{"id":99980,"date":"2023-04-18T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T14:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=99980"},"modified":"2023-04-24T15:40:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T19:40:30","slug":"lack-of-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Lack of Representation Hurts Minorities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why is minority representation important? How does poor representation stop people from being true to themselves and prevent them from going after their dreams?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lack of representation leaves people feeling self-conscious and demoralized. As a result, they try to change their behavior to fit others&#8217; expectations and don&#8217;t pursue their goals because they lack relatable examples of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s how a lack of representation hurts minorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-consequences-of-a-poor-representation\"><strong>The Consequences of a Poor Representation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Minorities often struggle to find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-role-models\/\">role models<\/a> since most industries are dominated by the majority. This lack of role models makes minorities feel isolated and powerless: They have trouble believing they could complete an ambitious goal in their field because they lack examples of how to do so. This disbelief makes it harder for them to challenge themselves and nurture their personhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Why Representation Matters<\/strong><br><br>Representation helps minorities believe that they can achieve their goals because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/demystifying-talk-therapy\/202101\/whats-behind-the-magic-seeing-yourself-represented\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">humans can more easily identify with people who are similar to them<\/a>. This may be an effect of people\u2019s tendency to <a href=\"https:\/\/thedecisionlab.com\/biases\/in-group-bias\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">categorize themselves and other people<\/a>. While this tendency traditionally causes people to glorify their own group and treat other groups poorly, its greater function is to mold people\u2019s sense of identity. People attach their identity to their group and consider their own abilities and opportunities in the context of their group members\u2019 experiences. Thus, a minority seeing a member of their group in an area traditionally dominated by the majority tells people that this kind of success can be part of their identity too, rather than solely belonging to a different group.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Often, a lack of representation makes <strong>minorities either give up their goals or suppress parts of their personhood <\/strong>to emulate someone very different from themselves. For example, if Emma loves science but she\u2019s never learned about important female scientists, she might feel discouraged. She might believe that only men can be scientists. This might make Emma give up on science, or she might believe she has to act like a man to be successful. Thus, Emma becomes self-conscious, either abandoning her interest in science or suppressing her more feminine traits to fit the standards she\u2019s been exposed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>How Minorities Can Meet Their Goals While Staying True to Themselves<\/strong><br><br>This phenomenon may occur because of a conflict between people\u2019s identity and actions. In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/awaken-the-giant-within\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Awaken the Giant Within<\/em><\/a>, Tony Robbins says your sense of identity dictates your behavior and vice versa. Without role models, a minority may exclude certain actions from their identity\u2014they believe they can\u2019t do something because they\u2019ve never seen a minority do it. This creates a conflict in their identity: They want to do something, but they believe their identity doesn\u2019t let them. To resolve this conflict, they either abandon the action\u2014giving up their goals\u2014or change their identity to fit the action\u2014suppressing the parts of their identity that contradict the action. Instead, they should <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/awaken-the-giant-within\/chapter-15#change-your-identity-to-change-your-behavior-and-vice-versa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>expand<\/em> their sense of identity<\/a> to meet their goals without losing part of themselves.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why is minority representation important? How does poor representation stop people from being true to themselves and prevent them from going after their dreams? Lack of representation leaves people feeling self-conscious and demoralized. As a result, they try to change their behavior to fit others&#8217; expectations and don&#8217;t pursue their goals because they lack relatable examples of success. Here&#8217;s how a lack of representation hurts minorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,24],"tags":[982],"class_list":["post-99980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-society","tag-the-light-we-carry","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How a Lack of Representation Hurts Minorities - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How does a lack of representation affect minorities? Poor representation leaves people feeling self-conscious and demoralized. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a Lack of Representation Hurts Minorities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How does a lack of representation affect minorities? Poor representation leaves people feeling self-conscious and demoralized. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-18T14:57:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-24T19:40:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/diversity.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"992\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"544\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"How a Lack of Representation Hurts Minorities\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-18T14:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-24T19:40:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/\"},\"wordCount\":512,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/diversity.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Light We Carry\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/\",\"name\":\"How a Lack of Representation Hurts Minorities - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/lack-of-representation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/diversity.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-18T14:57:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-24T19:40:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"How does a lack of representation affect minorities? 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