What is sex discrimination?

Reminder: no class on Friday

Some tools for discussing ethics and gender (this week and next)

Sex discrimination

Sexism

Fairness

Equality

Supreme Court--Oral Arguments on Oct. 8
Does existing federal law prohibiting sex discrimination apply to discrimination against gay and transgender people? Decision to be made in June 2020.

Two of the three cases

Donald Zarda (right)

Aimee Stephens (in wheelchair)

Title VII

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964--prohibits employers from discriminating against any individual because of the individual’s "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin".

1. Applies to businesses with 15 employees or more
2. BFOQ: there can be exceptions when “religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise”

Context

1. Sexual orientation and transgender status could be added explicitly to Title VII, but unlikely to happen
2. About 20 states have anti-discrimination laws that protect gay and transgender people but most don't (Texas doesn't)

Some examples of sex discrimination prohibited under Title VII

1. Woman not hired because she had young children--Phillips v. Martin Marietta (1971)
2. Woman not accepted into a police force because she didn't meet a height requirement--Dothard v. Rawlinson (1977)
3.  Woman not promoted because she didn't fit gender stereotypes--Price Waterhouse vs. Hopkins (1989)
4. Men not hired as managers at a beauty products company--Ventura vs. EEOC (2014)

Group Work

1. For Zarda. Explain and support the reasoning that says Zarda's firing was sex discrimination.
2. For Zarda's employer. Explain and support the counterargument.
3. For Stephens. Explain and support the reasoning that says Stephens's firing was sex discrimination.
4. For Stephens's employer. Explain and support the counterargument.