Jackson, Lexi

"Confronting the Issue of Gender Discrimination in Employment"

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Major: Philosophy, German Studies/Bioethics, and Society/Biological Sciences

Junior; Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

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Abstract

Women face a number of barriers in employment, including wage inequality, hostile work environments, and discrimination in hiring and promotion. This paper examines arguments for and against policies designed to combat these issues, taking up examples from studies of 20th-century Sweden, post-socialist Russia, and the late-20th-century United States. Though market forces may superficially act in favor of equality (and, in some cases, women), they also rely on and perpetuate harmful gender roles; when left unregulated, bias is insufficiently countered. Instead, I recommend policies such as comparable worth and universal extension of benefits, which work to address the complexities of misogyny.

Class: Honors 201

States, Markets, and Societies

Professor: Rose Spalding

Department of Political Science