Reference no: EM133475710

Assignment:

• What mechanism of inequality is at work and how?
• Which understanding of gender inequality does the law reflect in declaring it legal or illegal and why?
• How might American discrimination law move toward capturing aspects of inequality that it now leaves out?

Scenarios

1. Mary is a licensed bartender who gets pregnant. Mary's employer thinks this will not be appealing to the customers and fires her. This is illegal.

2. Mary is being sexually harassed by some of the regular customers. She tells her employer who asks her to say nothing because they are regulars. Mary intends to sue her employer; since their harassment is illegal and the employer is doing nothing to stop it, she has a good case.

3. Tess, Mary's African-American coworker, has the most experience among the waitstaff but is passed over when the maître d' is selected from among them for this leadership post. Her employer tells her that he just can't put a pregnant black woman in that job without making the restaurant look less classy. This is illegal, but is it sex or race discrimination?

4. Both Mary and Tess are trying to juggle their work schedules with their husbands to cover as much childcare time as possible between them. Their husbands are willing to do half the childcare if they just know what hours they will be needed so their own bosses can be informed about when they will be working from home. The restaurant where Mary and Tess work refuses to give them a fixed schedule a week in advance. This is legal.