History of Workplace Discrimination
Workplace discrimination has had a long and troubling history. Ever since the early Industrial Revolution, various groups of people have faced harassment, exclusion from work, and arbitrary terminations. Throughout the modern period, unions and to a lesser extent, governments, have worked to rectify these inequalities. Understanding some of the basic historical examples of workplace discrimination can help demystify some of the rules and regulations aimed at preventing workplace discrimination.
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Early Industrial Revolution
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The advent of steam-powered machines and the need for cheap labor led to what could arguably be called the first instances of workplace discrimination. Entrepreneurs, particularly in the clothing and textile industries, spent a large portion of their money in order to get the most technologically advanced machines. In order to compensate for this large outlay of cash, many of the entrepreneurs hired women and children to work in their factories because men were better organized and demanded more pay than women or children did. As a result, many men formed organizations aimed at retaliating against what they perceived as workplace discrimination; in England at the end of the 19th century a group of out-of-work men formed mobs and burned down factories, claiming a mythical "General Ludd" was leading them, thus giving birth to the so-called "Luddites" who fought against mechanization and for better pay and treatment of men.
World War I
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With many men off fighting in the trenches during the "Great War," women began filling in as weapons manufacturers, elevator operators, and even clerical or other office work. Despite the need for these women, many of them faced tough working conditions and received very little consideration from their employers. For example, women working in munitions factories often had no separate restrooms, no provisions for daycare, and were often sexually or verbally harassed for wearing the safer men's overalls to work. Unions, which had worked hard for the improvement of wages and working conditions for men did nothing to help women, seeing them as undercutting the cause of male laborers. After the war, the vast majority of these women were sumarilly fired in order to "make way" for the returning men.
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African Americans
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During the Great Depression, the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), which was intended to lift American farmers out of poverty and despair, was written in such a way that most African Americans were denied its benefits. With few prospects for work in the South, many African Americans headed to the industrialized North for work; Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo to name a few. Factory jobs promised a better standard of living but also presented the North with the racially-based problem of the anti-integration movement. While many Americans are aware of the Little Rock Nine or the Alabama Church Bombings of the 1950's and 60's, at the same time in places like Rochester and Pittsburgh, African Americans could be fired for no reason, could not find work commensurate with their education, and were often unemployed or underemployed in a time of record employment. The result was the 1965 Executive Order 11246 which began the so-called "affirmative action" programs which forced workplace racial equality.
Sexual Harassment
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Despite the 1965 Executive Order 11246 which banned racial discrimination int he workplace, women still struggled in the workplace. Subject to sexual assault and intimidation, women successfully were added tot he growing anti-discrimination laws in 1968. From that point onward, Affirmative Action prohibited employment discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Still, even decades later women face a so-called "glass ceiling" which prevents them from progressing as executives or high-level managers as easily as men do.
Ongoing
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With the changing of the laws and of workplace culture has come a drop in workplace discrimination. Though arguably lower than it has been since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, workplace discrimination still exists today in one form or another. Some of it is based on cultural shifts, such as the anti-Muslim backlash following September 11th, 2001, and some of it is latent racism, sexism, or other hurdles that color an employer's treatment of employees. As a result, many organizations and unions have fought to prevent the repeal of anti-discrimination laws despite objections from businesses and their supporters.
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