Prof Double R

 In response to your peers, discuss how these inequalities are reproduced. In other words, explain why you think this inequality continues to happen in our society. 

Faith Post

Individual discrimination is when a person is treated poorly or differently because of age, race, gender, religion or sexuality. Institutional discrimination is when a group or agency practice discriminatory policies to a group of people. To put simply, individual is discrimination to one person while institutional is towards a group of people. 

My example of institutional discrimination is how women are generally paid less in the workplace and denied higher positions because of their gender. This shows institutional discrimination because of it is an agency discriminating on a group of people because of gender. It's also not just an issue here in America, Higher Education published an article talking about the wage gap between men and women in Italian academia. "Previous literature has shown that women are less likely than men to be promoted to full professor positions. The significant gender gap in career advancements in academia results from many factors, including discrimination against female researchers in recruitment and promotion" (et.al,2026). There is an underrepresentation of women in high pay roles because of the discrimination of women in recruitment in these roles. 

 Haley Post

Individual discrimination – one person making personal decisions based on their own biases – the example of an employer believing women aren't leadership material or a landlord denying housing to someone because of their race. Individual discrimination is a result of a single individual's personal prejudice. Institutional discrimination – the system is not fair; the policies, rules and official procedures in place create unfair outcomes for specific groups of people. As an example of how the systems we are part of create inequalities is when government agencies roll back previous protections for preventing discrimination, which clearly illustrates that large-scale systemic decisions have a direct effect A recent example of institutional discrimination that is both both humorous and appalling came with a 2026 investigation of airport and mall "Smart" automatic hand dryers powered by artificial intelligence. The "Smart" hand dryers were designed to turn on as soon as an individual put his/her hands underneath them -- however they were developed with training data based on mostly male hand sizes and male skin reflectivity. As a result, these "Smart" hand dryers activated immediately for men, while they did not always turn on for women, unless she waved her hands in front of the hand dryer like she was attempting to summon a demon (Consumer Technology Safety Commission, 2026). One report literally stated that the sensors "Failed to Register Smaller or Lower-Reflectivity Hands," which is the most polite way of saying the machine looked at women and said, "I do not recognize this object." This was not one sexist employee -- this was the entire design of the hand dryer quietly discriminating against women. That's institutional discrimination -- a public hygiene device acting like half the population does not exist, unless they perform a full séance under the hand dryer.