Gender Discrimination

     On Wednesday, we had Mr. Sato come in to talk about gender discrimination and what it is. Before his presentation, we read through a petition to the court about a gender discrimination case, which was the National Coalition for Men. The National Coalition for Men is a nonprofit group committed to ending gender stereotypes for men. In the court case, they argue that women should have to register to be in the draft just like men do when they turn 18. They think the fact that women do not have to register to be in the draft is discriminatory towards men. 

    In class, we discussed the different levels of scrutiny, intermediate and strict, their differences, and the different types of cases that fit into each category. We also discussed if these cases are discriminating based on gender. Here is an example of a case we talked about: If a male under the age of 18 engages in sex with a female who is under 18, and California Law states that men cannot have sex with women under 18, but women can have sex with men under 18. Is this illegal discrimination based on gender? After discussing everyone's personal opinions on what they think, Mr. Sato explained to us that no, it is not discrimination based on gender. We talked about why. It is not discrimination based on gender because the Supreme Court says that young men and women are not similarly situated with respect to the problems and risks of sexual intercourse.

    Gender discrimination is an issue that has persisted in impacting individuals across different aspects of life, from education to workplaces and even legal systems. It occurs when someone is being treated unfairly because of their gender rather than their abilities to do things or their skills. Despite there being progress in gender equality in recent years, the issues still remain evident. For instance, in the case of the National Coalition for Men vs. the Selective Service System, they argued that the fact that women do not have to register for the draft when turning 18 is gender discrimination against men. The court ruled that this is, in fact, gender discriminatory toward men, but this is just one of many other cases where both men and women have been discriminated against based on their gender.