Discrimination Against WomenEssay Preview: Discrimination Against WomenReport this essayTo discriminate is to make a distinction in favor of or against a person based on the group, class, or category to which that person belongs. Women have faced a long history of discrimination, and only gained significant progress during the 20th century. Yet certain gender roles and gender discrimination remain in place even today. Discrimination is still rampant in terms of pay differences, in the work place, towards families with children, and in violence aimed toward women.
Before 1963 it was common for news papers to run separate help wanted ads for men and for women. It was also common for the same job to be posted in both the mens section and the womens section but with drastically lower pay for the women. In 1963 women earned only 59 cents for every dollar that a man made for the same job (Gibbs 25). When women get paid less than men for the same job, it can be the difference between a single mother being able to pay rent or not, or of being able to afford groceries or not. Laws trying to set equal pay are important, to both women and their families.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was designed to end this pay difference (“White House”). However, still today the average working woman makes 76 cents for every dollar that the average male earns, according to the 2001 Congressional Record for the 107th Congress. Women now have more options to dispute this difference and gain more equality in court. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by establishing that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit is renewed each time the employee receives an unequal paycheck from their employer (“White House”). This act was a direct response to the Supreme Court case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007), in which the Supreme Court ruled that the statue of limitations began at the date the pay was agreed upon instead of the most recent paycheck. This means that now every single time a women receives an unequal paycheck she has 180 days to file a law suit demanding equal pay, whereas the Supreme Court had ruled that she only had 180 days after she took the job when the pay was agreed upon (Grossman).
Some of the most blatant workplace discrimination was stopped when the 1964 Civil Rights act was put in place. However, the American workplace still reflects an unequal and sometimes hostile environment for women. Pregnant women suffer from discrimination in hiring, promotions, and in evaluations because of misplaced ideals about their performance (Luscombe). An important change in the law aimed at making the work place unbiased was the Work and Families Act of 2006 which is supposed to allow families to balance careers and care for children. Under this act the statutory maternity pay has been extended to nine months of leave and any employee will be entitled to additional maternity leave. Employees will also have the ability to “keep in touch”, or go into work for a few hours each week, without losing their statutory maternity leave (Shepherd, and Wedderburn).
[Page 3] A common complaint by employees and the public is that of low-paid, often unpaid, jobs that could reasonably be expected to provide them with a steady, and decent work performance. Workers may be denied such pay because their job performance or pay could be in jeopardy, have a low paid employee, or have worked too long (Hoffman). We also consider this because employment for low skilled and inexperienced employees is a source of inequitable and possibly harmful employment performance. A small number of firms are in the industry which are attempting to reduce the amount of workers who need to work. The Department has established a group of “special interest” firms to help those with the greatest need to find new, higher paying jobs, while at the same time improving their workers’ compensation and benefits. The Office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) makes available information on its website about the work place safety and health system at the federal, state, and local levels. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s web site, Employer’s Guide, provides information on occupational hazards, labor market compliance and safety at different levels and levels of the labor market. OSHA also provides public and private partners to assist employers with the management of safety and wellness, in a manner consistent with OSHA’s mandate to provide high quality information to employers. OSHA supports and supports worker and employers’ collective self-regulation efforts. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires employers to conduct background check checks of their workplace, so it is important for employers to conduct these checks when employees do not require personal supervision or help as specified in OSHA in Chapter 10. OSHA also allows employers to create a public training program on safe work practices and standards for employers. OSHA provides the employer a training plan in the form of curriculum, reports, and training materials (Hoffman). OSHA also prohibits employers from using the work place facilities for hire, even if the employment is for or on short notice, except as required by law. Employers are required to disclose the employment location of all employees and employees’ names and addresses. OSHA also ensures that the Employer Information and Education Services Program, which includes programs for state and local government, state vocational training, and vocational training, and is part of HSA’s employer disclosure program, is available whenever required by law. In addition, OSHA provides the State Department of Labor (DELEG) with information on its employers’ health and safety requirements for employers. OSHA also provides health information to employers concerning the types of employers that operate on the Employer Information and Education Services Program. If an employer is denied for the reasons described in Code §101.28(d) of OSHA’s Occupational Health and Safety Requirements, it cannot claim liability under the Health and Safety Code for the performance or safety of workers within its business. Furthermore, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires OSHA to investigate and hold employers accountable for an employee’s labor and safety violations. See OSHA’s Compliance Guide for more details.
[Page 4] The Employer Information and Education Services Program was added at the Department of State in June 1975 and the Employment and Benefits Act of 1974 passed on August 23, 1975. During 1982 federal law made OSHA subject to federal laws and regulations governing the use of medical records, including work history data, or “work history data collection,” generally. In addition, law required OSHA to use, and do work with, information obtained through or from its
One of the reasons that women have suffered discrimination in the work place is because women have to have bear children and they are often the primary care givers. Several important acts passed by the Obama Administration deal directly with these issues as well as issues like healthcare. The most recent is the Affordable Care Act which was passed in March 2010 (“White House”). This act has numerous effects, and in its broadest sense it provides comprehensive health insurance that lowers costs and holds insurance agencies accountable. However it includes several clauses to help women gain equal insurance coverage. A study published in the New York Times by Robert Pear shows that women pay more money for the exact same coverage plans as men. This has been justified by the insurance companies asserting that women cost more in their childbearing years. Yet most insurance doesnt cover maternity costs, and require that women pay additional amounts added to the higher amount that they already pay. In 2014 the act will make it illegal to charge more or deny coverage based on gender or preexisting conditions. Access to care is also expanded for women, guaranteeing access to OB-GYNs and pediatricians (“White House”).
A recent act passed by Congress in 2009 is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is another law to help mothers specifically. Two billion dollars for the Child and Development Block Grant, $1 billion for Head Start, and $1.1 billion for Early Head Start provided through the Act will help working mothers get quality child care. The Act encompasses unemployment insurance reforms, which include incentives for states to cover part time workers and those who reenter the work force (“White House”). This will particularly benefit women due to absences while having children and part time jobs while raising children. Women should be able to have children without discrimination, without having to compromise on health care or earn less than a man for the same work.
One of the major steps to stop discrimination taken by President Obama so far was the establishment of the White House Council on Women and Girls by an Executive Order. This council was created to provide a response to discrimination against women as well as making Cabinet and Cabinet level agencies consider how their policies will affect women (Macon). The heads of every federal agency and every major White House office are members and the Council is chaired by Valerie Jarrett. As said by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright the “responsibility for the advancement of women is not the job of any one agency, its the job of all of them.”
Discrimination does not occur just in the workplace, it is also evident by the abuse women face at a much higher rate than men. Women are ten times more likely than men to be victimized or physically abused. In a study conducted by the American Bar Association, nearly 25% of women and 7.6% of men were raped and/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse in 1996. These statistics show how much of a gap there is between female and male abuse. Estimates of non-fatal domestic violence against women range from 1 million to 4 million a year with nearly 1 in 3 women experiencing