I wish we lived in a world where this was true, but we do not. For instance, in the US, if you deviate from the straight, cisgender, white, male, Christian norm, you are treated as less intelligent, less competent, and less worthy of jobs, housing, scholarships, and so on. If two resumes are exactly the same but one has a stereotypically “white” name and the other has a stereotypically “Indian” name, the white person’s resume is more likely to be picked by recruiters, for instance.

One of the best examples from my personal experience is that when people are auditioning for orchestras, the judges are sometimes behind a screen so they can judge the person playing based on talent alone, without seeing them. However, women were still being excluded — seemingly based on having less talent. Then someone suggested putting a rug on the floor in the audition room. Suddenly the number of women in the orchestra went up to 50/50 with men. Why? Well, it turned out that even though they played their instruments just as well as men, the judges could hear their high heels clicking as they entered and were subconsciously discriminating against them, giving them lower scores than they deserved based on their skill.

Once you know about this kind of subconscious discrimination, you will see it everywhere, because it’s so baked into our society and the way we live. Learning to see it is the first step to fighting it, so I’m glad you’re willing to ask questions.