Discrimination
Content
EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION -Case Presentation-
Discrimination at workplace can occur in different ways. Previously, discrimination at workplace was heard based on the grounds of race or gender. These are quite prevalent even today as some men do not like the idea of having a woman boss or should not be a part of a team comprising of men, since their ego gets hurt in the process. In March 1970, 46 NEWSWEEK employees became the first group of media women to sue for employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Newsweek published a cover story about the new militant feminism that was roiling the country titled “Women in Revolt” in March 1970 and became the first newsmagazine to do so. Ironically, it was also the first to have a gender discrimination lawsuit filed against it. That same month forty-six women at Newsweek filed a complaint with the EEOC claiming discrimination. In 1970 women were smart accessories in the male-dominated world of journalism. While male Harvard graduates got plum internships and overseas assignments, women were relegated to the mail room and fact-checking. There were three levels – editor, writer, researcher. Researcher was the bottom of the barrel. Of the more than 50 writers who carried bylines at the New York-based publication, only one was a woman. Newsweek employed several women as researchers, but never promoted them any higher. When they filed their legal complaint, the bottom tiers of the NEWSWEEK masthead were filled almost exclusively by women. The “Newsweek women” were an archetype: independent, determined young graduates of Seven Sisters college, full of aspiration ambition. Yet they were told in job interviews that women could never get to the top, or even the middle. They accepted positions anyway—sorting mail, collecting newspaper clippings, delivering coffee. Clad in short skirts and dark-rimmed glasses, they'd click around in heels, currying favor with the all-male management, smiling softly when the bosses called them "dollies." That's just the way the world worked then. Though each quietly believed she'd be the one to break through, ambition, in any real sense, wasn't something a woman could talk about out loud. They began meeting in secret, whispering in the ladies' room or huddling around a colleague's desk. For a year, the "dollies" in the news weekly's research 1
department, smart and savvy graduates of the nation's finest colleges, had secretly plotted in the ladies' room to challenge the "gentleman's agreement" that women don't write. To talk freely they'd head to the Women's Exchange, a 19th-century relic where they could chat discreetly on their lunch break. At first there were just three, then nine, then ultimately 46—women who would become the first group of media professionals to sue for employment discrimination based on gender under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act requires that employers provide each employee a working environment free of harassment based on their race, color, sex, religion or national origin. And they were all agitating for a chance to write, and the gender boundaries were so strict then that the answer was "No" until they did get a lawyer. After an attorney friend advised that they had a case, the women approached numerous civil rights lawyers, only to be told they were "crazy". But they finally found a lawyer, a young legal associate from the ACLU, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who later went on to head up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and who today represents the District of Columbia in Congress. In March 1970, NEWSWEEK's all-male management decided to put feminism on their cover. They looked past the legions of NEWSWEEK women and went outside the building for a writer, to the wife of one of Newsweek’s writers, whom they would ultimately describe, in an editor's note, as "a top-flight journalist who is also a woman." It was the final straw. The night before the issue hit newsstands, the NEWSWEEK women sent a memo announcing a press conference. Then on Monday, March 16, 1970, the NEWSWEEK women did what journalists do best: they took their story public. Crowded into a makeshift conference room at the ACLU, NEWSWEEK's "news hens" (as a local tabloid called them) held up a copy of their magazine, whose bright yellow cover told their own story: "Women in Revolt." Male editors were taken by surprise as 46 female staffers signed the first gender discrimination complaint against an employer, charging that the magazine had violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Katherine Graham, who headed the magazine then--Washington Post owns Newsweek—when she was told of the lawsuit she said, "Which side am I supposed to be on?" as she was a woman and she was management. When then-editor of Newsweek saw Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was then pregnant with her first child—she happens to be African American—she was surrounded by the women of Newsweek, who for the most part were the daughters of well-connected, mostly Republican politicians and businessmen. And of course
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Nora Ephron's parents were Broadway playwrights. He thought to himself, maybe we'd better settle out of court. The complaint was eventually resolved by promising to hire more women as writers and promote more to editor’s positions. The press charger agreed not to press legal action if Newsweek were to immediately set goals and timetables to fully integrate women. Newsweek created internships for women at the magazine and a system of affirmative action goals and a timetable to allow women already at the magazine to become reporters. The women of NEWSWEEK thought, or hoped, they'd begun to solve these problems. Time, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and a number of other publications would follow. Just two days after they filed their complaint, the women at Ladies Home Journal staged a sit-in and other actions followed. It was only the beginning of a list of changes regarding the status of women at workplace. Even if in our days sexual discrimination at workplace tacitly accepted as it used to be, unfortunately from time to time there are new cases coming to our attention. In most of the countries, as well as in Romania, there are special laws against sexual discrimination, in this way harassment cases can be easier overcame.
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Discrimination at workplace can occur in different ways. Previously, discrimination at workplace was heard based on the grounds of race or gender. These are quite prevalent even today as some men do not like the idea of having a woman boss or should not be a part of a team comprising of men, since their ego gets hurt in the process. In March 1970, 46 NEWSWEEK employees became the first group of media women to sue for employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Newsweek published a cover story about the new militant feminism that was roiling the country titled “Women in Revolt” in March 1970 and became the first newsmagazine to do so. Ironically, it was also the first to have a gender discrimination lawsuit filed against it. That same month forty-six women at Newsweek filed a complaint with the EEOC claiming discrimination. In 1970 women were smart accessories in the male-dominated world of journalism. While male Harvard graduates got plum internships and overseas assignments, women were relegated to the mail room and fact-checking. There were three levels – editor, writer, researcher. Researcher was the bottom of the barrel. Of the more than 50 writers who carried bylines at the New York-based publication, only one was a woman. Newsweek employed several women as researchers, but never promoted them any higher. When they filed their legal complaint, the bottom tiers of the NEWSWEEK masthead were filled almost exclusively by women. The “Newsweek women” were an archetype: independent, determined young graduates of Seven Sisters college, full of aspiration ambition. Yet they were told in job interviews that women could never get to the top, or even the middle. They accepted positions anyway—sorting mail, collecting newspaper clippings, delivering coffee. Clad in short skirts and dark-rimmed glasses, they'd click around in heels, currying favor with the all-male management, smiling softly when the bosses called them "dollies." That's just the way the world worked then. Though each quietly believed she'd be the one to break through, ambition, in any real sense, wasn't something a woman could talk about out loud. They began meeting in secret, whispering in the ladies' room or huddling around a colleague's desk. For a year, the "dollies" in the news weekly's research 1
department, smart and savvy graduates of the nation's finest colleges, had secretly plotted in the ladies' room to challenge the "gentleman's agreement" that women don't write. To talk freely they'd head to the Women's Exchange, a 19th-century relic where they could chat discreetly on their lunch break. At first there were just three, then nine, then ultimately 46—women who would become the first group of media professionals to sue for employment discrimination based on gender under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act requires that employers provide each employee a working environment free of harassment based on their race, color, sex, religion or national origin. And they were all agitating for a chance to write, and the gender boundaries were so strict then that the answer was "No" until they did get a lawyer. After an attorney friend advised that they had a case, the women approached numerous civil rights lawyers, only to be told they were "crazy". But they finally found a lawyer, a young legal associate from the ACLU, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who later went on to head up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and who today represents the District of Columbia in Congress. In March 1970, NEWSWEEK's all-male management decided to put feminism on their cover. They looked past the legions of NEWSWEEK women and went outside the building for a writer, to the wife of one of Newsweek’s writers, whom they would ultimately describe, in an editor's note, as "a top-flight journalist who is also a woman." It was the final straw. The night before the issue hit newsstands, the NEWSWEEK women sent a memo announcing a press conference. Then on Monday, March 16, 1970, the NEWSWEEK women did what journalists do best: they took their story public. Crowded into a makeshift conference room at the ACLU, NEWSWEEK's "news hens" (as a local tabloid called them) held up a copy of their magazine, whose bright yellow cover told their own story: "Women in Revolt." Male editors were taken by surprise as 46 female staffers signed the first gender discrimination complaint against an employer, charging that the magazine had violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Katherine Graham, who headed the magazine then--Washington Post owns Newsweek—when she was told of the lawsuit she said, "Which side am I supposed to be on?" as she was a woman and she was management. When then-editor of Newsweek saw Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was then pregnant with her first child—she happens to be African American—she was surrounded by the women of Newsweek, who for the most part were the daughters of well-connected, mostly Republican politicians and businessmen. And of course
2
Nora Ephron's parents were Broadway playwrights. He thought to himself, maybe we'd better settle out of court. The complaint was eventually resolved by promising to hire more women as writers and promote more to editor’s positions. The press charger agreed not to press legal action if Newsweek were to immediately set goals and timetables to fully integrate women. Newsweek created internships for women at the magazine and a system of affirmative action goals and a timetable to allow women already at the magazine to become reporters. The women of NEWSWEEK thought, or hoped, they'd begun to solve these problems. Time, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and a number of other publications would follow. Just two days after they filed their complaint, the women at Ladies Home Journal staged a sit-in and other actions followed. It was only the beginning of a list of changes regarding the status of women at workplace. Even if in our days sexual discrimination at workplace tacitly accepted as it used to be, unfortunately from time to time there are new cases coming to our attention. In most of the countries, as well as in Romania, there are special laws against sexual discrimination, in this way harassment cases can be easier overcame.
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