Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the FEHA prohibit sex discrimination in employment. This simply states that sex or gender discrimination is treating an employee or employees differently because of their gender. Whenever this discrimination affects the "terms or conditions of employment", it is illegal. This paper will briefly discuss the boundaries of sexual or gender discrimination and how careful employees and employers must communicate and act during work hours as well as outside of work.
Gender discrimination began to surface during World War II mainly because women were brought into the workplace out of necessity. They were given traditional male jobs and performed well. Ever since, they have been trying to maintain their validity in the workforce. The percentage of female employed before that time was not high at all. World War II has been considered the starting point of women being a real part of the workforce and has made tremendous strides in the past thirty or more years since.
Gender discrimination covers both males and females, but due to the history of gender a the workplace in this country, females are the ones that fall victim to gender discrimination and most EEOC gender claims are filed by females.
Nearly half of the workforce is female employees and from that number, eighty percent of these females are employed as "traditional female" jobs that pay considerably less than "traditionally male" jobs. Women earn about $6,259 less per year than their male counterparts in male-dominated fields (Bennett-Alexander and Harman, 2001). There is even a bigger difference in pay for black females, which average about two hundred dollars less a week.
In the executive field, the segregation of both race and gender has skyrocketed. Surveys have found that race and gender is very prevalent in top executive and management levels of top rated companies and firms throught the United States.