TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1) Introduction: What our project is about

2) Civil Rights and Liberties

3) Interest Groups: Giving voice to equality for women

(The Constitution: The Equal Rights Amendment)

4) The Courts: How do the courts take this issue?

5) Congress: Respect on the Job

6) Conclusion

7) Bibliography

Introduction

Ka Man (Helen) Tay

Whether everyone agrees or not, discrimination exists, in terms of race, religion, or gender. Whether everyone believes it or not, discrimination on the basis of sex is indeed a problem in our society. The 14th Amendment guarantees to every individual the right to equal protection of the laws. But in reality, men and women in our society are far from being equal. Some claim that "equality has been deliberately denied" ("Introduction", par.1) and that men refused to recognize women's legal and civil rights. For instance, words such as "male citizens" used in the Constitution, some argue, were considered an intentional exclusion of women. The bottom line is that women are still victims of discrimination, deprived of equality. We will be focusing here on discrimination in the workplace against women, civil rights & liberties, how some interest groups are dealing with this problem, how the Courts rule in cases dealing with this issue, and what Congress has to say about it. And we shall see that this is, in fact, a continuing problem in our society .

Civil Rights and Liberties

Amelia Saine

In 1908 when the court upheld an Oregon law that limited the amount of hours women could work, protectionism reached it's peak. Women were prevented from working more than forty-eight hoursa week and also were not allowed to lift more than thirty-five pounds. Although they were capable of getting these jobs done,women were not not given jobs that required towork overtme. Women who were capable of getting pregnant , were not included in jobs that invole toxic substances. Many employees hesitate to place women at risk in the workplace.

During World's War I and II women in the workplace received lower wages than men. Females were qualified only for low-paying, low-skilled jobs, with little chance for advancement. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 provided equal pay for men and women doing similar jobs. Women were given equal opportunity for employment in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1992 are the most important laws protecting the rights of women and minorities. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, and natural origin. Many students may not know if they are being discriminated against at their jobs. Here are a few suggestions about what should be done.

1. Encourage the student to share specific examples of their problems at work.

2. Encourage her to keep written records.

3. Remind her to talk to others.

Job discrimination is a frightening reality. Many women have experienced discrimination in one form or another.

Interest Groups: Giving voice to equality for women

Ka Man (Helen) Tay

The existence of an earnings gap between men and women is an example of inequality in the workplace. What a woman earns is below what a man earns. In fact, "women's earnings are a percentage of men's." ("Earnings Differences", par.1) As measured in 1994, women were only paid 74 cents for every dollar paid to men. [To view graphs and tables that explain and compare earnings differences between women and men, click: Earnings Differences.] Women are underpaid by their traditional jobs as compared with traditional men's jobs (including those jobs with similar education requirements), as well as for doing the same job. For example, a male registered nurse earns a median annual salary of $36,868, while a female registered nurse only earns $35,360. Earnings differences, as well as other forms of discrimination in employment, are major concerns for interest groups such as the Women's Bureau and the National Organization for Women (NOW).

The Women's Bureau is a federal government agency created on June 5, 1920, within the Department of Labor by Congress. It's an agency that works towards improving poor working conditions and low pay for women. The goals of the Women's Bureau include: letting women know what their rights are in the workplace; the proposal of policies and legislation that work for women in the workplace; gathering and looking up information that concerns working women and what they do; and then providing the President, Congress, and the public with the information they have obtained. The Women's Bureau is also involved with creating antidiscrimination laws, job trainings, addressing wage equity issues, and developing programs. One of the laws that the Women's Bureau was involved in was the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act enacted in 1938, which determines minimum pay and maximum hours. The Women's Bureau also devoted much of its attention to the push for legislation of the Equal Pay Act, which was expected to take many years to become law. The Equal Pay Act was finally passed in 1963. What is significant about the Women's Bureau is the way it "has helped to define the problem, research its impact on working women, recommend policy solutions, and then educate women about their rights." ("An Overview", par.18). [To view the Mission Statement of the Women's Bureau, click: Mission .]

The other group that we will be discussing about is the National Organization for Women (NOW). NOW is a U.S. women's-rights organization established on June 30, 1966, which works towards promoting equality for women working with men in our society. Its goal involves an end to discrimination against women, and supporting the passage of laws that prohibit gender discrimination. Its effort to push for social change includes increasing opportunities for women, electing more women to political office, and supporting laws to eliminate sexual harassment and violence against women. The ways in which NOW pushes for social change include the bring about of class-action lawsuits, lobbying work, and organizing marches, rallies, pickets, and nonviolent civil disobedience. Among many of NOW's achievements, it has helped win a ruling in Weeks vs. Southern Bell (1969), which ruled against the barring of women from jobs that involved heavy lifting. NOW also became the first national organization (1967) which requested that abortion should be made legal and that laws prohibiting abortion should be abolished. The push for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution was a major concern of NOW in the pursuance of economic equality and other rights for women.

The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban all state and federal discrimination based on sex. It "works for the advancement of women through the establishment of their economic, social, and political equality" ("Equal Rights Advocates", par.1). It is also considered "one of the most passionate and effective voices protecting the rights of women" ("Equal Rights Advocates", par.4). Those who support ERA argue that the 14th Amendment, which calls for the guarantee of the right to equal protection of the laws, was insufficient in its protection of women from being discriminated against. Those who oppose ERA argues that there's no need for a constitutional amendment, because the equal protection clause should be enough. For ERA to become law, the ratification by the legislatures of 38 states was required. Even though Congress extended the deadline for ERA ratification (from its original deadline on March 22, 1979) to June 30, 1982, ERA was not passed because it failed to gain the support of three states that was needed for ratification. With only the ratification of 35 states, the amendment was defeated. [To view the struggle for ratification of the ERA in the early years and recent years by NOW, click: Chronology .]

The existence of the Women's Bureau and NOW, as well as other organizations, makes evident the fact that discrimination against women in the work force is indeed an existing and continuing problem in our society. These groups are still fighting for women's rights and equality today. The existence of gender discrimination against women promotes a need for interest groups to fight for social change involving equality in employment. These interest groups give voice to women who may have been (or still are) standing silently in the shadow casted by inequality on the basis of sex. Afterall, it would be hard to imagine (let alone achieve) change without someone or some group voicing out its need and importance. This alone is the main responsibility of interest groups.

The Courts: How do the courts take this issue?

Katia Pierre Louis

One major problem women have been dealing with since the Women Rights Movement is discrimination. Women have been considered too fragile and too weak to do men's work by most employers. I would like to know how the courts take this issue? Seriously or just too easy?

In 1964, at the appearance of the Civil Rights Act, was created the Equal Employment Opportunity Comission (EEOC). With this opportunity women had brought to the fore any kind of discrimination they received. At that same period the courts had proposed a protective legislation, and even with that women had still found themselves with jobs being closed to them.

Low wage is one major discrimination I consider against women that is currently a very important issue. During the civil war, women were given opportunity to get good salary jobs at the absence of men, but at the return of the men from the war they all had to give up the jobs and give them back to the men.

In the Civil Rights Act, discrimination against an employee based on race, sex, religion or again pregnacy is not allowed still a woman will most likely loose her job if she gets pregnant. Now the only existing problem is that most pregnancy file lawsuit have no probable cause. For example,a woman just getting married with the idea of having kids soon for some employers will not get promoted for the simple reason that soon she will be taking maternal leave or will have to take off in emergencies. Most employers having just a little sense that the lady may be pregnant will not hire that individual.

Another one can be where the individual can be hired but can also be at the border of loosing the job they just got by taking days off to take care of the baby and many more. Another one is where the person have to start working part-time and can not be allowed that because it's not the type of job where people get part-time positions. Many file against but it doesn't always work especially if it not such kind of job.

The (LFLRA) is the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association. It's a group of women (in 1844) that have set petition which compelled legislature to investigate the question of worker's health and safety. Many things were happening to women in Lowell at that period of time, it ended up that even men on the work force with them consider women as threats to their status.

The world may seemed great comparing to all these things to have been going on , women still face discrimination and still women are still involved in sex-segregated jobs. Women are still being treated unfairly and all for no reason at all: pregnancy, too weak, too fragile, care for their child. I consider all of these being crazy and that the courts need to do more other than just putting up a protective legislation.

Congress: Respect on the Job

Sabina Alli

It is the theory that women have equal rights and equal opportunity, but we all know that is not the realilty of life within our society. Women are given jobs because they are equally qualified or even more qualified. The reality of our society is that although women are equally capable and qualified they are not equally respected on the job. Most women complain about being treated unfairly because of their sex. Women who are hired to do the same jobs as men get paid less for the same duties. Within our CUNY system the female faculty get paid less than the male faculty members. There are more male elected congress men that women. Our society is so inclined to the belief that men are superior to women that we have never elected a woman presiden or even nominated a woman to run for presidency. "The glass Ceiling" is a term given for an invisible barrier to prevent women from earning and rising to higher levels at the job. Even within workers for Congress the women complain about lack of respect and unfair treatment based of sex. A sex discrimination suit was fied in 1996 against congress by fifteen employees of the cleaning department. The women complained that over the years their duties were increased without a comperable increase in their pay. These women claimed to be performing the same duties as men within their job environment. Congress then passed a law to make congressional employees subject to the same laws against job discrimination as all other workers and to give them the right ot organize and join labor unions. Unions now fight for the right of women and all others on the job force. In theory these laws are there to protect women but in actuallity they are responded to seldomly. We should put more effort into seeing that these laws are carried out. A person should be respected because of who they are and should be paid based on job performances not sex. We need to fight back at our employers until they pay us for the job we have done. Equal opportunity should also mean eaual pay. Respect

Conclusion

Ka Man (Helen) Tay

As we can see, the existing interest groups indicate the continuous need of the fight for women's equality in the workplace. These interest groups have worked hard in the past to strive for laws that try to put an end to gender discrimination, or at least to try to lessen the tension or inequality between women and men in the workplace. According to Katia, "the courts need to do more other than just putting up a protective legislation". She also agrees that women still face discrimination today in our society. The truth is that as more women are leaving their traditonal jobs for jobs that are once considered only appropriate for men, it's inevitable for problems to exist. But what we want, what many of these women's organizations want, is to try to make changes to make sure that these problems are not based on gender alone.

Sabina Alli

Throughout our project we discussed the unfair treatment women receive on the job force. Now we know that there are laws out there to protect us from these discrimination we should use them to protect our self. Many women are still being paid less for the same jobs that are done by men who are being paid more. We need to fight back against this discrimination. It is illegal and there are laws to protect us.

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Bibliography

For: Interest Groups: Giving voice to equality for women

"Chronology of the Equal Rights Amendment 1923-1996." Online. Internet. 24 Mar. 1998. Available: http://www.now.org/issues/economic/cea/history.html#NOW.

"Earnings Differences Between Women and Men." 1993. Online. Internet. 12 Mar. 1998. Available: http://www.dol.gov/dol/wb/public/wb_pubs/wagegap2.htm.

"Equal Rights Advocates." Online. Internet. 24 Mar. 1998. Available:http://www.equalrights.org/

"Equal Rights Amendment." The Encyclopedia Americana: International Edition.1997.

"Introduction." Online. Internet. 9 Mar. 1998. Available: http://www.now.org/issues/economic/cea/intro.html.

"National Organization for Women." Collier's Encyclopedia. 1996.

"Women's Bureau." The Encyclopedia Americana: International Edition. 1997.

"The Women's Bureau: An Overview." Online. Internet. 12 Mar. 1998. Available: http://www.dol.gov/dol/wb/public/info_about_wb/Interwb.htm.

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For: The Courts: How do the courts take this issue?

Drinan, Robert F. "World Law Protects the Rights of Women." America. 6-13 Aug 1988: v.159: 87-89.

Matheson, Kimberly. "Women's Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action: Putting Actions in Context." Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 1 Dec 1994: v. 24: 2075-2096.

Reich, Robert B. "The Working Mother Impact." Working Mother. May 1994: v.17: 28-31.

Rubin, Vera. "Women's Work. Discrimination Against Women in Astronomy." Science. July-August 1986: 58-61.

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For: Civil Rights and Liberties

Berry, J.M. Goldman, Jerry. Janda, Kenneth. The Challenge of Democracy. New York: Boston. 1997.

"Women in Community Service." Online. Internet. Available: http://www.bostonwomen.com.

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For: Congress: Respect on the Job

"Cleaning Women Sue congress." Online. Internet. 25 Mar. 1998. Available: http://politics.compuserve.com/politics/1213clen.htm.

"Respect on the Job." Online. Internet. 25 Mar. 1998. Available: http://www.senate.gov/~harkin/fairpay2.htm.

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