Studies Reveal Indian Nurses Are Victims Of Racism By Francis C. Assisi

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The studies uncover the staggering levels of racial harassment and discrimination that Indian and other South Asian nurses face on a day-to-day basis -- something that has received scant attention in both the mainstream as well as ethnic news media.

Legal sources define harassment as, "unwanted behavior which a person finds intimidating, upsetting, embarrassing, humiliating or offensive."

U.S. STUDY

In the U.S., a 2004 study by Barbara DiCicco-Bloom, PhD, RN at the University of Medicine and Dentistry (New Jersey), recounts the experiences of Indian nurses with 20-25 year’s work experience in America.

Despite the evidence that racism is pervasive in our health care system as well, there is little information about the experiences of immigrant nurses, observes Dr DiCicco-Bloom in the study entitled ‘The Racial and Gendered Experiences of Immigrant Nurses from Kerala, India.’

The study then goes on to show that ‘The reality of the lives of these Indian women takes place at the intersection of gender, immigration status and race.’

Besides documenting the difficult and unsettling cultural negotiations involved in the process of immigrating to the U.S., the study confirms ‘the racism they experience and their marginalization as female nurses of color.’

The author says that the study ‘underscores the continuing inequities of our health care system’ and concludes that the challenge is to establish a more just and effective environment for those who provide health care.

As one of the nurses said, “I have proven myself over and over. What do we have to do to get recognized? What makes me mad is I would never have been able to do all the things I have done if I had stayed in India…We own a house, my children have gone to college, and yet…here, I feel like I don’t belong.”

Another commented: “I have not been treated badly, but I know I am not treated the same as the other White nurses…”

An Indian nurse with 26 year’s experience observed: “I think I am in the middle…White is the top and Black is the bottom.”

Many of the participants in the study reported that their own experiences of racism were of small consequence compared to the pain and fear they suffered for their children.

The study goes on to suggest that the anguish of racism and oppression was countered by the material rewards these women obtained as the result of years of hard work in the United States: homes in middle-income neighborhoods, and college-educated children with some in Ivy League and in medical schools.

The author, who used an unstructured format for the interviews, says that the technique “allowed for a depth of exchange and candor that enabled the women to talk freely” about their lives. In addition she acknowledges: “my identity as a nurse, a mother, and a woman was central to the relational dynamics of the interview.”

All the Indian participants were 40-50 years of age, with a Kerala Christian background, and had arrived in the U.S between 1965 and 1985 when large numbers of nurses from India were recruited to ease the nursing shortage.

The author found them “highly intelligent” and independent, but that their life conditions and the circumstances they faced within the U.S. nursing profession were, according to them, “insurmountable” with respect to advancement.

The study concludes that, as far as Euro-Americans are concerned, Indians are ‘socially constructed as people of color’, and therefore are vulnerable to racial discrimination and harassment.

Besides, the nursing profession has supported educational and workplace policies that have resulted in the reinforcement of class and racial/ethnic inequalities, says DiCicco-Bloom. “Society’s triple designation of being a woman, an immigrant, and non-White creates exponential forces maintaining a state of marginalization that can be continually debilitating.”

BRITISH STUDY

The British study by Michael Shields and Stephen Price, and entitled ‘Racial Harassment…Evidence from the British Nursing Profession,’ defines racial harassment as behavior towards the individual nurse that is perceived to be ‘difficult, aggressive or hostile’ on the grounds of race or color.

This study confirms that nurses from South Asia are victims of racial harassment from hospital staff as well as patients. Furthermore, the study reveals that South Asian nurses are likely to experience abuse on a frequent basis. More than half of the Indian nurses reported having been the victim of racial harassment by patients or their families during their working lives.

The data was obtained from a large-scale survey of British National Health Service nurses in which nearly 40% report experiencing racial harassment from work colleagues, while more than 64% report suffering racial harassment from patients.

The authors concede that their findings have important policy implications at a time of nursing shortages as well as for retaining qualified nursing staff in the British National Health Service.

Both studies prove that the endurance of Indian nurses, who have been migrating to North America since the mid 1960s, is being tested more cruelly and far longer by persistent and systematic racism.

LEGAL ASPECTS

Racial harassment at the workplace has been illegal in Britain since the Race relations Act of 1976. Since the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Public Order act in 1994, all forms of harassment, including racial harassment at the workplace are considered criminal offenses punishable by six months imprisonment or a fine of $5000. Moreover the Crime and Disorder act of 1998 created new ‘racially aggravated offences’ such as harassment or assault, which carry significantly higher penalties.

In the U.S. Racial harassment is a form of racial discrimination that is prohibited by state and federal law. Racial harassment is defined as verbal or physical conduct that is directed at an individual or group because of their race, color, or national origin and that is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to have the purpose or effect of creating a hostile work environment.

Racial discrimination is defined as verbal or physical conduct that is directed at a person or group who are treated differently than others who are similarly situated because they are of a specific race. It can occur when individuals are treated differently because of immutable characteristics, e.g. physical features indigenous to their race.

In the U.S., general "harassment" like yelling, screaming, demeaning language, or unfair workload, is not "unlawful" if based merely on a personality conflict. Such conduct is only illegal if the harasser is motivated by racial prejudice. Racial motive may be proven by showing that others of different races were treated more favorably. Racial motive may also be inferred from discriminatory remarks, stereotypes, racial joking, or slurs.

francisassisi@hotmail.com