Gender Race Ethnicity and Class

¶ … England Faces Modern Britain -- From Race and Soccer to Women Bishops and Gay Rights" has been chosen for the discussion on the intersection of gender, race and inequality. The article published in International Herald Tribune by Mark Ashurt is about the various issues which the Modern England is facing. The title itself shows the theme of the article, as the issues of Racism, Gender, and Ethnicity are still existent in the Modern Britain. The first issue concerns the soccer world and is related to racism.

John Terry, the former England captain is accused of racially abusing an opponent of Queens Park Rangers (Anton Ferdinand). The verdict of the jury is set to be out soon and will open a number of debated regarding the racism issue. Sports have not saved it from being in the middle of controversies related to racism, sexuality and gender. The article has linked the soccer match incident with the controversy regarding the consecration of women Bishops, as the Church of England has failed to settle the internal disputes.

The article has discussed the soccer's racism issue in detail. It has provided the background of the incident. John Terry who had publically made some gestures to the opponent played was viewed by millions of people all around the world and in his defense he said that he only had repeated the words uttered by Anton Ferdinand, in sarcasm and anger. Ferdinand on the other hand had decided earlier not to press charges against Terry however later on he changed his mind.

There have been numerous incidents in the past related to Racism in the past in English soccer. However this incident is much more appealing because big names and reputations are at stake. This shows the class inequality of the class that exists in the British culture, as a big name player can be punished heavily for just uttering a mere few harsh words while on the lower level these things go on being unnoticed. The issue which is raised parallel in the article is related to the Church of England.

It all started when English Anglicans formally had made an appeal to the government not to allow same sex marriages in church. The established Church of England will be hampered by the consecration of the women bishops. This issue is of bilateral opinion which is held against traditionalists of the High Church and Evangelicals (Conservatives). The Amendment proposed according to 5 (1) (c) which states that a women bishop should be refused if a male bishop could be required sharing the same belief.

Majority of the liberal Anglicans are of the opinion that the ranks of the male bishops will be protected by the right of perishing to refuse a female. The first female priest was inducted or ordained almost 18 years ago, and since then the numbers have just kept on rising. Almost one third of the 11,000 women joining Church, have joined.