Understanding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its effect on womens rights in the US – Part 1
It took forty-plus years after women’s rights activist, Susan B. Anthony. In 1920, white women gained their alienable right to vote. However, that right didn’t pass to the black woman. In America’s internal civil rights battle, Freedom Summer pushed “the weaker and discriminated sex” into the forefront.
After the violence and pain, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed. President Lyndon B. Johnson endorsed it while in Dr. King’s presence. Dozens of people died getting that Act passed. Andrew Goodman, Michael Scherwer and James Chaney were found shot, beaten and buried in an earthen dam. Many other CORE(Congress for Racial Equality) activists were brutally beaten and harassed by police.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 capped off a campaign to get black Mississippians to vote. CORE workers traveled door to door in the backwoods and countryside. Klan hit squads were active with using fear and murder to intimidate Negroes. Their tactics worked on some. But, new voters promptly stepped up and elected delegates for the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that joined the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. The biggest beneficiaries of the Act were black women.
America’s most discriminated class finally had a voice. A black woman led the delegation and brought a contingent to represent Mississippi Negroes. Fannie Lou Hamer represented the poor, black Mississippian in her appearance at the Chicago Convention. She described vividly her mauling by Luleville, Miss. deputies while in county jail. She tearfully related Negro prisoners taking turns beating her with blackjacks and putting salt on her open wounds. She spoke with power and eloquence at the Movement and how important it was for America to grant black people first-class citizenship. Unfortunately, the Freedom delegates only acquired three seats. They clashed with the other Democrats. Even though, they represented themselves in Chicago, the event as a whole was unsuccessful.
However, Hamer’s appearance spearheaded a women’s movement in government politics. In 1972, Shirley Chisolm made her bid for the presidency and sparred against George McGovern. After Chisolm’s campaign, women began vying for congressional seats nationwide. A few earned electoral victories. Freedom Summer not only produced a victory of sort for Negroes, it gave women an outlet into America’s political arena. Since that time, women have maintained their presence.
Womens rights in the 1960s America – Part 1
The 1960s were a turbulent time for American politics. Southern states fiercely engaged Negro activists over civil rights. Teenage boys were embarking on frightening tours of duty into Vietnam and Southeast Asia. However, women’s rights began to emerge as the next crusade.
During March 1963, folk singers, Odetta Jones and Joan Baez performed before 200,000 people in Washington, D.C. They and Rosa Parks accompanied other marchers to demand equal rights for blacks and for all women. A much, larger confrontation was taking place down South.
In 1964, the state of Mississippi saw an “invasion”. Over a thousand Northern, college students, male and female traveled there to work for the Congress of Federated Organizations (COFO). COFO’s mission was to insure voting registration for Mississippi Negroes. Only 6% were able to vote and most didn’t out of fear of Ku Klux Klan terror. The mission was dubbed “freedom summer”.
Over 90% of the state’s black population got registered to vote. Unfortunately, three COFO workers; including two whites, were murdered in Philadelphia (Miss). An extensive, six-week search revealed their bodies as well as dozen, other dead Negroes.
Amidst the trauma, President Lyndon B. Johnson debated over the Civil Rights bill. He realized approving it would potentially lose him Southern voters. He also had conflict with a Virginia senator who didn’t want the bill to pass.
That senator had a colleague named Alice Paul. Paul was a staunch, women’s right activist. She desired to get his amendment to bar sexual discrimination in the workplace. The amendment was added. Approving rights for Negroes made the bill emotionally charged. Adding a sexual discrimination statute guaranteed it wouldn’t pass a vote.
On July, 1964, it passed with over 66% voting in favor. The Civil Rights Act was signed by President Johnson in the presence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sexual discrimination lawsuits were able to be taken to court. In time, employers made their employees take “gender sensitivity” courses and examine sexual discrimination, and later on sexual harassment guidelines. It gave women equal protection in America’s workforce.
A beneficiary of women’s rights was Fannie Lou Hamer. She became the voice of Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Hamer and two delegates went to Chicago and spoke at the 1968 Democratic Convention. The former victim of Southern police brutality and racism, described her ordeal, overcoming it, to a nationwide audience.
Their new freedoms came at a price of someone’s death. The following year, civil rights volunteer, Viola Luizzo was killed by Klan hitmen.
Sources: The Civil Rights Chronicle (2003)
“F.B.I. versus the Klan” (2007) Arts and Entertainment
“Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History” (2007)
Should US companies be required to provide equal pay to women and men? – Part 31
US companies are already required by both statute and case law in the US to provide equal pay to women and men. They have no choice but to follow the law, which demands that they not discriminate in employment. Paying men and women different salaries for the same work would be discrimination .The Civil rights Act of 1964 provides that,
“(a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer -
(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or
otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his
compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of
such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;…”
US courts have had occasion to hear cases where the subject was the issue of equal pay between men and women. In the case of Corning Glass vs. Brennan (1974), the court held it unlawful for an employer to pay women less just because they traditionally received less pay than men, or because men would not accept to be paid the same as women. In 1999 , the Supreme Court of the United States, in Kolstad vs. American Dental Association, stated that a woman could sue for punitive damages for sex discrimination if the anti-discrimination law was violated with malice or indifference.
From a human rights perspective, paying women and men differently for the same work would be a violation of the right to equal treatment before the law, and the right to equality before the law. These rights are provided for in several human rights instruments, which are binding on the US. Such human rights instruments include instruments under the Inter-American human rights system and those under the UN system. A company paying men and women differently would be violating those human rights instruments.
As a matter of fact, it would not be a good idea for any US company not to pay men and women equally because if sued, they may face punitive damages. In the era that we are in , surely all companies should be aware that it is unlawfully to discriminate, not just by race , but also by sex. Unfortunately, sex discrimination, just like racial discrimination, is still secretly practiced by many companies out there.
