Feminism and Other Discrimination - "Are we past feminism?"

[Maniclysane]

I take back my statement about agreeing. None of those sources had much to them, except the payment of women. They never specified what jobs or what sources those were from. For all you know, I could of written that.

Not on the receiving end? What? You don't even know if I am a girl, or if I'm black, or if I'm Muslim, or if I'm any gender or minority. I have been on the receiving end of injustices, that are looked over because of my gender. I have been on the receiving end of injustices, because of my race, and I have been on the receiving end of injustices because of my religion. The differences between genders are so miniscule.

Saying women are treated unfairly are just gender johns.

 

[Narukari]

Let me bring up something new to the discussion about feminism.

My family runs a local business, so I've grown up around hard business. Since we are relativly small, we only need to hire three other employees to keep the place open the whole week. I took a class on women's studies and as part of that went to my grandpa and asked him about sexism in hiring practices. He told me that he would hire a man over a woman if he ever had to make the choice.

The reason isn't that the man would be more capable for the job than the woman, it's the fact that the law makes hiring a woman much more riskier than hiring a man. If a female employee ever got pregnant, she would get paid vacation for the duration of the pregnancy. While getting paid vacation for being pregnant seemed completely reasonable to my woman's studies class, I understood how devestating that would be for a small business. You would lose an employee while still having to pay the employee's wages.

I believe feminism needs to take a step back from passing "equal rights" laws. They simply are not helping in the way that they want.

 

[Aorist]

Not on the receiving end? What? You don't even know if I am a girl, or if I'm black, or if I'm Muslim, or if I'm any gender or minority. I have been on the receiving end of injustices, that are looked over because of my gender. I have been on the receiving end of injustices, because of my race, and I have been on the receiving end of injustices because of my religion. The differences between genders are so miniscule.

Girls don't have to pay tickets for a movie, they can wear jeans, they be hookers. We can't.

That was my fault. I thought the topic was about giving women more equal rights, even though they have the same rights.

(Bolding added) ...Sorry, what were you saying about possibly being a girl?

It is indeed possible (and indeed fairly certain now that you've stated it) that you're discriminated against because of your race and religion.* That sucks. Racism and religious discrimination are both terrible issues that should also be addressed. But just because you are suffering some injustices doesn't mean you have instant empathy with other people and their injustices.

I take back my statement about agreeing. None of those sources had much to them, except the payment of women. They never specified what jobs or what sources those were from. For all you know, I could have written that.

Go on, back that claim up. The one on **** was from the UCSC, sourcing a variety of respectable places - the pertinent one being the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The second one was admittedly from Wikipedia, but also sourced the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The third from a study by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. The fourth links to several informative pages on the topic, and cites published books. The last again cites a scientific study.

The study linked (broken, but I found the pdf after about 5 seconds here http://www.aauw.org/research/upload/behindPayGap.pdf ) goes into great depth on the variety of jobs and such.

The reason isn't that the man would be more capable for the job than the woman, it's the fact that the law makes hiring a woman much more riskier than hiring a man. If a female employee ever got pregnant, she would get paid vacation for the duration of the pregnancy. While getting paid vacation for being pregnant seemed completely reasonable to my woman's studies class, I understood how devestating that would be for a small business. You would lose an employee while still having to pay the employee's wages.

I am not well-informed on this issue. However, I would like to note several things.

1) In The USA, maternity leave is not compulsorily paid.
2) It doesn't go for the entirety of the pregnancy. In any job that isn't physically strenuous, a women could work at least until the third trimester, and perhaps longer depending on the woman.
3) Post-pregnancy, the parental leave is equal for both genders.

I would imagine that the paid pregnancy leave would only be feasible in larger companies, which still do not have to supply it. If they did supply it, it would be intentional, as a way of attracting female workers.

*Fun fact - Atheists are the most discriminated against "religious" group.
http://atheism.about.com/od/atheistbigotryprejudice/a/AtheistSurveys.htm
and
"Atheists as 'Other': Moral Boundaries and Cultural Membership in American Society." American Sociological Review. 2006 Vol. 71 (April 211-234).