches the reception of healthcare in certain parts of the world or within certain communities. As the ‘Baby Boom’ generation begins to retire, issue of retreat security is becoming more pressing. In some countries, it is apparent that retirement security remains elusive for significant portions of the people. According to a government report, 55 per cent the USA of those aged 55–64 have little or no retreat savings (Rhee, N. & Boivie, L. 2015). Additionally, a government report declared that females vulnerability in marital and work patterns are putting female retirement to vulnerability, particularly those who have never been married or those who have divorced after a certain period (Angel, J.L. et al, 2014).

The higher poverty rate in older American women exceeds that of the older American men by almost dual folds (11.6 per cent versus 6.8 per cent in 2013); the highest poverty rate amongst older Americans is compared to the Hispanic women who stay alone and the prevalence is at 45.4 per cent in 2013 (US Administration on Aging, 2014). This gendered disadvantage is also present in the European Union. Consequently, 21.7 per cent of women from 65 years and older were at risk of poverty in 2012, compared with 16.3 per cent of men only (European Commission, 2014).

Two essential developments happened lately, one of them is the human progress which has been there to support the challenges that societies has been facing including gender issues. Population ageing is not only a problem for the developing countries but also is a problem in the developed countries, and the majority of the global older population is female. Moreover, the number of those aged 60 is been predicted to reach two billion people by 2050, (UNFPA & Help Age International, 2012). There are 84 men for each 100 women aged 60 and over and only 61 men for each 100 women aged 80 and over. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), older women usually experience worse results compared to adult men. They are exposed to poverty to a greater extent than their male colleagues (ILO, Social Protection for Older Persons, 2014), women experience increasing disadvantages. Moreover, Women work in low-paid, part-time or informal economy jobs, which are mostly interrupted for married women by pregnancy, childbirth and caregiving work. Consequently, women are possibly to be subject to gender-based discrimination. They are less likely to have pensions; otherwise, their claim is lesser in worth to those of men due to women’s lesser earnings (ILO, Rights, Jobs and Social Security, 2008). Income inequity is especially noticeable in the United Kingdom and United States. This movement is a by-product not only of globalization and technological competency but also of policy decisions, beginning in the 1980s, which has encouraged freer vocation and financial deregulation; releasing more supple national employment ethics (Berg, J. 2015).

For instance, Bangladesh still has obstacles in term of distribution of resources between men and women the CEDAW committee has testified that they are a main obstacle to endorsing equal rights in the household. Moreover, the Committee records that reviewing all laws is a challenge for the Government as the adaptation because the laws require arrangement of all spiritual leaders. in addition polygamy is acceptable for men but not for women (CEDAW, 2015). According to the lecture it could be argued that the public institutions of health and social care also the government in worldwide should planned it resources in terms of equity such as fair distribution, supports, treatments and so on according to each person needs. Discrimination, as mentioned, can take many forms, including that of gender bias. According to M.F. Özbilgin.(2009) the majority of women have been excluded in society even in social care settings and in social market and have been forced to become entrepreneurs because they felt discriminated or exclude with males in organisations. Also, salary was the most often to be testified form of discrimination. On the other hand, thinking of gender-biased healthcare sharing as an issue solely linked to countries where women are considered socially unequal to men would be terrible mistake. (Al Ariss, 2009). Michael Marmot’s opinion as proposed that in this book 2004, status syndrome the main fundamental cause of heath inequalities in society are differences in social status and it is better to apply Equality Act 2010 for all precisely in UK. ). For example, executives or highly authoritative positions have a habit of being associated to male figures, but personal care ones are frequently defined as “women” jobs (Hunt and Batty, 2009). It is very bad to see how discrimination is taking place in our society. This can be outlined from the fact that women are often denied promotion at work due to discrimination.

In addition, LGBT group experience insufficient access to health care, including substandard provision of health care services, compared to non-LGBT persons. Health bodies for instance doctors, nurses, HCA are refusing to touch LGBT patients, use harsh language and blame them for the health issues and majority of them safer of abuse and discrimination and lead them to suicidal and others health problems. (TRAVIS FRANKLIN CHANCE,2013). This is not acceptable according to Human Rights Act 1998 article 14 which lays out the convention to secure individuals from discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion and so on. Furthermore Nurses must recognise the role of ethics board in balancing reasonable treatment and guidance with patients’ rights to respect and dignity. (Losa Iglesias and Becerro de Bengoa Vallejo, 2014).According to the lecture Human rights belong to everyone, all of the time not only certain groups or at certain times. It was very good to know that more legislative personnel are against discrimination. The incident happened at work against people from LGBT groups and my colleagues should learn more about human rights laws and Equality Act 2010. Also Sigelman and Sigelman (1982) discovery that ageism was in point of fact a stronger force than either sexism or racism in candidate choice, by means of older individuals from all race and gender groups being at a disadvantage. For instance, discrimination in term of employment women for their 20s compared to women in their 50s. (Collins, Dumas and Moyer, 2017)

The research found that over 65 per cent of workers between aged 50 and 64 they have been going through unfair given jobs no one else desired and they notice that they have been discriminated against because of their age. Not long ago AARP study found that sixty-four per cent of workers ages forty-five to seventy-four said that have seen or experienced age discrimination. (Cremint,K,M,2017).They shouldn’t discriminate individuals because of the ages such as that of elderly Violet Simpson of 84 years where it is not acceptable that the health body did not want to provide her the necessary treatment. .

Conclusion

The brief summary presented in the preceding pages underlined a series of relevant issues related to gender, age, and sexual orientation-related inequalities and the healthcare system in society globally. It has come to be clear that such discriminations can take mostly two forms, the first relays to healthcare professions and the type of access available to women to fulfilling healthcare needs in the field. The second, which seems to be even more distressing, mentions the actual access to proper healthcare based on gender, age, and sexual orientation. I have knowledgeable as well how discrimination in any form can lead individuals such as to suicidal, low esteem, and so on.

I have learnt more about the issues of discrimination by age, gender, sexual orientation how to improve such inequality precisely in the UK by applying Equality Act 2010 Human Rights 1998, Discrimination Act also can be with different perspectives such as Disability Act and so forth.

Action Plan

Firstly, I wish to develop a better understanding of the different nature of discrimination by age, gender, sexual orientation, religion and so on by using the Equality Act 2010, Human Right Act 1998, Discrimination Act as a first point for research. I have developed an evident interest in the place of women, LGBTs, old aged people in the healthcare system and society; I would like to undertake more research on the topic, particularly in relation to the socio-cultural discrimination of women, LGBT groups’ healthcare in the UK. I feel I could advance my knowledge, for instance, the presence of communities or ethnic groups in the UK where women and LGBT patients were not permitted to have full healthcare access because of cultural reasons or race, gender, and religion. I decided to become a good healthcare provider in my future career to provide service users hope and bring a good result for their needs by giving them answers anytime. I gained sufficient knowledge in the module and I am happy to share with peers.