💎 Did you achieve success or were you privileged?
Maybe it's both, and maybe you shouldn't feel embarrassed to (not) have privilege.
Some people tend to feel the need to explain why they deserve their success, despite the privileges that they are born into. This might come from a fear of being dismissed. Some others might feel discouraged to set the same goals as their peers, due to fear of wasting their family’s resources and not being able to achieve those goals anyway.
Privilege is not a competition. Having privilege does not mean that one is immune to life’s hardships, but it does mean having an unearned advantage by nature of one’s identity.
The invisible problem
As a societal power, privilege is also known as the invisible problem, specifically in the workplace. Where power is defined as the ability to direct and influence behavior, privilege is a form of unearned power that is derived from identity including sex, race, religion, gender, ability, and/or socioeconomic standing.
Those who are privileged have the luxury of not having to worry about day-to-day things such as going home late at night after an overtime shift, having a specific religious holiday time-off, or even pay equity. These problems are invisible to those with privilege, but is it fully their fault?
The good privileged
Being more privileged than your colleagues is not a crime. Ignoring and intentionally letting these problems get worse—that’s a different story. Lee Jourdan, writer for the Harvard Business Review, lays down the ways you can make your privileges count at work:
Recognize. Privilege doesn’t mean you never had to work hard or struggled, it’s how your demographic makeup puts you in the majority hence making it easier for you to achieve things.
Acknowledge. Now that we’re clear on what privilege is and isn't, the next step is you acknowledge your own privileges to lower defenses and demonstrate vulnerability.
Encourage. Get your team together and encourage them to think about the privileges they enjoy and how they change in various situations. A person’s proximity to the majority matters.
Pay attention. In group settings, pay attention: Who is speaking up? Who is not? Who is given the automatic benefit of the doubt? Who must work harder to prove themselves?
Read more about how to start constructive privilege conversations at work here.
The proof is in the pudding
Privilege is a real thing that costs others their qualities of life. In a larger scale, it results to inequality. According to the World Bank, 40% of poor Indonesian mothers give birth without medical help. Only 36% of those who live below the poverty line have access to clean water, and an even lower 29% have a chance of completing high school.
This report by the Jakarta Post portrays how privilege affects the life of Indonesians, specifically millennials. One of the main characters in the video, Adit, is a 22-year-old driver who is underprivileged in terms of education and family background. Relatively, he is also privileged in terms of physical ability and a healthy community.
So—what are your thoughts? Is having privilege a case of counting your blessings? Or, is it something you absolutely can not change?
But, can you do something to change it?
By the time Monday Mavens sees you again next week, we hope you will have figured out the answers. Cheers!