Identity-Based Discrimination Towards Youth in Schools
The focus group led to a discussion on neurodiverse and how it is hard to get diagnosed, like for Dyslexia, and how one student has to lie or hide to go to school in Kuwait
Focus group participant
Our research is all about understanding the discrimination faced by some students in schools and how it affects their freedom to express themselves. We're looking at whether students have experienced or witnessed discrimination based on their identity or gender, and how this discrimination affects them.
We also want to know how this discrimination impacts students' mental health, their relationship with their own identity, and their connections with other students who may share similar experiences. Additionally, we're exploring whether this discrimination leads to affected students treating others the same way.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we're also investigating if it has influenced the discrimination faced by these students in schools.
Creating safe spaces in schools is essential to help students feel more comfortable, especially when they're part of a minority group that's often treated differently. This research is important because it addresses discrimination and aims to promote equality.
“I was always aware of minorities’ experiences and racism in the classroom, but not this hyper aware”.
Research team member
We began our research focusing on key themes and believed these were the most important questions to ask our peers.
• Have you experienced discrimination based on your identity?
• Have you experienced discrimination based on your gender?
• Have you witnessed discrimination based on your gender?
• Has the discrimination you have experienced affected your mental health?
• How has your experience with discrimination affected your relationship with your own identity?
• How has your experience with discrimination affected your relationship with other people who also experience discrimination?
• Because of your experiences with discrimination, do you find that you have taken part in acts of discrimination towards others?
• How has the pandemic affected your experiences with discrimination?
And as any research project goes, we were full of assumptions that would later be clarified by some very succinct realizations.
Assumptions
• People face discrimination in the classroom based on their gender or how they are perceived or express themselves
• People have witnessed others face discrimination based on their gender and or how they are perceived or express themselves
• Facing discrimination based on gender or how they are perceived or express themselves has an impact on mental health
• Facing discrimination based on their gender or how they are perceived or express themselves leads people to internalize this discrimination and discriminate against other folks in turn
• The COVID-19 pandemic affected the level of discrimination faced by marginalized communities.
Realizations
• People with different types of identities can face verbal discrimination because of their lifestyles, beliefs, identities. Religion and religious slurs are stated as common tools of this verbal discrimination.
• People who do not conform to traditional norms perceive more religious and devout people as more judgemental and less tolerant of difference.
• Some people face physical abuse because of their gender and their interpersonal relationships but not all.
• Facing discrimination based on gender and identity has a moderate impact on mental health.
• People who face discrimination based on gender or identity become more empathetic and open to others which is a positive impact. It does not lead to the person internalizing the discrimination and in turn discriminating against other people like themselves.
• Discrimination against non-conforming teenagers during the pandemic decreased. Moving online was one of the reasons for this as online is a safer space for youth to be themselves and find friends. Another reason was less mixing among people and thus fewer opportunities for discrimination against people verbally and physically.
• For most of the interview and focus group participants, discrimination post-pandemic increased as they had to go back to the classroom, where there were more interactions with others and thus more opportunities for verbal and physical abuse, they lost their online connections, and they had to go back into the real world where there was no real support system for them.
• There is a lack of openness towards people who don’t conform to traditional gender norms in Kuwait, which means that they need to be more careful about what they reveal and cannot be as open about their identity.
Key insights from our data
Verbal abuse, particularly using religious connotations, is the most common type of discrimination faced by students who don’t conform to traditional gender roles.
This discrimination also impacts some people’s relationship with themselves, as they internalize some of the discriminatory narratives.
Contrary to what the team thought, suffering from discrimination does not lead people to repeat the cycle and discriminate against others.
Our conclusion
Our research opened our eyes to the connections between gender-based discrimination, the discrimination faced by neuro-diverse students, as well as discrimination youth face on the basis of race and ethnic background. Ultimately, we feel there need to be more safe spaces for young people to truly be themselves, as well as more willingness within the wider community of accepting people who look, think or express themselves differently. We also think there should be more support for these students provided within schools to improve their psychological and emotional wellbeing.