Gender and Race Discrimination - Essay Example

 “Sociology” The landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in the case Brown v. Board of Education 1954 saw immense dismantling of most forms of de jure racial discrimination and segregation. However, in a different form, five decades down the line, the US remains segregated as it was before (Susan, 17). This essay seeks to answer the question “Why there is doggedness of rampant inequality along astrictive lines of race and gender in a nation that professes freedom, eccentricity and limitless mobility” As a point of departure, compartmentalization of racialized bodies and extension of white privilege through landscapes to conceal race and create a color blind society has made numerous Americans to believe that, the post-racial democracy is evident in the soils of USA. Nonetheless, this might not be the case as established in this study. Disproportionate race and gender relationships have been shaped and disputed in the US through two fundamental structures (Susan, 27). They include citizenship and labor. Citizenship has been applied to draw precincts between those integrated as members of the society and tolerable to respect, security and rights and those excluded and consequently not permitted to acknowledgment and rights. On the other hand, labor defines the economic order of members of the society. Labor disparity influences admission to goods and services, standards of autonomy and living. The two structures have been constituted in manner that prejudices over the racialized minority and privileges the whites. Equally, citizenship and labor patterns have been platforms in which diverse groups have disputed their ejection, coercion, and mistreatment (Susan, 29). Correlation between citizenship and labor patterns has been close with the American history. America was founded on the firm principles of white control and those who would participate in the government would enjoy freedom (Susan, 21). Similarly, the nationality status is tied to the labor status and this implies that, those without citizenship rights are limited to formation of unions, compete for jobs and achieve higher education. Bringing labor and citizenship into the same platform, this study considers the practices at the local level. For instance, the labor markets are localized in a physically restricted area. Treating nationality as being determined by the American constitution and statutes, does not add value to the minority because the problem occurs when enforcing these documents. According to Lipsitz (54), he asserts that the advantages of Africans and other color people with reduce the happiness of the whites. In addition, Lipsitz’s possessive investment in whiteness is fundamental for the whites. On the same regard, racism is evidenced in 1971, when whites used dynamite to blow up school buses to prevent desegregation (Lipsitz, 36) )It is imperative to note that, the formal documents define boundaries and rights, nevertheless, the state actors that operate at the local level choose not to respect the law and enhance racial and gender prejudice (Susan, 23). For instance, a movie theater owner makes a decision to of not allowing an African or Mexican American to sit in the main dais. This behavior enhances segregation silently. Such localized and face-to-face prejudiced practices determine whether people are free in a nation that professes democracy and justice for all. This is a contradiction to the expected equal milieu for everyone in spite of color, gender or race. Gender prejudice Labor particularly, in work places is closely attributed to gender discrimination, particularly, the women. Despite the women’s rights movements, which have over years agitated for equal treatment of women and enhancing awareness, enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act, women are still seized back in working places and they have continued to encounter serious obstacles to equal job opportunities (Susan, 42). Passing over jobs, promotions, sexual harassment and less pay characterize the position of majority of women in the United States. This study establishes that, glass ceiling is the common gender prejudice in work places. This involves holding down of the women particularly the minorities, who never advances in positions, even they work for numerous years. For instance, the Chinese women underwent sexual harassment in the border in watt came to be the Chinese Sexual exclusion along the borders. This discriminated the Chinese women from working like their white counterparts (Eithne, 63). The leaves given to women, such as maternal makes the employers perceive women as an outlay. Moreover, most employees have stereotyped women as being over emotional. This trend as continued over a long period despite the landmark ruling of 1954 in the case Brown v. Board of Education, where the court declared equality for all. Whereas women particularly, the minority are held back in working positions, their men counterparts rose very first to occupy the coveted management positions, even in the perceived women areas of work. In essence, men have been promoted in to position, without much experience, leaving women who have worked for many years. According to (Susan, 31), gender-based prejudice is an extension of the prejudicial manner in which women were treated in the 19th and 20th centuries. For example in 1999, about 24,000 cases of sex discrimination against women in the working place were reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Conversely, in June 1998, in court case, Mitsubishi decided to pay sum of $24 million to settle claims that the organization tolerated male workers to harass numerous women workers. The prejudicial treatment of women in work places is a practice that has gone on despite the general knowledge and perception that all people are equal in a just society of the US, which professes equality, fair treatment for all people. This is a contradiction of what the rest of the world expects from a civilized nation like the US. On the other hand, the political sphere reflects real gender discrimination (Susan, 36). The US has never had a woman ascending to the most coveted position in the land-Presidency. This is because of the prejudiced belief that women should not rule over men. This study establishes that there is continued application of double standards, which have seen women discriminated. It is believable through numerous studies carried out in the past, that for a nation that professes freedom, eccentricity and limitless mobility, it is not yet democracy if its women remain discriminated on unequal access rights to jobs and gender dignity (Susan, 37). Racial discrimination The aspect of the US citizenship is immensely attributed to racial discrimination. This study establishes that considerable progression has been made over the decades since the civil rights victories in the 1960s. Significant changes are real on numerous aspects of racial inequality, and this has led to the emergence of a solid black middle class of highly educated workers, politicians, businesspersons and other professionals (Susan, 44). For instance, in the political arena, president Obama’s election marked the first black American to become a president of the United States. Despite the tremendous steps towards racial equality, there is evidence that, it is far from it appears in the face. According to Paula (14), the citizenship rights discriminate the minority from accessing such rights as home ownership and limitless rights to freedom. Favoritism continues to subsist in both mundane social relations and the fundamental institutional contexts in which creation of lives and opportunities exist. Such discriminatory practices harm members of the society and consequently violate the values of fairness thus delaying real racial equality. For example in his film Clockers Spike Lee depicts black men as hostile and abusive hence a threat to the white society (Paula, 14).This study establishes that, as much as the consequent damage is immense on the poor minority, it also affects the lives of the wealthy and middle classes. Severe poverty and financial marginalization persist to distinguish the lives of numerous African Americans and other few trivial groups because they are assumed as second-class citizens (Susan, 34). The connection of sharp dispossessions created by the fiscal marginalization and continuing bigotry countersigns racial oppression in the US today; this is evidenced when an attorney refused to take up a divorce case on behalf of a colored woman and instead put it to his class to represent the woman and learn from it as an experiment (Susan, 41). Most city rules on business reflect racial discrimination and require affirmative action. For instance, the quota system segregates the minority on land ownership among other issues. Such kind of system adds weight to one race and lessens the other. This renders the minority groups economically disadvantaged. This implies the citizenship rights should be equally allocated to reduce the social- economic and political prejudice. Another area evident of racial discrimination is the criminal system, particularly on the legal framework on the drugs and drug trafficking. In most cases, the Black Americans and Cubans have found it extremely hard to get justice come their way in such matters compared to their white counterparts. The oppression is reflected in the devastating rates of incarceration of young black men. For instance, the creation of the Guantanamo Bay saw numerous Cuban arrested from across the globe and detained in this Bay. This was done discriminatively based on race (Amy, 5). According to Michelle (39), racial disparity plays a primary role in the criminal system of the United States of America. Michelle asserts that, the US criminal system of control is defined by lack of compassion and caring about race and racial groups than racial hostility. For instance Michelle asserts that the admittance 1988, of the CIA that, guerilla armies it aggressively supported Nicaragua were smuggling illegal drugs, which made their way to the black neighborhoods in the US. This intended to create a massive incarceration of the black Americans for being in possession of hard drugs. In conclusion, the gender and race discrimination is real in the United States, despite its general presentation as a nation full of democracy, justice equality and respect for human rights. In essence, gender and racial prejudice is silently killing the strong foundations under which the United States was founded during the great emancipation. This study finds out that, the remnants of racial and gender prejudice can be eliminated by a repetition of civil rights movement activities. Works cited Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New Press, 2010. Print. Feiner, Susan. Race and Gender in the American Economy: Views from Across the Spectrum. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall, 1994. Print. Kaplan, Amy (2005). “Where Is Guantanamo?” American Quarterly 57, no. 3: 831-58 (27pp.). Lipsitz, George. How Racism Takes Place. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011. Print. Luibhéid, Eithne (2002). Introduction and Ch. 1P. Entry Denied: Controlling Sexuality at the Border, 1-27 (45pp.) Masood, Paula. “Which Way to the Promised Land?: Spike Lee’s Clockers and the Legacy of the African American City.” African American Review 35, no. 2 (2001): 263-77 (14pp.)  Read More