Why are not we all covered under discrimination laws?
By: Barger Specialties LLC | Posted: 01st July 2007
Why are we not ALL covered under the Discrimination Laws?
The thought that “All Men are Created Equal” was one of the founding building blocks of this great country. Unfortunately, it is historically correct to say that we have not always lived up to that concept or ideal.
The anti discrimination law of 1964, has become the foundation upon which we to this day judge whether discrimination has or has not occurred. Within that law, the applicability of that law is limited to “protected classes of persons”. The classes of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin were the original Protected Classes with Age, and disabilities being subsequently added.
I wish to propose that the “landscape” has changed greatly since 1964. We are speaking specifically of the landscape or reality of employment in 1964, where white, male, prostestant Euro-Americans dominated the management ranks. Is that true today? Certainly the landscape of management is much less well defined.
We have managers today of every race, every color, every religion, every sex, and every national origin, and yes of all ages and ability levels. As discrimination is a function of mostly management misuse of powers, and as managers come in all the different classes of persons, why then aren’t the laws updated to include “all persons” including we who find ourselves to be white, male, protestant Americans.
The data I know of refers to primarily the discrimination arena of Harassment and Sexual Harassment. And specifically in the area of Sexual Harassment, the playing field (and that is likely a lousy choice of words) is certainly not level, but it is getting more level each year. The latest information I can quote is 85/15. In other words 85% of the sexual harassment cases find males as the perpetrators. BUT 15% and climbing is the number of males that find themselves on the victim side of sexual harassment. And that number should continue to climb as more and more women find themselves in management positions.
The fact is that 15% of the known victims of sexual harassment, are not covered under the discrimination laws, unless they happen to be persons of color, or perhaps older in age, or not from Euro-American lineage. And in each of those cases, they would have to prove it was “because” of the color, age or lineage that this discrimination occurred.
So I ask the question again: Why are we not ALL covered under the Discrimination Laws?
More information on Harassment and Sexual Harassment can be found at:
http://www.sexualharassmentresources.com
Bill Barger
Barger Specialties LLC
About the Author
Occupation: Technical Support Specialist
Mr. Barger became interested in the study of Sexual Harassment during his current employment. Thus he undertook a course of study, ending with a Master of Art's degree in Management with a major in Human Resources. During his course of study he researched and reported on Sexual Harassment and has taught Sexual Harassment to Business and Ethics courses. His web site: http://www.sexualharassmentrecources.com seeks to be your total resource for information on harassment and sexual harassment, and provides general information applicable to other areas of Discrimination Law as well.
Bill Barger
Barger Specialties LLC
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Tags: building blocks, landscape, applicability, religion, choice of words, disabilities, management positions, perpetrators, national origin, discrimination laws