PHI_445 Week 5 Final Paper, Gender Discrimination: Goodyear

PHI_445 Week 5 Final Paper, Gender Discrimination: Goodyear Gender Discrimination NAME PHI445: Personal and Organizational Ethics Professor DATE Gender Discrimination Over the years in American history there have been years and tears of gender discrimination, and when women joined the workforce, these practices continued to carry on. In this country, there has always been a division of the genders throughout history. Women have sought to be looked at and treated as equals in the very society that they live and thrive in. In the case of Lilly Ledbetter vs. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., this issue was very prominent and was a matter of unethical business behavior. While companies such as Goodyear are in a capitalist economy and private business, allowing companies to treat their employees in such a manner is unethical because if one is required to do the same work, then one should get paid the same. It also keeps the wage gap been men and women distant while giving companies the idea that they are allowed to treat its employees unfairly while not having to abide by the law, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Goodyear is not morally justifiable when discriminating an employee’s wage solely based on their gender. Lilly Ledbetter was hired in 1979 as a supervisor in the Goodyear tire plant in Alabama, and over the years was denied merit raises due to her performance evaluations which resulted in her pension to be less than her male co-workers in the end. She noticed little things throughout her career but never realized how these little things really made an impact on her life. Working in a male dominated field, Lilly took many things with a grain of salt because she did not have all the evidence necessary to build a case prior to her retirement. After retirement, Lilly took all the information she gained, some of which was anonymous; she decided to take her case to court for gender pay discrimination in the workforce at the end of her career with Goodyear. Lilly took her case to civil court where she won was awarded her back pay as well as punitive damages for the time she spent working there. Goodyear then appealed the decision and went to the Supreme Court and they decided her settlement was not valid and reversed the decision because it was outside of a 180-day statute of limitation (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. 500 U.S. 618, 2006, para. 8). Since 1877, the rights of women have not always been given because they were not always regarded at as equal, nor permitted to vote, while fighting to make their place in society and the workforce. As researched, “Gender equality can be achieved when men and women can reap the benefits from the same rights and opportunities throughout their different areas of life (Unknown, 2000, para. 3).” Lilly was offered a position as a supervisor and performed this duty for many years. She was consistently held accountable for her job and those that were working under her in the same manner as her male counterparts. Unfortunately, men still are looked upon as being superior, stronger, and more competent just as those who worked alongside of Mrs. Ledbetter. Lilly made unlimited strides being one of the only women at this Goodyear plant, she has had to battle to earn he place while not wanting to cause a ruckus by declaring discrimination. Women like Lilly have fought for the government, society, men, and even went to the streets and had their ideas and voices be heard in public forums for equality. Yet there are great progresses that are taking place in order for the women to have that equal playing field and be respected in the same regards as men. While women are capable of doing anything, females continue viewed as weaker by being treated unequally, working for lower wages, and endure many forms of harassment that keep them one step behind. This was very obvious when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Goodyear by ultimately denying Ledbetter’s claim because it was out of the 180-day statute of limitation.