WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Gender inequality continues to be a worldwide
issue that women face daily in many aspects of their life. More recently seen
is the Hobby Lobby case, where women’s reproductive rights were dismissed over the
religious rights of companies. On June 30, the Hobby Lobby case ruled “that the owners of
closely-held, profit-making corporations cannot be forced under the Affordable Care Act to provide their employees with certain kinds of
contraceptives that offend their religious beliefs.”
Many have fought that the outcome of this
case is further discrimination on the basis of gender and a violation of women’s rights. Laws
continue to regard women and girls as second class citizens.
Below is a list of U.S. Supreme Court
cases involving gender discrimination and women's rights, including links to
the full text of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
• Cleveland
Bd. of Ed. V. LaFleur (1974)
Found
that Ohio public school mandatory maternity leave rules for pregnant teachers
violate constitutional guarantees of due process.
• Meritor
Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986)
Found
that a claim of "hostile environment" sexual harassment is a form of
sex discrimination that may be brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964.
• Johnson
v. Transportation Agency (1987)
The
Court decides that a county transportation agency appropriately took into
account an employee's sex as one factor in determining whether she should be
promoted.
• Oncale
v. Sundowner Offshore Serv., Inc. (1987)
Held
that sex discrimination consisting of same-sex sexual harassment can form the
basis for a valid claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Franklin
v. Gwinnett County Public Schools (1992)
The
Court decided that an award of money damages is possible in a case brought to
enforce Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, alleging sexual
harassment and abuse by a teacher.
• Faragher
v. City of Boca Raton (1998)
The
Court decides that an employer may be liable for sexual discrimination caused
by a supervisor, but liability depends on the reasonableness of the employer's
conduct, as well as the reasonableness of the plaintiff victim's conduct.
• Davis
v. Monroe County Board of Education (1999)
Held
that a lawsuit under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 may be filed
against a school board based on student-on-student sexual harassment, if the
board is deliberately indifferent to sexual harassment, has actual knowledge of
the harassment, and the harassment is so serious that it deprives the victims
of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school.
The
expected outcome of our effort is to raise awareness of
the Hobby Lobby case and how it impacts women and their reproductive rights,
and to further educate women on how it is contributing to the already prevalent
gender discrimination in our country. We hope that by making women realize that
they continue to be treated unequally in comparison to men, that they will feel compelled to have their
voices heard joining with all women across the country to share with America
all the forms of discrimination they have experienced in their own lives for
being women.
Another
possible outcome is to have women through their discrimination experiences
enforce the ratification of CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination against women) which most other countries have ratified to
protect women’s rights. However, the US decided against it
explaining their concern that CEDAW would challenge the current laws and
culture of the U.S placing women’s rights in the hands of the CEDAW committee
which is composed of 23 people (Lowen, n.d.). Raising awareness and knowledge
about the CEDAW and having the US ratify this treaty would ensure equality and
reduce discrimination against women. It would aim to address issues such as sex
trafficking, domestic violence, provide access to education and vocational
training, ensure the right to vote, end forced marriages and child marriages
and provide access to health care services, and ensure the right to work and
own a business without discrimination.
We
want to create a virtual community where we can raise awareness and educate
women on current gender discrimination issues, such as the Hobby Lobby case,
and create a space where they will have an opportunity to share their
discrimination experiences in their own lives. We will do this by establishing
an online message board, with the purpose of uniting women across the country
to have them fight for women’s rights in a joined effort with the hope of
pushing for the ratification of CEDAW to ensure and protect women’s rights in this
country.
Due to the advances in technology,
we hope to reach as many women as possible. An online message board will
certainly allow us to accommodate an infinite amount of users. Creating a
virtual community will also facilitate participation, since it is managed at
the convenience of the user. We
intend to use the internet to form a virtual community through an online
message board. We will attempt to reach out to as many women as possible by
advertising about the message board on social networks, through ads that share
brief stories of women who have experienced discrimination, hopefully sparking
the interest of women with common experiences. The idea is for women to access
the message board, read other women’s stories, raise awareness and educate them on
current gender discrimination issues. We would also want them to subscribe to
the board so they can get weekly updates on current issues, and what they can
do to make a difference.
