Gender Discrimination

Women obtained the right to vote through the establishment of the Nineteenth
Amendment. However, the Nineteenth Amendment did not provide the constitutional protection
against the Fourteenth Amendment which stated that it was unconstitutional to treat a person
differently on account of race, but not gender (Barbour & Wright, 2015, pg. 170). As a result,
women continue to face discrimination in the workplace, upper level corporate management and
academic administration, and in politics regardless of obtaining formal equality (Barbour &
Wright, 2015, pg. 171).
Gender discrimination present in the workplace include lower wages. Women earn
seventy-seven cents for every dollar earned by men (Barbour & Wright, 2015, pg. 171).
Solutions to this form of discrimination upon women are limited by laws and therefore suggest
women merely accept this overlooked inequality. Not only are women grossly unpaid, but they
are also underrepresented in categories of corporal management and academic administration.
While many argue that this discrepancy is due to the interruptions of maternity leave, others have
proved the theory of the glass ceiling. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 established the glass
ceiling which observed businesses depriving women of leadership positions by denying
applicants based on gender (Barbour & Wright, 2015, pg. 171). In addition to women being
underrepresented in the work and school environments, women also face discrimination in
politics. Without a womans voice in the government, many female citizens face dangers. For
example, political disputes over issues like whether or not all women should be provided with
protection services against domestic violence, should women have access to all forms of birth
control, should women be allowed to sue the workplace for discrimination are all controversial

topics that need the influential perspective of a woman. If female citizens did not have a voice in
the government, would women live in a mans world?
I went to a small private school throughout the grades of 7th-11th. I was interested in sports
and was devastated when the softball program was cancelled due to a lack of players. As a result,
I sought a position of the boys baseball team. However, the coach was very clear that girls were
not allowed on the team due to the issues of sexual orientation. I was aware that challenges were
present; for example, the boys locker room, mistreatment of other players, and being the
minority. However, due to the fact that the softball team was cancelled, I felt that I had the right
to play on the baseball team. This scenario can be associated with gender discrimination. There
were solutions to the problematic concerns of being a female. For example, most schools have
both softball and baseball games occurring at the same time, therefor separate locker rooms are
available. In addition, I was determined to earn my spot on the team alike every other player and
did not expect favoring treatment. During younger elementary ages coed sports are common and
are not frowned upon. However, as boys and girls enter into middle school and mature into high
school such idea of coed anything is often deemed as inappropriate, especially in the eyes of
republican traditional values. The end result of my form of gender discrimination was vague. I
was left with the answer that certain school policies denied girls the opportunity to be players on
an all-male team. Alike the laws that limited the solutions women could seek to end
discrimination, school policy became my law that denied me further action. As a woman I am
formally equal to a man, however such equality is overlooked, limited, and discriminatory.

References
Barbour, C. & Wright, G. C. (2015). Keeping the republic: Power and citizenship in American
politics. CQ Press.
Barbour, C., & Wright, G. C. (2015). Rights denied on the basis of gender: Gender
discrimination today. In Keeping the republic (Sixth brief ed., Vol. 6, pp. 165-173). CQ Press.