Societal Issue You Selected, and Based on

¶ … societal issue you selected, and based on your analysis, explain how and why the issue represents a threat to equality. Finally, describe the factors you would consider when determining how to address the threat to equality. The concept of equality: Women in the workforce Equality as a concept is often linked to justice and freedom. However, its precise definition in a political sense remains controversial. Treating everyone the same does not always constitute equality.

For example, treating students with special needs the same -- without modifications -- as non-LD students has been called discriminatory. Affirmative action has been defended as rectifying historical injustices because treating women and minority groups 'the same' as males and non-minorities in hiring and promotions can effectively foster inequality.

One definition of equality is that "equality' (or 'equal') signifies correspondence between a group of different objects, persons, processes or circumstances that have the same qualities in at least one respect, but not all respects, i.e., regarding one specific feature, with differences in other features" (Gosepath 2012). In the previous examples, the goals of equality are to create an equally adequate education for all students, or to ensure that on a societal level all persons, regardless of origin, have the same opportunities to realize their professional aspirations.

Treating members of the group as the same in all respects does not necessarily foster the goal of equality. This question of what constitutes equality came to the forefront of the national consciousness when a recent article was published in The Atlantic entitled "Can women have it all?" The answer of the author was 'no.' According to Anne-Marie Slaughter, an international affairs professor at Princeton, she struggled balancing home and work needs when she was the former director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department.

Slaughter believes that women have an additional burden when forced to juggle a high-powered career and home life. They must take time out to bear children during their optimal child-bearing years, or postpone childbearing until they have established themselves professionally. However, if they have children late, as Slaughter chose to, then they may get their 'dream position' while their children are still relatively young and need a mother at home, versus their male colleagues.

Men have more flexibility, given that they are still not required in most households to bear the brunt of the childrearing and housekeeping duties, in terms of how they prioritize work vs. family life. Offering women inadequate options to work flexible hours, find affordable daycare, and telecommute can be tantamount to discrimination against women, even if women are simply being treated 'the same' as men.

"She discusses how the culture of time -- staying late at the office, working weekends -- must be adapted to accommodate working parents (mothers and fathers) so.