Sex or gender discrimination is treating individuals differently in their employment specifically because an individual is a woman or a man. If you have been rejected for employment, fired, or otherwise harmed in employment because of your sex or gender, then you may have suffered sex or gender discrimination.
In everyday language as well as in the law, the terms “gender” and “sex” are used interchangeably, but the two terms have different meanings. The term “sex” refers to a person’s biological or anatomical identity as male or female, while the term “gender” refers to the characteristics that are culturally associated with maleness or femaleness. Workplace discrimination is illegal regardless of whether it is based on sex, or gender, or both sex and gender.
Here are some scenarios of potentially unlawful sex/gender discrimination that women, for example, may face:
–Hiring/Firing/Promotions:You apply for a job for which you have experience and excellent qualifications, but you are not hired because some of the company’s long-time clients are more comfortable dealing with men. You are told that you are laid off due to company cutbacks and reorganization, while men in the same job and with less seniority than you keep their jobs. You have worked for your company for several years, receiving exemplary reviews, yet each time you have applied for promotions, the positions you applied for are filled by less qualified men.
-Pay:You worked your way up from the position of cook’s helper to chef. A male chef with similar training and work experience was recently hired, and you find out that he will be paid more than you.
-Job Classification:You work at a company for four years and put in many hours of overtime. After you return from having a baby, you tell your employer that you will not be able to put in as many hours of overtime. Your position is then changed to a lower level and you get less pay, while male coworkers in similar positions are allowed to cut back their overtime hours for personal reasons without any changes to their positions or pay.
-Benefits: Your company’s health insurance policy does not cover your spouse, because it is assumed that he will have his own benefits, while your male co-workers have their wives covered by the same policy.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that protects individuals from discrimination based upon sex. This law makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against individuals because of their sex in hiring, firing, and other terms and conditions of employment, such as promotions, raises, and other job opportunities.
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Courtesy of Workplace Fairness. For more information regarding the article, visit http://www.workplacefairness.org/sexual-gender-discrimination#1
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