The Equal Opportunity (EO) is an important program to ensure fair treatment, justice, and equity

Issue 3: Service members feel discriminated against due to past, present or future military service

Lately, there has been an outbreak of people of the LGBT community coming out in the military. Historically the United States has had a policy of discharging gays in the military. There has been an act called the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”, it is basically saying that as long as somebody does not ask about your gender preferences, you do not have to tell. Even though the ban has been lifted, many militaries still say they cannot accept anyone from the LGBT inside. They do not care about how well you can perform or your strengths and that mindset is going to come back and hit them in the long run. Militaries that are judging these kids are taking them away from somewhere they feel safe and a place where they can finally belong. Members of the LGBT community find refuge in the military. It was one of the only places where they can prove their worth, where people aren’t focusing on their sexuality. They shouldn’t be judged based on their sexual preferences. Instead, they should be judged on their personality, performance, and their ability to get the job done precisely and correctly.

I wasn’t instantly assaulted but was first harassed multiple times and so I reported the incident. The officer stated that women like me are a disgrace, ‘Joining the military to disgrace a Few Good Men’, is what he called it. I was told to woman up or ask for a transfer if I refused to look past the actions of a man just being a man. (Mercier 1)

Women have been sexually harassed and assaulted in the work force for years, and for many years, the US Army has been dealing with this enormous and overwhelming issue, through the help of their agency known as the Equal Opportunity Program (EOP). In the US Army regulation 600-20, Army Chief of Staff, General Raymond T Odierno, States the purpose, “This regulation prescribes the policies and responsibilities of command, which include the Well-being of the force, military discipline, and conduct, the Army Equal Opportunity (EO) Program, and the Army Sexual Assault Victim Program.“ For a long time, the Army’s EOP Equal Opportunity

Studies in the 80’s have shown that a greater percentage of blacks and females could not successfully complete the FTO program compared to white male officers (Doerner, 2012). If this was based on unfairly treating blacks and females during the training, then the concern is that racism exists and much time and money has been wasted getting the rookie officers to this point (Doerner, 2012). This would also have a negative impact on any affirmative action efforts. However, Doerner conducted an extensive study in 1989 of over 300,000 ratings and concluded that white FTO’s did not unfairly treat black rookies and male FTO’s did not unfairly use different standards for female rookie officers (Doerner, 2012). Further investigation discovered that blacks struggled in passing radio use, legal knowledge, and report writing, which was surprising as they were required to have a 2-year college degree (Doerner, 2012). Changes to the demographic unbalancing of FTO instructors, lengths of phases being increased, and lessening the expectations of the program all were implemented to overcome the concerns of affirmative actions and barriers (Doerner,

Contrary to public belief, life on the American Homefront during the war was not as pleasant, unified, or as supported as the American media strived to have people believe. In fact, America’s “home” was split over many factors such as race, sexuality, gender, and religion. For instance, minority groups were continuously targeted while vying for civil rights. African Americans were served “eggshells in their burgers and garbage sandwiches” and Hispanics were treated as if they were just taking jobs away from those who deserved them, even though they were also just trying to make it through the depression (92). Prejudice was also noticeable within the military, with whites accusing blacks and Hispanics of not pulling their own weight in combat.

Both services seek to ensure that, in terms of race and ethnicity, the group of officers commissioned in the year 2000 roughly reflects the overall population: 12 percent African American, 12 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Asian. Department of the Navy officials point out that this represents a significantly more aggressive goal than had been the case, when the focus for comparison had been on college graduates; the more aggressive goal implies vigorous outreach and other efforts. Moreover, the Navy and the Marine Corps have set specific year-by-year targets for meeting the 12/12/5 goal.” (1995) When taking affirmative action, one must be careful not to establish quotas. This would start to become the glass ceiling, glass walls, or glass escalator. When a corporation, military, or business starts to promote unqualified minorities to fill a quota, that is just a bad and discriminatory as being racist or profiling.

“[T]he core of racism essentially includes a prejudiced sense of superiority…Individual racism occurs when individuals discriminate against members of another racial group because they believe that their own group is superior” (Utsey, Ponterotto, & Porter, 2008, p. 339). The chain is only as strong as its weakest link in a military service. Racism, prejudice, and discrimination are kinks in the moral integrity of the chain that have negative effects on employee morale and the service’s reputation. In 2007, the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG’s) commitment to diversity and inclusion was tested when personnel in connection with the USCG Academy cadets found hangman’s nooses. The actions taken by senior leadership following

If we expand solutions to develop the circumstances for the biggest minority group in the Army (blacks), those solutions will furthermore profit other minorities, including the second biggest minority group, Hispanics. Furthermore, stress is placed upon the combat branches for the reason that they provide the principal channel to the senior ranks of the Army. Nevertheless, it is imperative to identify that Congress limits service in the combat arms to men; all women including black women are not allowed to be a part of these branches. As a result, women at present cannot way in this channel. If Congress abolishes the gender constraint on combat arms

We have discussed so far this week the obvious ways in which discrimination can affect various groups within a society. However, what if there was a form of discrimination that is buried deep within an institution that may not appear to be discriminatory to the naked eye? This particular form is known as institutional discrimination. McNamara and Burns (2009) stated that it is “particularly distasteful because it is the type of mistreatment of certain groups whereby the people engaging in the behavior do not realize they are doing it” (p.14). This type of discrimination can be quite challenging to depict as it is embedded in every type of institution whether one believes it to be true or not. You may find yourself wondering that if rules

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was established to administer Federal legislation which was initially brought about when Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted (EEOC, n.d.). Title IV makes it unlawful to discriminate against an individual based on their race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. These categories are commonly referred to as, “protected classes.” Individuals protected by the EEOC include women, minority populations, and groups related to national origin, persons over the age of 40, persons with disabilities, veterans, and religious affiliations (EEOC, n.d.). For the purposes of this essay, I will focus on how leaders should address discriminatory practices in the workplace environment and how leaders can create a culture to support diverse groups of people.

When dealing with stereotyping, it isn’t just everyday people within society that are adding to stigmas and biases. The government can often make substantial contributions to stereotypes for society to pick up. When creating threat identifying training, the government tends to allow its programs to rely on existing archetypes of a typically threatening individual. The article that discusses this, “UH­-OH. THE PENTAGON CONSIDERS WELL-­TRAVELED, BROKE INDIAN AMERICAN WOMEN THREATS”, continues to explain how the basis for government employee security is then based on those stereotypical threats. This article relates to the big picture question in that it discusses governmental bias towards certain people and the role it plays in stereotyping.

Equal Employment Opportunity policies prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, age, sex, marital or family status, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status or genetic information. Companies aim to maintain an environment that is free of harassment, intimidation and exploitation. A company should be prepared to take action to prevent and correct such behavior. Individuals who engage in such behavior will be appropriately disciplined. It is important that you feel free to bring complaints concerning harassment to the attention of the Human Resources Management. Affirmative action is to ensure equal employment opportunity by requiring contractors to implement affirmative action plans to assure equal employment opportunity for underutilized minorities and women, people with disabilities, veterans, and disabled veterans. As supervisors, managers, and administrators, are responsible for helping the company fulfill its equal opportunity responsibilities. The Human Resources Department is committed to providing effective, efficient and responsive services by hiring the best qualified candidates in a timely manner, providing staff with a competitive salary and benefits package, providing training opportunities which will help develop employees to their fullest potential and providing guidance and counseling to management and staff.

Discrimination can easily be defined as the practice of unfair or unequal treatment of an individual or group based on certain characteristics. These characteristics can include: age, disability, ethnicity, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Discrimination can take on many forms and can be used at any time and people won’t even notice they are being discriminated against. Examples of discrimination can be either be bias of promotion, job assignment, retaliation, job hiring and various types of harassment.

As with our student population, we at the Northwestern Academy believe our teachers and faculty should be as talented as possible. This is the reason that qualifications are the primary consideration when considering potential applicants for our faculty. Race, religion, sex and gender will not be factors in who is hired. However, diversity not only brings advantages in terms of educational benefits, but it also can spur a sense of creativity in the minds of our students and faculty. Because of this, we will provide clear information to our all of our candidates over a broad range of mediums to find many different types of candidates. Even though a portion of our professors come from Northwestern University, some will come from outside of the Northwestern system, and we require these candidates to be just as qualified as the ones that come from within the Northwestern system.