2022 Theme:
Finding Peace in a World Full of Conflict
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Greenville Convention Center
GSHRM Credit Available*
*SHRM and HRCI general re-certification credit for human resources professionals is available
Our mission is to inspire people to resolve conflict in a peaceful and productive manner.
The 2022 Rotary Peace and Conflict Resolution Conference, “Finding Peace in a World Full of Conflict and Bias” will focus on unconscious bias and the conflicts that result from that bias. Understanding how we are impacted by unconscious bias is necessary for creating more inclusive communities and finding peace in our lives.
Unconscious biases are feelings, assumptions, and perceptions that have been perpetuated in the media or beliefs passed along by parents, peers, and other community members. We then filter others through our personal experience and background. Unconscious bias can affect our thoughts, whom we believe, how we make decisions, and how we treat others.
This Conference will provide a safe environment for participants to focus on their biases and learn how to challenge them. The outcomes of the Conference are:
- Educate participants on the kinds and causes of bias, and the conflicts created by biases.
- Help participants identify their own biases through self-reflection and discussion.
- Equip participants with skills to challenge their biases, deal with biases of others, and resolve conflict resulting from biases.
- Provide resources to continue to challenge biases after the conference.
A focus will be on breaking down communication barriers caused by bias so that we can learn how to communicate more productively.
Jessica Sharp
Zachary Brewster
Deb Richardson Moore
Tyler Rex
Edward Anderson
Learn More by Reading, “To Overcome Unconscious Bias, You Must Recognize That It’s Deeply Ingrained in Your Brain” by Meryl Davids Landau
Did You Know?
Disabled people remain significantly less likely to be in employment than non-disabled people.
36% of people tend to think of disabled people as not as productive as everyone else and show an unconscious bias against those with a disability, higher than levels of bias for gender or race.
From Disability: A Research Study on Unconscious Bias.
In the United States, people of color face disparities in access to health care, the quality of care received, and health outcomes.
The attitudes and behaviors of health care providers are one of many factors that contribute to health disparities. These attitudes are often automatically activated and can influence human behavior without conscious volition.
From Implicit Racial/Ethnic Bias Among Health Care Professionals and Its Influence on Health Care Outcomes
Negativity toward the elderly and people with disabilities
has shifted by less than 5% since 2007, suggesting it could take over 150 years for either bias to reach neutrality. Unlike sexual orientation and race, ageism and ableism are relatively under-the-radar attitudes, related in people’s minds to actual physical traits that are easy to see, and many of which are perceived negatively.
From Research: How Americans’ Biases Are Changing (or Not) Over Time
Almost 90% of Men/Women Globally Are Biased Against Women,
providing new clues to the invisible barriers women face in achieving equality. The findings measured how social beliefs obstruct gender equality in areas like politics, work, and education, and contains data from 75 countries, covering over 80 percent of the world’s population.
From research: Gender Social Norms Index released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Bias Against the Formerly Incarcerated
“I’ve learned a very sobering lesson: In America, when you commit a crime, no matter how small, the punishment is tantamount to a life sentence. I am a firm believer in a fair system that corrects those who have committed a crime. There are circumstances that warrant individuals to be removed from society. These individuals have made the decision to remain a menace and refuse to change. But for other less serious infractions, redemption is just another word in the dictionary.”
Jerry Blassingame in “‘Ex-Con,’ ‘Ex-Offender’ and ‘Ex-Inmate’ Are Words That Reduce Millions to Stereotype”
Bias Against the Homeless
We cannot define people solely by their homelessness. Each person experiencing homelessness contains a multitude: They are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, artists, writers, businesspersons, entrepreneurs, athletes, and so much more. We must see the person for who they truly are rather than the stigma society has created of them if we truly wish to prevent and end homelessness.
From “ Common Myths and Stereotypes of Homelessness”