Contentious Diversity Issue - Essay Example

The society has a way of keeping up with the changing times. Legislation has undergone many changes and amendments throughout the years to be able tocope with the changing needs of the citizens. The increasing diversity in the workforce has become an apparent occurrence that also has economic and political implications. The number of women actively participating in the workforce increased dramatically and several issues are brought about by their increased representation. The rationale behind this research to be able to investigate the laws and regulations that continuously seek to promote gender equality specially in the workforce. The Emergence of Sexism Sexism is the ideology that one sex is superior than the other. The term is generally used to refer to male prejudice and discrimination against women. It is adults, of course, who play a critical role in guiding children into these gender roles deemed appropriate in society. Parents are normally the first and most crucial agents of socialization. But other adults, older siblings, the mass media, and the religious and educational institutions also exert an important influence on gender-role socialization. (Haslanger,2005) Television has often been criticized for its stereotyping of women, but it is far from being alone in doing so. The process of identification is more complex. (Fraser,1995) How does a boy come to develops one that is feminine In part, they do so by identifying with females and males in their families and neighbourhoods and in the media. If a young girl regularly sees female characters on television working as defense attorneys and judges, she may believe that she herself can become a lawyer. And it will not hurt if women that she knows are lawyers. By contrast, if this young girl sees women portrayed in the media only as models, nurses and secretaries, her identification and self-image will be quite different. Females have been most severely restricted by traditional gender-roles. There are obvious biological differences between the sexes. Most important, women have the capacity to bear children whereas men do not. These biological differences contribute to the development of gender identity, the self-concept of a person as being male of female. (Fraser,1995) All of us can describe the traditional gender-role patterns which have been influential in the socialization of children and the United States. Male babies get blue blankets while females get pink one. Boys are expected to play with trucks, blocks and toy soldiers; girls are given dolls and kitchen goods. Boys must be masculine - active, aggressive, tough, daring and dominant - whereas girls must be feminine - soft, emotional, sweet and submissive. Affirmative Action Battles in the States National rethinking of affirmative action was inspired by a citizen's initiative placed on the ballot in California by popular petition and approved by 54 percent of the state's voters in 1996. The California Civil Rights Initiative added the following phrase to the state's constitution. (Haslanger,2005) "Neither the state of California nor any of its political subdivision or agents shall use race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin as a criterion for either discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group in the operation of the State's system of public employment, public education or public contracting." They key words are "or granting preferential treatment to" Opponents argued that a constitutional ban on preferential treatment of minorities and women eliminates affirmative action programs in government, prevents governments from acting to correct historic racial or gender imbalances, and denies minorities and women the opportunity to seek legal protections in education and employment. Opponents challenged the California Civil Rights Initiative in federal courts, arguing that by preventing minorities and women from seeking preferential treatment under the law, the initiative violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (Haslanger,2005) But a Circuit Court of Appeals held, and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that "(A) ban on race or gender preferences, as a matter of law or logic, does not violate the Equal Protection Clause in any conventional sense.Impediments to preferential treatment do not deny equal protection" The Court reasoned that the Constitution allows some race-based preferences to correct past discrimination, but it does not prevent states from banning racial preferences altogether. The California citizen's initiative barring racial and gender preferences has inspired similar movements in other states. In 1998 voters in the state of Washington adopted a similarly worded state constitutional amendment by a large margin. In 2000 Florida's Governor Jeb Bush issued an executive order banning racial preferences in state contracting and university admissions. But in both Florida and Texas alternative plans were introduced to ensure access to state universities by minorities. (Cahn, 2002) Both states now admit top academic students form every high school in the state. regardless of their scores on standard achievement tests. Presumably this program will allow students from schools with heavy minority enrollments to gain admission. It may also eventually improve academic competition among student within high schools. And it may turn out that banning racial preferences does not reduce the numbers of minorities attending state universities. Gender Equality and the Fourteenth Amendment The historical context of the Fourteenth Amendment implies its intent to guarantee equality for newly freed slaves, but the wording of its Equal Protection Clause applies to "any person." Thus the test of the Fourteenth Amendment could be interpreted to bar any gender differences in the law, in the fashion of the once proposed yet never ratified Equal Rights Amendment. (Ayers, 2001) But the Supreme Court has not interpreted the Equal Protection Clause to give the same level of protection to gender equality as to racial equality. Indeed, in 1873 the Supreme Court specifically rejected arguments that this clause applied to women. The Court once upheld a state law banning women from practicing law, arguing that "The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life.The paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator." Early Feminist Politics The earliest active feminist organizations grew out of the pre-Civil War antislavery movement. There the first generation of feminists - including Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony - learned to organize, hold public meetings, and conduct petition campaigns. After the Civil War, women were successful in changing many state laws that abridged the property rights of married women and otherwise treated them as "chattel" (property) of their husbands. By the early 1900s activists were also successful in winning some protections for women in the workplace, including state laws limiting women's hours of work, working conditions, and physical demands. At the time, these laws were regarded as "progressive." (Ayers, 2001) The most successful feminist efforts of the 1800s centered on protection of women in families. The perceived threats to women's well-being were their husbands' drinking, gambling, and consorting with prostitutes. Women led the Anti-Saloon League, succeeded in outlawing gambling and prostitution in every state except Nevada, and provided the major source of moral support for the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition). In the early twentieth century, the feminist movement concentrated on women's suffrage - the drive to guarantee women the right to vote. The early suffragists employed mass demonstrations, parades, picketing, and occasional disruption and civil disobedience - tactics similar to those of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The culmination of their efforts was the 1920 passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to Constitution. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex". The suffrage movement spawned the League of Women Voters; in addition to women's right to vote, the League has sought protection of women in industry, child welfare laws, and honest election practices. Judicial Scrutiny of Gender Classifications In the 1970s. the Supreme Court became responsive to arguments that sex discrimination might violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Reed v .Reed (1971), it ruled that sexual classifications in the law "must be reasonable and not arbitrary, and must rest on some ground of difference having fair and substantial relation to.important governmental objective." This is a much more relaxed level of scrutiny than the Supreme Court gives to racial classification in the law. Since then, the court has also made these ruling: A state can no longer set different ages for men and women to become legal adults or purchase alcoholic beverages Women cannot be barred from police or firefighting jobs by arbitrary height and weight requirements. Insurance and retirement plans for women must pay the same monthly benefits (even though women on the average live longer) Schools must pay coaches in girls' sports the same as coaches in boys' sports. Continuing Gender Differences The Supreme Court continues to wrestle with the question of whether some gender difference can be recognize in law. The question is most evident in laws dealing with sexual activity and reproduction. The Court has upheld statutory rape laws that make it a crime for an adult male to have sexual intercourse with a female under the age of eighteen, regardless of her consent. "We need not to be medical doctors to discern that young men and young women are not similarly situated with respect to the problems and risks of sexual intercourse. Only women may become pregnant, and they suffer disproportionately the profound physical, emotional and psychological consequences of sexual activity." Women's participation in military service, particularly combat, raises even more controversial questions regarding permissible gender classifications. The Supreme Court appears to have bowed out of this particular controversy. In upholding Congress' draft registration law for men only, the Court ruled that "the constitutional power of Congress to raise and support armies and to make all laws necessary and proper to that end in broad and sweeping". Congress and the Defense Department are responsible for determining assignments for women in the military. Women have won assignments to air and naval combat units but remain excluded from combat infantry, armor, artillery, special forces, and submarine duty. Aims of the Equal Rights Amendment The proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed by Congress in 1972 but never ratified by the states, was worded very broadly: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex." Had it been ratified by the necessary thirty-eight states, it would have eliminate most, if not all, gender difference in the law. Without ERA, many important guarantees of equality for women rest on laws of Congress rather than on the Constitution. As cultural views of women's roles in society have changed and economic pressures on family budgets have increased, women's participation in the labor force has risen. The gap between women's and men's participation in the nation's work force is closing over time. With the movement of women into the work force, feminist political activity has shifted toward economic concern - gender equality in education, employment, pay, promotion, and credit. Gender Equality Civil Rights Laws Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prevents sexual (as well as racial) discrimination in hiring, pay, and promotions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency charged with eliminating discrimination in employment, has established guidelines barring stereotyped classification of "men's jobs" and "women's job." The courts have repeatedly struck down state laws and employer practices that differentiate between men and women in hours, pay, retirement age, and to forth. (Reskin, 2001) The Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 prohibits sex discrimination in credit transactions. Federal law prevents banks, credit unions, savings and loan associations, retails stores, and credit card companies from denying credit because of sex or marital status. However, these businesses may still deny credit for a poor or nonexistent credit rating, and some women who have always maintained accounts in their husband's name may still face credit problems if they apply in their own name. Title IX of the Education Act of Amendment of 1972 deals with sex discrimination in education. This federal law bars discrimination in admissions, housing, rules financial aid, faculty and staff recruitment and pay, and - most troublesome of all- athletics. The latter problem has proven very difficult because men's football and basketball programs have traditionally brought in the money to finance all other sports, and men's football and basketball have received the largest share of school athletic budgets. The Earnings GAP Despite protections under federal laws, women continue to earn substantially less than men do. Today women, on average, earn about 76 percent of what men do. This earnings gap has been closing very slowly: In 1985 women earned an average of 68 percent of men's earnings. The earnings gap is not primarily a product of direct discrimination: women in the same job with the same skills, qualifications, experience, and work record are not generally paid less than men. Such direct discrimination has been illegal since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Rather, the earnings gap is primarily a product of a division in the labor market between traditionally male and female jobs, with lower salaries paid in traditionally female occupation. The Dual Labor Market and "Comparable Worth" The existence of a "dual" labor market, with male-dominated "blue-collar" jobs distinguishable from female-dominated "pink-collar" jobs, continues to be a major obstacle to economic equality between men and women. These occupational differences result from cultural stereo typing, social conditioning, and training and education - all of which narrow the choices available to women. Although significant progress has been made in reducing occupational sex segregation, many observers nevertheless doubt that sexually differentiated occupations will be eliminated in the foreseeable future. (Reskin, 2001) As a result of growing recognition that the wage gap is more a result of occupational differentiation than direct discrimination, some feminist organizations have turned to a new approach - the demand that pay levels in various occupations be determined by comparable worth rather than by the labor market. Comparable worth goes beyond paying men and women equally for the same work and call for paying the same wages for jobs of comparable value to the employer. (Goldberg, 1993) Advocates of comparable worth argue that governmental agencies or the courts should evaluate traditionally male and female jobs to determine their "worth" to the employer, perhaps by considering responsibilities, effort, knowledge, and skill requirements. Jobs adjudged to be 'comparable" would be paid equal wages. Government agencies or the courts would replace the labor market in determining wage rates. But comparable worth raises problems of implementation: Who would decide what wages should be for various jobs What standards would be used to decide The EEQC has rejected the notion of comparable worth and declined to recommend wages for traditionally male and female jobs. And so far, the federal courts have refused to declare that differing wages in traditionally male and female occupations constitute evidence of sexual discrimination in violation of federal law. However, some state governments and private employers have undertaken to review their own pay scales to determine if traditionally female occupations are underpaid. (Fausto-Sterling, 1985) The "Glass Ceiling" Few women have climbed the ladder to become president or chief executive officer or director of the nation's largest industrial corporations, banks, utilities, newspapers, or television networks. Large number of women are entering the legal profession, but few are senior partners in the nation's largest and most prestigious law firms. Women are more likely to be found in the presidential cabinet than in corporate boardroom. Conclusion Gender identity is one of the first and most far-reaching identities that a human being learns. Many societies have established social distinctions between the sexes which do not inevitably result from biological differences. This largely reflects the impact of conventional gender-role socialization. Gender-roles were defined as expectations regarding the proper behaviour, attitudes and activities of males and females. The application of traditional gender roles leads to many differentiation between men and women. Both sexes are physically capable of leaning to cook and sew, yet most western societies determine that these tasks should be performed by women. Both men and women are capable of learning to weld metal and fly airplanes but these functions are generally assigned to males. In any society, gender socialization and stratification requires not only individual socialization into traditional gender roles within the family, but also the promotion and support of these traditional roles by other social institutions such as religion and education. Moreover, even with all the major institutions socializing the young into conventional gender roles, every society has women and men who resist and successfully oppose these stereotypes: strong women who become leaders and professionals, gentle men who care for their children and so forth. With these realities in mind, it seems clear that differences between the sexes are not dictated by biology. Indeed, the maintenance of traditional gender roles requires constant social controls - and these controls are not always effective. REFERENCES: Haslanger, Sally. On Social Construction. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Cahn, Steven. The Affirmative Action Debate, 2d. ed. (New York: Routledge, 2002) Fraser, Steven, ed. The bell curve wars : race, intelligence, and the future of America (New York : BasicBooks, 1995). Ayers, I. Pervasive Prejudice: Unconventional Evidence of Race and Gender Discrimination (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2001). Reskin, Barbara. "The Proximate Causes of Employment Discrimination," Contemporary Sociology 29 (2000): 319-329. Okin, Susan. "Vulnerability by Marriage," Justice, Gender, and the Family, ch. 7. (New York: Basic Books, 1989). Valian, Virginia. Why So Slow: the Advancement of Women. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1998). Reskin, Barbara. "Sex Segregation in the Workplace," Annual Review of Sociology 19 (1993): 241-270. Goldberg, Steven. Why Men Rule : A Theory of Male Dominance (Open Court, 1993). Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Myths of Gender: Biological Theories About Women and Men (New York: Basic Books, 1985. Read More