Progymnasmata Legislation on Era in the United

Progymnasmata legislation on ERA

In the United States, legislation geared towards non-discrimination, human rights and equal treatment have made such overt discrimination against women things of the past. Title IX, for example, addresses discrimination against girls in the areas of education and sports. Federal laws also prohibit discrimination in hiring as well as in compensation.

However, statistics show that women continue to experience discrimination in a number of social structures. Currently, women occupy only 14% of seats in Congress. Though far from equitable, this figure represents a record high for the number of women in the national legislature.

Statistics from the Bureau of Labor show that despite pay equity laws, salary disparities continue to exist between men and women across a broad range of occupations. For example, in the service industry, female cashiers earn an average of $292 per week, only 89.3% of the median salary of male clerks.

Female nursing aides, orderlies and hospital attendants make 89.7% of the median salary of their male counterparts. The ratio of the salaries between female and male janitors is only 81.7%.

This wage gap occurs even in professions that are dominated by women, such as teaching. The differences between the salaries of male and female elementary teachers are not as wide as the gender wage gap in the service industry. On average, female elementary school teachers earn a weekly salary of $731, or 94.9% of the salary of their male counterparts. Female secondary school teachers have an average weekly salary of $759, which translates to 91.9% of the earnings of male high school teachers.

These discrepancies go beyond the political and economic sphere. In terms of health concerns, for example, research shows that women are more likely than men to develop health problems, including disabling conditions in old age. Furthermore, most medical research neglects to consider how diseases could affect women differently from men. However, federal funding for disease research often ignores female diseases or the effects of such diseases on women.

Finally, the mounting challenges to Roe v. Wade and to safe, legal abortions threaten to further erode women's equality rights. Critics decry the growing disregard for women's privacy rights in favor of the personhood of the fetus. Many fear that the greater recognition of fetal rights would come at the expense of women's rights to control their body and to maintain their health.

The discrimination in salaries translates to the growing incidences of poverty among older women. Statistics now show that some 75% of the nation's elderly poor are women. Older women have, on average, merely half the income of older men. This problem is further worsened by the fact that women are only half as likely as men to receive a pension. Those who do receive a pension generally receive much less than their male counterparts.

Social Security offers little help to a great variety of older women. The current social security system was designed according to 1940 gender roles. As a result, divorced women and wives who are considered as dependents receive much lower Social Security payments.

These factors all underscore the need for the Constitutional Amendment for to ensure women's equality in the form of the Equal Rights Amendment. Current federal laws regarding equal wages have failed miserably in ensuring equality for working women because many stand on shaky Constitutional ground.

Federal laws and regulations are often riddled with loopholes and are often subject to different interpretations. Laws could also be repealed at any time, depending on the political climate. As the case of abortion has shown, this means that laws ensuring women's equal rights face constant challenges and could be repealed anytime.

An Equal Rights Amendment would address this problem by enshrining a woman's right to equal treatment as a Constitutional right. Instead of relying on states to enact their own equality laws or depending on the political climate, an ERA would ensure that women's rights are protected in all states. Furthermore, since discrimination against women covers a wide segment from hiring to health to retirement, an ERA would take precedence over several local laws and eliminate the need for individual legislation in various fields where women experience discrimination.