What's Sex Got To Do With...WalMart

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WalMart, in the past several years, has had many claims of gender discrimination and a massive gender wage gap from its employees. Now the Supreme Court is hearing the case.

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I think there are sex discriminations in any kind of job because of the differences between women’s and men’s bodies. Although some opinion of these differences are not nature, the differences themselves are nature and inevitable. Due to these differences, there are jobs which suit women better and there are also jobs which suit men better. We have to admit that. Sometimes, for some reasons such as financial problems, men have to do jobs for women or women have to jobs for men. They usually can’t do as well as others. It is common for people to get criticized or be laughed at for failing finishing their work. Why this kind of criticizing would be discrimination if the target is a woman?

I think there are sex discriminations in any kind of job because of the differences between women’s and men’s bodies. Although some opinion of these differences are not nature, the differences themselves are nature and inevitable. Due to these differences, there are jobs which suit women better and there are also jobs which suit men better. We have to admit that. Sometimes, for some reasons such as financial problems, men have to do jobs for women or women have to jobs for men. They usually can’t do as well as others. It is common for people to get criticized or be laughed at for failing finishing their work. Why this kind of criticizing would be discrimination if the target is a woman?

If I understand your comment correctly, I have to respectfully disagree. This specific example is addressing the gender gap in pay and possibility for promotions at the conglomerate Wal-Mart. Women are making significantly less than men for the same jobs and in addition are not given the opportunity to get a higher position. To me this is wrong. Gender should not affect how much one gets paid and should not limit an individual from being promoted. In response to your point "there are jobs which suit women better and there are also jobs which suit men better" I believe that generalizing an entire gender in this way is quite unfair. One thing I thought was interesting that we learned in this class and which I have been thinking a lot about lately is the idea that gender can be seen more as a spectrum rather than a binary (2 explicitly separate and different categories). I think this is important to think about. That both men and women can and do possess what is labeled as “masculine” and “feminine” attributes. By categorizing jobs by gender we are preventing not only opportunities for people but we are also promoting the binary system which restricts people; forcing them to comply to gender roles within the binary system. This specific example I posted I think reiterates the fact that gender has nothing to do with being a manager of Wal-Mart, or a cashier for that matter. That by preventing women the same opportunities men have (in pay and possibilities in promotions) it is discrimination.

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