Gender Discrimination Essay

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Gender discrimination is the action of being treated worse than others, simply because of your gender. It can occur once or continually over time, by the opposite or same sex. It is an illegal practice here in the United States, based on laws enacted in 1963-4.
There are many forms of gender discrimination including: hiring, firing, salary, benefits, promotions, work assignments, layoffs, training, sexual harassment, offensive jokes about one sex, and employer policies. It can affect the young or old, single, married, pregnant or nursing. These actions can come from anyone connected to the job, such as a manager or a client.
The first law reacting to gender discrimination was the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which was an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act. This law stated that gender pay discrimination was bad for business, being an inefficient use of human resources and creating conflict. The law puts forth that no business may give lower pay to one gender, when the jobs are equal. There are exclusions such as seniority, merit, and pay for quantity jobs.
Following that, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was proposed. Howard W. Smith added on Title VII as it is now known, which would make sex discrimination illegal. In fact, Smith was against the Civil Rights Act, and equal employment laws for women. He added Title VII to make it more likely that none of it would pass. He didn't want equal rights for everyone, and assumed that most of the House and Senate did not want women to have equal employment opportunities. His plan backfired however, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, including Title VII which outlawed discrimination for many groups, one being sex.
This law included more than just pay discrimination...

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...le schedules and telecommuting. Allstate Insurance allows women to work full time while offering on site MBA programs to further their education. Proctor and Gamble is attentive to minority women and helps train them to achieve promotions. Some companies even offer sabbatical leaves and look to hire moms who are returning to work.
Fields that were formerly male-dominated are actively recruiting women to diversify their staff. They have recognized the power of diverse thinking in business. Articles online explain how to recruit women in technology and science fields, among others.
Certainly, women at work today are not treated as equals with men, but there is an upward trend of progress being made. With pioneering and persistent women alongside lobbying women's groups, and forward thinking corporations, there is hope that one day gender won't matter at work.

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