Women's Rights

Women's Rights

Introduction

Women have always been the backbone of society but rarely have been recognized for their full contributions to the workforce. Moreover, women continually have been denied the opportunity to participate outside the home in the public sphere on an equal footing with men. Thanks to countless women throughout history who stood up for equality in the workplace, women have achieved great strides for equal rights for working women. Nonetheless, women still are far from equality in the workplace. In May 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the Equal Pay Act of 1963 very narrowly (Friedan, 2001). In denying Lily Ledbetter the right to sue her employer for lost wages that she learned about upon her retirement, the Court ruled that she sued too late and would not be able to reclaim loss wages.

This ruling was so egregious that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg not only wrote a stinging dissent but read it from the bench urging Congress to act. Democratic Members of Congress responded immediately and introduced the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to reverse the Court's decision. In the 2008 presidential campaign, equal pay gained attention as then-Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) pledged to support and ultimately cast his vote for it, while Senator John McCain (R-AZ) opposed and voted against the act. When President Obama was elected, the Lily Ledbetter Act of 2009 was the first bill he signed into law (Burt, 2005).

Historically, the fight for equality began to improve conditions in female-dominant industries such as textile mills and has evolved for women to hold equal leadership positions with men in any industry. Beginning in the early 1800s, women began to organize collectively for their rights. They formed their own labor unions and fought for a voice in male-dominated unions. The first wave of feminism's demand for the right to vote was also deeply characterized by the call for equal economic opportunity for women.

During moments of social upheaval such as the Civil War and World War II, women temporarily were granted opportunities to work in traditionally male defined occupations. The activism of the second wave of feminism led to many legislative gains for women's equality. Today, the fight continues in the halls of Congress and from individual women such as Anita Hill and Lily Ledbetter, who have the courage to demand their rights. The United States has made great strides for its working women but still lags behind the progress made in other nations (Mutari, Power, Figart, 2002).

Discussion

Women will struggle to achieve management and face limitations spots because many people in society, including women feel that those positions belong to males. They also have limits due to people's conscious and unconscious sex bias that people have adapted to throughout time. Women who are also pregnant at the time of hiring will face discrimination due to the fact that employers have false assumptions of their ability to work. Women who are also responsible for their families will most certainly be discriminated against because the employers feel that ...