Marginalization Of African Women Essay

Foreign-born visible minorities must overcome significantly more barriers in the labour market when compared to their white Canadian-born counterparts. These foreign-born visible minorities encounter issues of marginalization and exploitation when attempting to enter the labour market due to their race and physical appearance. In the reading, What colour is your English, African women who immigrated to Vancouver are asked open-ended questions in a focus group and are noted as having obstacles to overcome beyond their physical appearance. These women face issues of discrimination and cultural imperialism. According to Creese & Ngene , they are treated unjustly when applying for jobs due to their African accent even though “most had advanced post-secondary degrees undertaken at English-language institutions” (2003, p. 2). Their fluency and competency in the English language is not the issue but the fact that they do not fit into what is referred to as the “imagined community”. The imagined community as stated by Creese & Ngene is “both a literal and figurative border that immigrants of colour negotiate. Those who …show more content…
It demonstrates that Canadian society has not evolved enough to be completely inclusive of all individuals regardless of their ethnic origins. The African women in the focus group are unjustly penalized for embodying their identities and discriminated because of their race. They have limited opportunities even though their competency is equal to that of their Canadian-born counterparts. Constant rejection is both a burden on the individual and on the economy. The individual suffers both mental and physical hardship, while the economy loses out on highly skilled workers because of racialized exclusion. With these barriers in place, it limits Canadian society from truly advancing and creates an environment where only those who fit into the “imagined community”