Sexual Harassment And The Civil Rights Act Of 1964 Essay

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 resulted from one of the most controversial House and Senate debates in history. It was also the biggest piece of civil rights legislation ever passed. The bill actually evolved from previous civil rights bills in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. The bill passed through both houses finally on July 2, 1964 and was signed into law at 6:55 P.M. EST by President Lyndon Johnson. The act was originally drawn up in 1962 under President Kennedy before his assassination. The bill originated from two others, and one of which was the Equal Opportunity Act of 1962 that never went into law. This bill made up the core of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Bureau of National Affairs 18-20).

The 1970’s began the dawn of sexual harassment law. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, began being utilized by feminists, and lawyers during the 1970’s in order to defend the female victims of these sexual encounters. The challenge for lawyers and activists, such as Catharine MacKinnon and Lin Farley, was to persuade the American judiciary that sexual harassment is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “discrimination on the basis of sex” (Siegel, 2004).

Sexual harassment was made illegal in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This article “protects individuals against employment discrimination on the bases of race and color, as well as national origin, sex, and religion” (“Title VII”). Although the bill was originally passed to combat the “growing unrest in the country emanating from the pervasive and egregious racial discrimination and segregation exposed during the civil rights protests in the 1960s,” it has since grown to encompass all areas of discrimination in the field of employment (“Pre 1965”). The same act also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce

Harassment, specifically sexual harassment, is one of those challenges faced by businesses and employers as of a result of workplace diversification. Inappropriate conversations, unwanted advances and uncomfortable physical contact are some of the ways sexual harassment can occur. According to Hellriegel and Slocum, “Sexual harassment refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.” (p.52). To be clear, sexual harassment can, and has, affected both women and men over the years however up to half of all working women have reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in the career (Vijayasiri, 2008, p.1). It wasn’t until 1986 though that the Supreme Court recognized sexual harassment as a violation of Title VII in the case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (O’Brien, 1994, p. 1). Before the high court’s ruling, however, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had begun to address the issue by drafting hostile work environment guidelines that included sexual harassment (O’Brien, 1994, p. 4). These guidelines would serve later to guide the high court’s decision. There are many more cases like this one we could look at. In 1991, sexual harassment became a household term as Anita Hill testified before congress stating she was sexually

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was significant to African Americans because the act ended segregation in public places and ended employment prejudice based on the pigment of skin, national origin, gender, ethnicity, or/and religion. The Act was one of the most momentous events to impact African Americans on the account of bringing equality to minorities on paper and giving them opportunities to voice their political and community concerns. However, there were unforeseen consequences that added to the suffering of the community which they expressed through riots and protest marches in efforts to ensure their new protections were enforced. The advancement of the Act helped the African American civil rights group in their awareness and voice in government, made tremendous strides in their group, and contributed to other minorities to gaining equality. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 affected African Americans both positively and negatively through federalism, minority rights, and judicial review.

The social policy I chose to write about is “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964” sexual harassment in the workplace. According to equal employment opportunity commission (EEOC), Title VII applies to the company has 15 or more employees including state and local governments. In addition, it also applies to federal government employment agencies and labor organization. Under the law Title VII stated that sexual harassment is unwanted Sexual advances, solicitations for sexual favors, including verbal or physical behavior thought others. “Sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual's employment unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment” (Facts About Sexual Harassment - EEOC Home Page, 1964). Sexual discrimination or sexual favoritism in the workplace which affects or eliminate other potential candidates its "form of implicit "quid pro quo" harassment and/or "hostile work environment" harassment" (Policy Guidance on Employer Liability under Title VII for ..., 1990). In this essay, I will explain the capabilities and vulnerabilities of the framework as well as analyze the women’s empowerment framework. At the end of my paper, you will have a good understanding how Sex discrimination and work situations environment.

Although great strides in fighting gender discrimination were taken in the 1970s, largely due to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, abuses falling within the category of sexual harassment generally were not addressed. Finally, in 1980, the EEOC wrote and released guidelines that defined sexual harassment. They described it as one form of sex discrimination prohibited by the 1964 act. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 referred to as Title VII, prohibits employment discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin in addition to sexual harassment. The law specifically states;

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is considered by some to be one of the most important laws in American history. (The Most Important Cases, Speeches, Laws & Documents in American History) This Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964 and it is a “comprehensive federal statute aimed at reducing discrimination in public accommodations and employment situations.” (Feuerbach Twomey, 2010) Specifically, it aimed at prohibiting “discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), and religion.” (Civil Rights Act of 1964, 2010) Additionally, it also

Thus, an employer violates Title VII when the workplace is filled with discriminatory sex-based intimidation, ridicule, and insult that is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the victim 's employment and create an abusive working environment. In order to establish that she has an actionable claim for sexual harassment in the workplace under Title VII, Mrs. Singleton was required to exhibit that the offensive conduct was unwelcome, was based on her sex, was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of her employment and create an abusive work environment, and was imputable to her employer (Wellington-James, 2015).

Injustices in this world infect people's lives like diseases. One in particular has not only developed over the years, but cases spring up in the most unthought of places. This injustice commonly known as sexual harassment affects women, children, and occasionally men all across the globe. There are many aspects when it comes to sexual harassment including its background, opposing viewpoints on the popular belief, the popular viewing, sexual harassment in today's society, solutions to the problem, and what the future would be like without this injustice on the world's hands.

Work place policies regarding sexual harassment is the main issue discussed in this article. Sexual harassment has continued to be a challenge within the workplace. According to a recent review of sexual harassment related resolutions, employers have paid over $732,976.00 in sexual harassment fines (Hobson, Szostek, & Fitzgerald, 2015). The EEOC has issued written guidelines for appropriate strategies employers should use to handle workplace sexual harassment and specific ways to address it. It is the employer’s duty to proactively work to protect all employees from any type of sexual harassment by following sexual harassment policies and procedures that are put in place. Failure to implement and follow the policy and procedure in the workplace can and most likely will lead to liability should an EEOC investigation or lawsuit occur. The employer needs to disperse copies of the policies and procedures and post them in central locations throughout the organization and address sexual harassment in the employee handbooks. The policy and procedures need to clear

Sexual harassment in the workplace is a huge problem in recent history. It can happen to anyone and it can happen everywhere. It can affect all types of races, gender and age. Statistics today shows that more and more sexual harassment has become an issue due to the large number of cases presented. Mainstream media becomes consume covering sexual harassment because of the high profile cases. Sexual harassment becomes a topic on various TV shows, and on some major morning radio talk shows mostly everyday. Sexual harassment laws must be strengthened in order to fix what has become a serious problem today in the workplace.

In our society sexual harassment has been in the workplace for years. The use of sexual harassment in the workplace has been remembered best as a weapon used to keep women in their place which would cause them to forfeit promotions within their organizations. It was once believed that women were the only victims but the shift is now changing men are also reporting that they are also victims of sexual harassment on the job. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed and employers began to recognize that they were liable for two types of sexual harassment. The first kind of harassment is Quid pro quo when a supervisor offers the employee sexual advances in order to get or keep a job, and also this harassment is used to determined if an

Sexual misconduct in the workplace has been a problem for women and in recent year’s men as well. Unfortunately, in the past this topic was overlooked until the case of Meritor Savings v. Vinson. We will establish the criteria for determining when unwelcome conduct of sexual nature constitutes harassment according to Title VII. Additionally, we will ascertain how to evaluate evidence of harassment, whether a work environment is sexually antagonistic, holding employers liable legally responsible for sexual harassment by supervisors; and analyzing preventive and corrective action

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in many more aspects of the employment relationship. It applies to most employers engaged in interstate commerce with more than 15 employees, labor organizations, and employment agencies. The Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Sex includes pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. It makes it illegal for employers to discriminate in hiring, discharging, compensation, or terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Employment agencies may not discriminate when hiring or referring applicants. Labor Organizations are also prohibited from basing membership or union classifications on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. (law.cornell.edu, 2006)