User:DavenportM/sandbox

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Draft of Wikipedia Entry:

Gender discrimination:
Gender discrimination is discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived gender identity. “Gender identity” is defined to mean “the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth”. Gender discrimination is theoretically different from sexism. Whereas, sexism is prejudice based on biological sex, gender discrimination specifically addresses discrimination towards identity based orientations, including third gender, genderqueer, and other non-binary identified people. Banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression has emerged as a subject of contestation in the American legal system. Legal interpretation of “sex” under Title VII of the United States’ Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA; H.R. 1755/S. 815) has, since the ruling of Price Waterhouse, encompassed both gender and sex. Since first introduced in Congress since 1993 at the 103rd Congress, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), has taken different stances on the inclusion of gender discrimination under the term “sex”. More recently, the stated purpose of the legislation is “to address the history and persistent, widespread pattern of discrimination, including unconstitutional discrimination, on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity by private sector employers and local, State, and Federal Government employers,” as well as to provide effective remedies for such discrimination. However, under current law Title VII does not expressly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or transsexualism. The myriad forms of discrimination associated with gender non-conformity are therefore not expressly addressed nor protected under the EDNA. According to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, “although the majority of federal courts to consider the issue have concluded that discrimination on the basis of gender identity is not sex discrimination, there have been several courts that have reached the opposite conclusion in the years since the Supreme Court's decision in Price Waterhouse”. Hurst states, “Courts often confuse sex, gender and sexual orientation, and confuse them in a way that results in denying the rights not only of gays and lesbians, but also of those who do not present themselves or act in a manner traditionally expected of their sex”. Scholars have suggested amending the EDNA to include these gender orientations. However, counter arguments question whether Title VII is general enough to include sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination in legal claims. Gender discrimination is therefore, a gender identity based discrimination, whose codification into American and other legal systems has remained contested.

Transgender discrimination:
Transgender discrimination is discrimination towards peoples whose gender identity differs from the social expectations of the biological sex they were born with. Forms of discrimination include but are not limited to identity documents not reflecting one’s gender, sex-segregated public restrooms and other facilities, dress codes according to binary gender codes, and lack of access to and existence of appropriate health care services. In a recent adjudication, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) concluded that discrimination against a transgendered individual is sex discrimination. The National Transgender Discrimination Survey, the most extensive survey of transgender discrimination, in collaboration with the National Black Justice Coalition recently showed that Black transgender people in the United States suffer “the combination of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural and individual racism” and that “black transgender people live in extreme poverty that is more than twice the rate for transgender people of all races (15%), four times the general Black population rate 9% and over eight times the general US population rate (4%).” In another study conducted in collaboration with the League of United Latin American Citizens, Latino/a transgender people who were non-citizens were most vulnerable to harassment, abuse and violence. Peoples of color subjected to transgender discrimination suffer intersecting structural and individual levels of discrimination.

Reference List:
Sources: 1. Hurst, C. Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences. Sixth Edition. 2007. 131, 139–142] 2. “Discrimination against Transgender People.” ACLU. Available (online) : https://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/discrimination-against-transgender-people 3. Atwell, Mary Welek. 2002. Equal Protection of the Law?: Gender and Justice in the United States. New York: P. Lang. 4. Becker, Mary, Cynthia Grant Bowman, and Morrison Torrey. 2001. Cases and Materials on Feminist Jurisprudence: Taking Women Seriously. 2d ed. St. Paul, Minn.: West Group. 5. Kimmel, Michael S. 2004. The Gendered Society. 2d ed. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. 6. Macklem, Tony. 2004. Beyond Comparison: Sex and Discrimination. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. 7. Smith, Patricia. 1993. Feminist Jurisprudence. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. 8. http://verdict.justia.com/2012/05/01/the-eeoc-rules-that-transgender-discrimination-is-sex-discrimination#sthash.OzR6wVcG.dpuf 9. “Employment Non-Discrimination Act”. Human Rights Campaign. Available (online): http://www.hrc.org/laws-and-legislation/federal-legislation/employment-non-discrimination-act 10. “Transgender.” UC Berkekely Online. Available (online): http://geneq.berkeley.edu/lgbt_resources_definiton_of_terms#transgender

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OUTLINE: Sexism

We propose to significantly edit the Wikipedia page on Sexism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism. Our edits will encompass a re-titling of the page to Sexism/Gender Discrimination. We will also rewrite several sections to include a more global perspective and a more neutral and academic viewpoint, delete several sections that we feel do not belong and add several sections that better illustrate and explain the concepts. Where possible we will draw upon theoretical foundations to form our arguments. Our proposal includes the following. First, we will add a section on “gender discrimination” to the page. The term gender discrimination is theoretically different from the term sexism. Drawing from a conceptual basis that distinguishes sex from gender, our group has decided to add a section on gender discrimination for the purposes of problematizing the differences. Currently, the wikipedia search for gender discrimination results in the page on sexism. Therefore, we propose to add a section on gender discrimination to the sexism page in order to explore the differences. Ultimately, gender discrimination should be developed into its own page, but for the purposes of this exercise, we will develop the section on gender stereotypes as an intersecting practice of gender discrimination. Next we will rewrite the section on “Gender Stereotypes”. The gender stereotypes section that currently exists takes a very narrow view on gender stereotypes, focusing only on negative views of women. It does not take stereotypes of men into account. Nor does it use any theoretical bases in looking at the effects of gender stereotypes, how gender stereotypes work and how they affect all people. We will include men into the idea of gender stereotyping and bring a more theoretical foundation to the section. Then we will rewrite the section on “Objectification”. Objectification is a direct consequence of sexism, as it often reduces women to a single body part, thus dehumanizing them in the process. Objectification can take place in a variety of areas, such as in pornography and the media.More importantly, objectification can have important repercussions on women, particularly young women, as had been demonstrated by Fredrickson & Roberts (1997), who have argued that it can lead to mental disorders (depression, eating disorders, etc…) It is important to point out, however, that the section will need substantial editing and reorganization. Some sub-sections, such as “media portrayals,” must be expanded, as there is much more additional scholarship that must be included, while other sub-sections sections such as “sexist jokes” must be minimized, or eliminated altogether. Following that, we will also rewrite the “Language” section. Language is both descriptive, reflecting reality, as well as prescriptive, in that language can reinforce certain systems. Thus, it is important to examine both what sexism/gender discrimination in language is and what it looks like as well as the effects it has. Theory from both linguists and feminists will be utilized, such as Douglas Hofstadter and Sherryl Kleinman. The current section does not accomplish this, as it only looks at pejorative language with no foundation in theory. We will take a more academic and holistic look at how sexism operates in gender discrimination for both men and women. In addition, we will rewrite the Occupational Sexism section - particularly because it contains very few references to the claims which are being made. The subsection - wage gap can be supplemented with a more global perspective on the discrepancies between wages of women and men around the world. We will also rewrite the section on “In Politics”. The section “gender discrimination in politics” must be kept, as gender discrimination in politics is highly problematic. Indeed, on a fundamental level, gender equality in government is necessary for any democracy to thrive. In addition, sexism can manifest itself in politics in more subtly ways, by voters choosing government officials based on perceived qualities of each gender (e.g. women in education) or based on looks. It is important to note, though, that the section will need to be significantly altered, as it is superficial and not thorough enough. In addition, rather than summing up examples of sexism at the end of the page, we plan to include examples throughout the different sub-chapters. Therefore, we plan to delete the “Examples” section. We will add a section on “Sexism in Education”. Education part requires serious improvements due to the lack of academic materials in description of phenomenon and poor analytical cohesion in the paragraphs. Therefore, our mission would be to deal with these theoretical imperfections of secondary data and sequence of description. Finally, we will also add a section on “Criminal Justice”. ‘The criminal justice system is often condemned as an institutionally sexist operation that lets down female victims, fails to help women offenders out of a cycle of crime and prevents professionals reaching the top jobs.’ (Guardian, May 2009). Clearly criminal justice encounters numerous interconnected issues with sexism. The section ‘Criminal Justice’ in Wikipedia requires more balanced view on the problem. It should include broader worldwide vision from theoretical and contextual perspectives. Currently the subject includes only US position towards female criminal justice and sexism. With this regard, our group suggests to add ‘men’ in the sexism’s analysis of criminal justice system.

OUTLINE: Feminist Movements

Working with the assumption that feminism and feminist movement are thought of as separate spheres, that feminism is theory and feminist movement is practice ( see Bell Hooks, Feminist Theory: From Margin To Center, Boston: South End Press, 2000 (2nd Edition), we have a multitude of ambiguous and repetitive articles on feminism and feminist movements on Wikipedia.

The “Feminist movement” Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_movement) offers a historical perspective on Feminism, and discusses the three waves that make up the “Feminist movement.” Of paramount importance is the fact that the entry neglects to discuss feminist movements outside the US, Canada, or Europe. The section on the First wave of Feminism, for example, solely focuses on the US and Britain. There is no mention of feminist movements outside those countries, or beyond middle and upper class women.

In addition, there are numerous articles on feminism and feminist theory that are ambiguous and repetitive. The article titled “Feminist movements and ideologies”: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_movements_and_ideologies) proceeds to briefly and superficially describe the various feminist ideologies without much description of the historical movements attached.

The article “Feminism” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism) includes both descriptions of ideologies and movements themselves and describes feminism as “ a collection of movements and ideologies…”

While a valuable contribution to this field would be a clear disambiguation and terminology and a merging of repetitive articles, a look at the Talk page makes it clear that this isn’t practical or possible at this time. The above measures have already been proposed and much discussion has taken place (often acrimoniously). To enact such drastic changes to these pages would require monitoring far beyond the scope of this course.

Our contribution, then, will be to edit the Feminist Movement entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_movement). We chose this for both intellectual and practical reasons. First, based on our analysis as well as others’ criticisms, we feel that it is important to inject a more global perspective to the idea of Feminist Movement, proving that it was not a historical event that was enacted solely in the United States. The introduction to the page claims to include international movements, but fails to do so adequately. We also noticed that the entry for Feminist Movements in the plural redirects here, so this page would have the greatest effect in disillusioning Wiki readers that the Feminist Movement was exclusively American.

To do so, we will concentrate our work on adding evidence of historical feminist movements that occurred outside of the United States that corresponded with the first, second and third feminist movement waves, including in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Russia and etc...

Postcolonial or third-world feminism appeared as a response to perceive feminism as exclusively Western concept. Third feminist movements provide an important contribution to post-colonial legacy in representing non-white, non-Western women. Third-world feminism incorporates the idea that “women” is a universal concept.

We will also build on the overview of transnational feminist movements, focusing on consensus, points of conflict and emerging dynamics in the practices from a transnational perspective. This focus on practice of activists networks in feminist movements will draw on literature review from transnational theorists such as Sikkink and Hawkesworth.

Finally, we will include a section describing anti-feminist, or backlash criticism engendered by the Feminist Movements described above. Wikipedia’s anti-feminism article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifeminism) and sexism article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism) mostly do not contain a worldwide view (the sexism article is even contested for its neutrality), and therefore we consider it being a contribution to these articles as well if we include criticisms of feminist movements in our article as subchapters.