California moved closer to becoming the first U.S. state to ban caste discrimination after a bill to outlaw the practise passed the California Assembly late on Monday.

California moved closer to becoming the first U.S. state to ban caste discrimination after a bill to outlaw the practise passed the California Assembly late on Monday.

U.S. discrimination laws ban ancestry discrimination but do not explicitly ban casteism. California’s legislation targets the caste system in South Asian immigrant communities by adding caste to the list of categories protected under the state’s anti-discrimination laws.

The bill was introduced and authored by state Senator Aisha Wahab, an Afghan American Democrat, in March. An earlier version of it passed the state Senate before undergoing revisions.

  • Pat12@lemmy.world
    7·
    1 year ago

    Does anyone know how caste discrimination is usually accomplished? Unlike with racism or sexism, the basis of the bigotry shouldn’t be remotely visible, and unlike bigotry based on sexuality or religion, it’s not even determinable from the person’s knowledge: everyone knows what they’re attracted to and their own philosophical views, but almost no-one knows who their great-great-great grandparents were. It seems a curious thing to be bigoted based on something so challenging to assess.

    last name, skin colour sometimes, city of origin

    i’ve been on hiring teams and seen resume come through with photos of applicants (a big no no), religion (also a big no no), father’s name (unheard of usually), and caste (again, unheard of otherwise)

    • AstridWipenaugh@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 year ago

      I was a hiring manager for a US company hiring in Kuala Lumpur. I got a ton of resumes with that kind of stuff that’s illegal for me to ask. I asked one of the existing employees from KL what was up with it and he explained it’s normal there because ethnic Chinese people are disliked there. So a lot of the companies based in KL require a photo so they can throw out anyone that looks Chinese.

      • Pat12@lemmy.world
        4·
        1 year ago

        I got a ton of resumes with that kind of stuff that’s illegal for me to ask. I asked one of the existing employees from KL what was up with it and he explained it’s normal there because ethnic Chinese people are disliked there. So a lot of the companies based in KL require a photo so they can throw out anyone that looks Chinese.

        isnt malaysia like 30% chinese?

        • AstridWipenaugh@lemmy.world
          4·
          1 year ago

          Something like that. But if you’re not Chinese and you know there’s lots of racists out there, attaching a photo helps you. I got some that didn’t have photos too.