Job Discrimination

¶ … Reverse Discrimination and Compensatory Justice In this article, the main conclusion reached by the author is that reverse discrimination is not the answer for past injustices that have been inflicted on women and minority groups based on sex or race. There seems to be one main reason that the author feels this way, and that reason is that reverse discrimination would cause more harm than good. He explains that by discussing what would happen if reverse discrimination were to be required.

This would result in the people who had not been discriminated in the past (predominately white males) being the objects of discrimination so that others could have jobs and educational opportunities based on race and gender. The author argues that this would make things far worse, because white males would then decide to file their own discrimination claims, which would actually be justified. It is unfair to discriminate against anyone for any reason, unless there is a valid employment reason that is involved, and there are very few of those.

For example, many religions believe that pastors or other religious leaders must be men. This is justified in a specific religion, but would likely not work in a different setting or context. There is no reason why a doctor, lawyer, or any other 'normal' job requires someone of a certain race or gender.

The article also discusses the fact that other groups that feel they have been discriminated against would likely file claims if all of the jobs and educational opportunities suddenly started going to women and blacks, which are the two primary groups when discussing the issue of discrimination. This includes people of other minority groups such as Asian-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans, and could extend as far as other groups that are considered to be 'disadvantaged,' such as those with a very low income.

From a critical standpoint, the author's conclusion certainly has merit. It is true that women and minorities (predominately blacks, but there have been others at different times in history) have been discriminated in the past, but that is no reason to turn the tables on the white men of today, who likely had nothing to do with the past. They cannot change what happened 50 or 100 years ago, and many of them weren't even born yet.

It's not fair to punish them for something that their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents did to minority groups. The best way to get around this discrimination issue is to do what the author of the article suggests, and follow affirmative action guidelines. These guidelines are not designed to make sure that women and blacks have preference over everyone else, but to make sure that all applicants are judged only by their qualifications and not by the color of their skin, where they were born, or what gender they are.

Often people have difficulty with this, and many prejudices still exist. People find ways around affirmative action laws if they try hard enough, but many institutions and employers are complying with the laws once they realize that the laws are not designed to.