Gender Equality

Many Women and Transgender Women are Still Harassed and Discriminated Against in the Work Place

We+are+all+equal+no+matter+of+our+gender.+Image+courtesy+of+Google.

We are all equal no matter of our gender. Image courtesy of Google.

Annalyese Richardson, Staff Writer

Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing different behaviors, aspirations and needs equally, regardless of gender.

There has been a history in our culture where men have felt as if women are inferior especially in the workplace.  With this attitude came abuse and sexual harassment. When women reported these incidents, they tended to go unnoticed. Some companies tried to keep the women quiet by paying them off or treating them. Then those women have to live the rest of their lives trying to deal with what happened, while the men get away with it.

Of course much progress has been made, however women still get paid less than men. But not only women are being discriminated against,  many transgender women suffer the same treatment and sometimes its worse.

Many transgender women and even men have been through a whirlwind of discrimination and hatred throughout the years. Fortunately, there have been laws put in place to protect them. According to Aclu.com, states such as California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Nevada, all have such laws. Their protections vary. For example, Nevada’s law bans discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations like restaurants, hospitals, and retail stores; Maine’s law covers those categories plus access to credit and education. The governors of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania have issued executive orders banning discrimination against transgender state workers

We need to start standing up for those who are different from us and letting them know we stand with them. No one should have to live their life in fear and in hiding. The higher women climb in the work world, the harder it is for them to earn what men are paid. Women in professional specialty occupations earn 72.7% of what men in the same position earn.