Gender Discrimination: Social Justice Paper

Mary Sullivan
May 13th, 2013
C Period, Christian Morality
Gender Discrimination: The Plague of the Era What exactly is gender discrimination? The literal definition goes as follows: When a person is faced with unequal or different treatment based entirely on the victim’s sex or gender (Source: Findlaw.com). This is a serious civil rights offense, and it affects not only women, it’s most common victim, but men, and members of the LGBT community, as well. The most common places that said discrimination takes place are in employment, education, in situations of borrowing or credit issues, and housing. An example of how common this issue is can be found in 2010 when the EEOC, (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), had found that 30% of its complaints regarded sex discrimination of both women AND men (Source: kmblegal.com). However, many question why gender discrimination is an injustice, while many others simply ignore the subject and claim that it no longer exists. The true problem with this topic, as Julie Mullens states, is that “It results in millions of tragedies, which add up to lost potential for entire countries. Studies show there is a direct link between a country 's attitude toward women and its progress socially and economically. The status of women is central to the health of a society. If one part suffers, so does the whole” (Source: childreninneed.org). As stated in the quote above, gender discrimination, not just of women, but of others, takes a direct toll on the victims, as well as nationally, and on a grander scale: world-wide. Victims outside of America, particularly women, face issues such as dowry which is payment to the groom’s family for taking in a wife, even though it can be portrayed as carrying a burden for another woman in the family; neglect, infanticide and sex-selective abortion, abuse, forced labor, and sex trafficking (Source: childreninneed.org). Julie Mullens’ quote proves that this not only takes a physical and emotional toll on the victims, but within the social and economical structures of society. Without the people who are discriminated in our lives; men, women, and others, we are literally nothing. A recent example of said gender discrimination occurred in San Francisco, California, in September of last year. A United States judge refused a Wal-Mart in the area to ignore a discrimination case from women plaintiffs regarding payment and promotion issues based on gender. The case was closed after the Wal-Mart attorney, Theodore Boutrous Jr., said such claims could not be true due to Wal-mart’s no-toleration policy regarding gender discrimination. However, considering a similar law suit was reported in Texas, the attorney supporting the women, Brad Seligman, is becoming suspicious about Wal-mart’s “policies”. (Source: huffingtonpost.com) This case perfectly displays why gender discrimination is such a problem. For example, this injustice, for the case, was continued because the claims of these women were rejected after Wal-mart’s rebuttal regarding its policies. Considering society is more favoring of men than women, often leading to patriarchy, this is a perfect example of discrimination continues. In this case, the discrimination not only lies in the fault of Wal-Mart itself, but also in the court disregarding the claims of these female workers. The final question is: how exactly can this injustice be brought to an end? In the United States, gender and sex discrimination is a direction violation of Tile VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, thus it is best to contact a Civil Rights Attorney or your lawyer. Other laws that prohibit this discrimination include The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, The Fair Housing Act, The Equal Pay Act of 1963, The Family and Medical Leave Act, and many more (Source: findlaw.com). However, for world-wide society to change as a whole, one thing can prevail and offer change: education. Education at an early stage in life about these matters can help provide change for the future, after all, the next generation is our next hope in changing the world. In conclusion, gender discrimination is indeed a very grim and serious subject, but one that can be changed if we begin to change it for ourselves, and teach the future generations how truly important equality of all kinds, racial, ages, and especially gender and sex, are to our world.

Bibliography

1) http://civilrights.findlaw.com/discrimination/gender-discrimination/ (Source 1) 2) http://kmblegal.com/legal_topics/discrimination/gender-discrimination/ (Source 2) 3) Julie Mullens, Direct Quote: : http://www.childreninneed.org/magazine/gender.html (Source 3) 4) Julie Mullens, Found in article: : http://www.childreninneed.org/magazine/gender.html (Source 4) 5) Dan Levine, Paraphrase: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/22/walmart-gender-discrimination_n_1905204.html (Source 5) 6) Paraphrase from article: http://civilrights.findlaw.com/discrimination/gender-discrimination-applicable-laws.html

Bibliography: 1) http://civilrights.findlaw.com/discrimination/gender-discrimination/ (Source 1) 2) http://kmblegal.com/legal_topics/discrimination/gender-discrimination/ (Source 2) 3) Julie Mullens, Direct Quote: : http://www.childreninneed.org/magazine/gender.html (Source 3) 4) Julie Mullens, Found in article: : http://www.childreninneed.org/magazine/gender.html (Source 4) 5) Dan Levine, Paraphrase: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/22/walmart-gender-discrimination_n_1905204.html (Source 5) 6) Paraphrase from article: http://civilrights.findlaw.com/discrimination/gender-discrimination-applicable-laws.html