Miko Nourieli Feb 7, 2021

Bus 311 Brielle Buckler

On the Basis of Sex

Everyone deserves to be who they want to be. I believe that, and so did Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Humans are extremely complex creatures and everyone has different beliefs, interests, skills, abilities, likes, dislikes. People can be very different from each other but at the same time we are all the same. We are all stuck here on this rock floating through space circling a giant ball of fire and plasma, meanwhile for years and years we have discriminated against other human beings just because of what they look like, who they are, or where they are from. Since I am a seemingly white male (I say seemingly because my skin is white, although my father is from the Middle East and my mother is puerto rican), I do get certain ‘benefits’ for being white because there are still people to this day who judge and characterize people solely based on the color of their skin and prefer to associate themselves with people who are of a certain skin tone or color. This is obviously terrible because there are so many different humans that someone like that is just missing out on interacting with and talking to and possibly learning something from. I love speaking to anyone I can about anything I can because I always like to hear new ideas and hear different ideas from mine so that I can learn from them and myself about how to be a better person. I think its very important for people to speak with each other and treat others with respect no matter what a person’s beliefs, their race, their sex, any of that. Today the country is so extremely divided that it’s really sad and makes me very upset. No matter where you are on the political spectrum you must agree that the country being so divided doesn’t help anyone, and only makes it worse for everyone. I think we all need to start treating people with respect and actually listen to them and their ideas no matter how ridiculous(Ruth Bader Gunsburgs were ridiculous to some people during that time), and maybe provide ways they can improve in a respectful manner. Equal Rights legislation has made it so that people can be in the career and industry that they want to be in. Of course theres still some way to go in terms of pay gaps and sexual harassment in the workplace and things like that but those are also very complicated problems that we need deal with reasonably. I thought It was really powerful when in the last part of the court case when Ruth Bader Ginsburg said “100 years ago, I would not have the right to stand before you”. That’s just crazy, I couldn’t even imagine myself being a lawyer, it’s just something that I wouldn’t be good at, I’m a terrible debater and even worse when there is someone debating against me and proving me wrong, but I still have the choice. If I wanted to I could start law school today and work really hard to become a lawyer, and that’s the point. People should just be able to choose what they want to do, if a man wants to become a nurse, let him. If a woman wants to fight for her country just like thousands of men before her, she should be able to do that. Luckily today we have those options, men can be in traditionally women dominated fields and vice versa. I think all it does is give us better doctors, soldiers, lawyers, engineers, nurses, scientists.  Wouldn’t someone do their job better if they actually enjoyed what they were doing and wanted to do it. We all need to start treating each other with respect and love and not hate or anger.

For this assignment, I interviewed my grandmother. Her name is Rebecca Bibby and she was born in 1924. (All answers are typed out in full sentences and translated from any slang or shorthand that she used)

Q: How old were you when you joined the workforce and what was your job?

A: I really started working as a child. I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. It was normal for children to start working little jobs at about 10 or 11. I would have a lot of different jobs. My uncle had a farm, so I would be in charge of picking the crops like collard greens and yams. We were a poor sharing community, so whatever one person didn’t make or grow was given to them by the next house and so on. My uncle put me in charge of delivering yams and greens to other houses and bringing back sugar or flour or something. When I was 14, I got a job washing dishes at a diner in town. My uncle sent me to New York to live with my daddy when I was 16 and I worked at his car shop when I got here.

Q: What was it like when you started working?

A: For a long time, I didn’t get paid because it was my daddy’s shop. It was more like me working off my room and board. When I got older, he gave me a few dollars here and there. Eventually, I ended up getting married and became a homemaker until my husband and I ended up separating. Then, I had to get a real job to survive.

Q: What was your first official job?

A: My first job was in 1971 at Berkshire Fashions boxing handkerchiefs. I got the job through one of my friends, Janice Lieberman. She was the secretary. I told her that I was looking for a job because Joe and I had separated and she asked her boss to hire me. Eventually, I started doing some bookkeeping and once my bosses found out that I was good at it, they made that my official job.

Q: Do you feel there was a pay gap between the women and the men in the company?

A: At that time, we weren’t concerned with a pay gap. And it wasn’t so much a pay gap. Men and women, at least in Berkshire, didn’t even have the same jobs. The women were secretaries and did clerical stuff, where the men were in high management positions. We didn’t think anything of it. We were just happy to have jobs that paid us.

Q: How did this affect you?

A: I don’t think that it really did. Like I said, I was just happy to have a job. You have to understand that it was hard enough for a woman to get a job that wasn’t cleaning up after someone or minding someone’s child at those times…let alone any job that wasn’t off the books. But for a BLACK woman, it was even harder. This around the time we were still fighting for civil rights. White women didn’t have the same difficulty finding work. We didn’t care about being treated differently because we were women. We weren’t being discriminated against or shrugged off because of our gender. It was the color of our skin. So I was lucky to work for a white man who wasn’t racist toward me. That was what I cared about.

Q: How do you feel that the workforce is different for women today?

A: From what I can tell, women have it a lot better these days. They can hold high positions, get paid a lot more, and even own companies. Am I saying that everything is fair between men and women? No. You can’t unteach the way people are programmed to look at one anther. Women may never get to be equal to men. But they have it better now. We have a woman as a Vice President for God’s sake. I just hope that men stop seeing women as inferior playthings and take them more seriously.

Natalie Khan

BUS 311

Professor Buckler


Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a pioneer in changing the way the government views gender roles. She helped pave the way for all genders to have equal representation. RBG set precedence in her role in the Women’s rights movement, LGBTQ’s movements and simply equality for everyone. She dedicated her career to ensuring that disregarded or minority groups received justice and was known for skillfully disagreeing in court. The laws that RBG helped pass were “employers cannot discriminate against employees based on gender or reproductive choices”. As an assistant manager in Starbucks I cannot express the attitude shift and disregard for me when I announced my pregnancy to my manager. This is still an ongoing issue in the workforce because family planning is something that should not concern an employer. I was even told to consider a demotion if I could not manage the job duties. I presented this issue to the HR department and made my manager aware that I was knowledgeable on the policies of working while pregnant as it states in the department of labor flyer in the backroom office.  Another important law she helped pass was “women have the right to financial independence and equal benefits”. As a woman it is very disheartening to work the same role for less income because of who I am and not what I know. I am proud to have lived in an era where women such as RBG have continued to make these strides for us so we can have our rightfully deserved treatment. As a woman I will continue to push through barriers as well.  “Men are entitled to the same caregiving and social security rights as women”. This law helped demolish the idea that only women can be caregivers. Equality for all means we can all do each other’s job and there are no gender specifications excluding anyone from it. She also helped pass the law that women are just as much entitled to occupy a seat on a jury, in 1979 it was still just an option for women to participate in jury duty. It was argued that women have household obligations that exempted them from participation, RBG argued that our participation was just at much our civil duty to comply with as men. I have encountered a handful of unequal treatment due to gender bias and as I have learned to push through those stereotypes by addressing the issues with management. Making my voice heard also helps, and challenging the status quo when necessary.  

Ishraq Uddin

Prof Buckler

BUS 311-1900

The equivalent rights enactment has by and by influenced me on the grounds that without equivalent rights a lady could always be unable to hold a place that should be involved by a man. Without the equivalent rights development, my female relatives couldn’t ever have been permitted to join the military, my cousins couldn’t ever have been permitted to be cops, adjustment officials, legal counselors, specialists, or even train and transport administrators and I would not have been permitted to work in the mail center. The equivalent rights alteration incredibly influenced ladies yet additionally extraordinarily influenced men, it permitted men to have the option to possess places that would have typically be involved by ladies, for example, medical attendants, guardians, instructors, and secretaries. This revision permitted individuals to break the hindrances of sexual orientation jobs and not need to adjust to the methods of society. To believe that the equivalent rights enactment was passed in 1972 is staggering on the grounds that my mom was conceived in 1966 and my father in 1963 so discloses to me that we have made some amazing progress in such a brief time frame. Despite the fact that we have gained incredible ground we actually have far to go. Despite the fact that people are permitted to work in the positions and fields based on their personal preference there are as yet numerous ways people are not equivalent. There are managers who might in any case rather a man in specific situations over ladies and furthermore men are paid discernibly more than ladies. Ladies are paid around 80 pennies to the dollar that their male partner gets. While Equal Rights enactment has influenced blacks generally in a positive way, it has likewise uncovered the difficulties that blacks keep on confronting. Laws can’t fix all cultural issues of imbalance, and this has been exhibited by equivalent rights enactment. The proceeded with fomentation for better, compassionate, and equivalent treatment of blacks by the Black Lives Matter development has picked up footing in light of the acknowledgment that regardless of the numerous bits of enactment pointed toward advancing equivalent rights, equivalent treatment stays subtle for some blacks. The BLM development has assisted with calling to consideration the country and world to the inconsistent treatment of blacks epitomized by foundational segregation of blacks, particularly in the criminal equity framework. In this way, it appears to me like the holes in the Equal Rights enactment have given the BLM development legitimate motivation to build and enhance their message of segregation of blacks in the US. As it were, the message of the BLM has picked up authenticity, wide acknowledgment, and backing since it tends to appropriate issues uncovered by the Equal Rights enactment. The BLM’s message has served to conscientize the American culture that in spite of the best endeavors and validity of the Equal Rights enactment, the enactment as at present confined is unequipped for tending to the issues of the blacks. The Equal Rights enactment is pretty much the ethical banner and reference point for the BLM’s message and objectives. Without the difficulties in the Equal Rights enactment, either in its surrounding or usage or scarcity in that department, the complaints and message of the BLM would be less engaging and truly flattened.

The plan on Equal Rights has discovered help in the legal executive, and the Supreme Court is one of the establishments that have formed the discussion from the decisions on different issues addressing correspondence. Equity Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been at the cutting edge of the balance plan. Equity Ginsburg has been a dissident for ladies’ equity and equity inside and outside the Supreme Court. Outside the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg keeps on being a voice on the side of ladies’ uniformity calling for enactment to embed this proviso in the US constitution. Ginsburg has been vocal in requiring the sanction of the Equal Rights Amendment. She is the most productive women’s activist equity in the nation’s history, and her perspectives have driven her to make decisions and issue decisions that have made the general public think all the more critically and truly about equity and equivalent rights. Her decisions have ensured minority rights and conveyed equity to the underestimated and down-trodden gatherings. Her thoughts and decisions have tested our presumptions about equity and correspondence and pricked public cognizance, and in particular, incited activity. She has driven the way and is a good and thought pioneer on these issues. The development for fairness and equity is more improved, centered, and revitalized in view of her motivation, activism, and administration.

This is the motivation behind why equivalent rights enactment is so significant in light of the fact that I trust that when it’s the ideal opportunity for my girl into the workforce that she would have the option to receive the rewards of this demonstration. I would trust that she will have similar open doors as any man and will be repaid similarly a similar way I would trust the equivalent would occur for my nephews and cousins. This is additionally why Ruth Bade Ginsberg is significant in light of the fact that she has consistently utilized her foundation to advance equivalent open door for everybody. She keeps on staying the course and keeps on helping change the laws the reason detachment and division in the United States of America. Ruth Bader Ginsberg gives trust that we as a nation is moving the correct way and I trust that the cutting edge will proceed in her strides to help advance change and correspondence in America.

Itza Garzon                                                                      Prof Brielle Buckler

Bus 311-1900

Equal Opportunity and The Law

After watching the Film and our lecture one thing really stands out to me and that is that although we have come a long way, we still have so much more work to do. Ruth Ginsburg from the film On the Basis of Sex really stood out to me, for many reasons she reminds me a lot of myself or at least the type of woman I want to be. When asked in the beginning of the film why she is the place of where a man could be, she mocks the dean and that made me go wow! The other woman were trying to say the perfect thing however she knew nothing would be good enough for him. She did not want to be your “normal” woman who was supposed to stay home and cook and clean and be the caregiver to her husband and child and she made that very clear from the start.

Being a woman is already hard as it is, now being a woman in a place where your male counterpart is more dominant well that just makes it that much harder. While it was hard, she continuously challenged her male classmates and higher ups knowing that not many would take her serious because she was in a male dominated industry. She pushed and strived overcame the obstacles along the way but made her voice be heard. It is hard to not give up when you aren’t taken seriously but she did not let that get the better of her .

I’m sure at one point or another we have all felt some sort of discrimination just because we are women, now this is not to say that men don’t go through it as well but it is less likely. As I stated before we still have such a long way to go. As a woman sometimes we have to think a little more about what we wear not because of the appearance but because of what others may portray by it. What do I mean by this, well its simple Women till this day are still being sexualized, not only in the workplace but out in the street, in school etc. There are many more policies in place for sure especially in the workplace such as dress code , and hotlines you can call if you feel unsafe but just the fact that there has to be a specific dress code so that a woman doesn’t get sexualized is mind boggling to me. No one should feel like they can’t wear something because it may cause someone to do something. Employees should feel safe in their work environment .

Equal Pay is another part of Gender Equality and where we are at now , although women are still only making 70% of what men make we’ve come far. As a woman to me this is something that we need to continue to work on. A woman can do the same job that a man can and to think that we are getting paid less for putting just as much effort if not more than a man is and should be upsetting.

Our system needs to continue to be worked on, however what Ruth did has shaped and continues to shape the Equal Gender legislation. For a woman to be able to work in a place where 100 years ago we would’ve been frown upon is a big step in the right direction. She paved the way to a better future for women, Minorities, our future children. All in all what she set herself to do was accomplished and that is open the door for a future where both men and women can be seen as equals.

May Cortez-Beatty

Professor Buckler

BUS 311-1900

September 4th, 2020

Equal Employment & The law

Equality in the USA has been a challenge over the years and has affected women in most sectors where they areconsidered to have fewer rights than their male counterparts. For instant, tenants have been evicted from their homes andemployees fired from their jobs. Equality rights have to strengthen civil rights and be effected in two ways. First, the bill has to expand civil rights protection and protect them from sexual discrimination in public places such as transport services, places that sell goods and services, and entertainment avenues. Secondly, it has to clarify that federal sex discrimination laws are prohibited based on sexual orientation, stereotypes, gender identity, sex characteristics, and pregnancy (Siegel, and Reva, 772). This avenue calls for legislation to ensure all have equal rights. Therefore, equal rights legislation needs to address the US and protect vulnerable people’s lives in society. Also, the discrimination over the female being perceived as the less fortunate in the society, especially in the workplace, has been on the spot. Many organizations need to increase measures to ensure that job seekers have equal employment rights, and the employees are protected from sexual discrimination (Gitman).

As the country continues to fight for equal rights and employment, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s works continue to pave the way for equality and justice across all corridors. As a graduate from the law school from Harvard, she faced sexual discrimination challenges in securing a job (Merritt, and David, 39). In the 1970s, she argued over six cases on gender equality before the US Supreme Court as a director under ACLU(Williams, 41; Campbell, 157). Also, she fostered equal rights and won five cases based on the Social Security Act in which the widowers were not favored. As a judge in the Supreme Court, she continued to present a strong voice for workers’ rights and gender equality (Merritt, 639). For that reason, she won an award in 1999 for contributions to civil rights and gender equality. Thus, her work is recognized and continues to pave the way for gender equality to reduce employment and general society’s discrepancies.

Works

Campbell, Amy Leigh. “Raising the Bar: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the ACLU Women’s Rights Project.” Tex. J. Women & L. 11 (2001): 157.

Gitman, Lawrence J., et al. “Employee Selection.” Introduction to Business (2018).

Merritt, Deborah Jones, and David M. Lieberman. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Jurisprudence of Opportunity and Equality.” Colum. L. Rev. 104 (2004): 39.

Merritt, Deborah Jones. “Hearing the Voices of Individual Women and Men: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” U. Haw. L. Rev. 20 (1998): 635.

Siegel, Neil S., and Reva B. Siegel. “Struck by stereotype: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on pregnancy discrimination as sex discrimination.” Duke Law Journal 59.4 (2010): 771-798.

Williams, Wendy W. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Equal Protection Clause: 1970-80.” Colum. J. Gender & L. 25 (2013): 41.

Angelica R Solis

BUS 311-1900

September 6, 2020

Equal Employment and The Law

The true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the movie “on the basis of sex” was a very inspiring film. This film showed the struggles of being a woman in the 1960s and how Ruth Ginsburg who is the main character in this film fought for equal rights. Ruth’s first encounter of discrimination came when she was in college. She was attending Harvard Law School when her husband receives the news of a new job offer. She would have to move from Massachusetts to New York, but Ruth wanted to finish her law degree at Harvard. Ruth knew that the dean of the school made accommodations to previous male students in the past and asked if she could continue her studies long distance. The dean refused her request and she made the decision to attend Columbia instead. This showed Ruth how males and females are treated differently, males having more of the upper hand than women.

Through the years she would experience many examples of gender discrimination. Ruth is determined to take a stand and change the way the world views male and female roles. Through the film Ruth challenges her male peers and does not back down. She makes sure she is being heard and that more importantly that the world recognizes that gender discrimination exists.

From 1964 to 1991, many legislation laws have been passed to ed inequality in the workplace. Many efforts have been made from then and we are still battling the equality fight. Many changes were made, and we continue to speak up, but the fact remains that discrimination still exists. We see that today every organization has their policies printed and in bold on Equal Opportunity. When we apply for jobs, we are always prompted to read these policies and to agree that we understand that the company does not discriminate and offers equal opportunities to all.

Ruth has become a huge inspiration and has paved the way for many of us woman to demand for equality and to fight against gender discrimination. Ruth started the women’s branch of the ACLU to protect woman and has successfully tackled laws that treated women as second-class citizens.

Heaven Jarrett

Prof. B.Buckler

Fall Semester 2020

09-04-2020

Equal Rights

There have been many legislative efforts in United States history on the question of equal rights. Equal Rights legislation has been pursued in response to societal problems whereby some groups in the society have been treated in a discriminatory manner. Therefore, any successful Equal Rights laws have been a win for hitherto marginalized or discriminated groups. Blacks are arguably the group that has gained most from Equal Rights legislation. For example, the 1964 Civil Rights gave blacks equal voting rights (Jones-Eversley et al. 2017). Coming at the backdrop of the civil rights movement and agitation, it was the boldest and consequential legislation for blacks as it banned discrimination based on race and therefore put to an end racial segregation in schools, workplaces, and other public places (Jones-Eversley et al.,. 2017).

While Equal Rights legislation has affected blacks largely in a positive manner, it has also exposed the challenges that blacks continue to face. Laws cannot fix all societal problems of inequality, and this has been demonstrated by equal rights legislation. The continued agitation for better, humane, and equal treatment of blacks by the Black Lives Matter movement has gained traction because of the realization that despite the many pieces of legislation aimed at promoting equal rights, equal treatment remains elusive for many blacks. The BLM movement has helped to call to attention the nation and world to the unequal treatment of blacks typified by systemic discrimination of blacks, especially in the criminal justice system. Therefore, it appears to me like the gaps in the Equal Rights legislation have given the BLM movement valid reason to construct and amplify their message of discrimination of blacks in the US. In other words, the message of the BLM has gained legitimacy, wide acceptance, and support because it addresses pertinent issues exposed by the Equal Rights legislation. The BLM’s message has served to conscientize the American society that despite the best efforts and genuineness of the Equal Rights legislation, the legislation as currently framed is incapable of addressing the problems of the blacks. The Equal Rights legislation is more or less the moral poster and reference point for the BLM’s message and goals. Without the challenges in the Equal Rights legislation, either in its framing or implementation or lack thereof, the grievances and message of the BLM would be less appealing and seriously deflated.

The agenda on Equal Rights has found support in the judiciary, and the Supreme Court is one of the institutions that have shaped the conversation from the judgments on various issues touching on equality. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been at the forefront of the equality agenda. Justice Ginsburg has been an activist for women’s equality and justice within and outside the Supreme Court. Outside the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg continues to be a voice in support of women’s equality calling for legislation to insert this clause in the US constitution (ACLA, n.d). Ginsburg has been very vocal in calling for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ACLA, n.d). She is the most prolific feminist justice in the country’s history, and her views have led her to make judgments and issue rulings that have caused the society to think more urgently and seriously about justice and equal rights (ACLA, n.d). Her rulings have protected minority rights and delivered justice to the marginalized and down-trodden groups. Her ideas and rulings have challenged our assumptions about justice and equality and pricked national consciousness, and most importantly, prompted action. She has led the way and is a moral and thought leader on these issues. The movement for equality and justice is more enriched, focused, and reinvigorated because of her inspiration, activism, and leadership.

References

ACLA (n.d). TRIBUTE: THE LEGACY OF RUTH BADER GINSBURG AND WRP STAFF

Jones-Eversley, S., Adedoyin, A. C., Robinson, M. A., & Moore, S. E. (2017). Protesting Black inequality: A commentary on the civil rights movement and Black lives matter. Journal of Community Practice, 25(3-4), 309-324