HSB4U – Challenge & Change

Systemic Discrimination and Gender Inequality

Values

• the beliefs of a group that provide standards for members’ behaviours

Gender Inequality

• Most at risk for falling below LICO?• Female lone-parent families where the

mother has less than high school education: 90% below LICO

• Women STILL earn 71 cents for every dollar a male earns!

Pluralism• Singularity: a belief that everyone in society

should act and think the same way– Ex: Iran after the 1979 revolution– Other examples?

• Pluralism or Inclusiveness: widespread acceptance of differences in culture, religion, values and lifestyle– Ex: Canada?

Case Study – Educating Girls in Afghanistan

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm3zQVPfn-c

United Nations. (2010, Dec. 30). United Nations Radio. Retrieved Oct. 2, 2012 from

http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2010/12/food-aid-suspended-after-pakistan-suicide-bombing-2/

Changing Values

• Participation rates: percentage of a particular group (16-64 years of age) available for paid work who are actively employed or seeking employment in the paid economy at any given time – either as employees or self-employed

Participation Rates

• Afghanistan’s female participation rate is 16% (2010).

• Canada: 62%• US: 58%• Mexico: 41.9%• China: 68%• Tanzania: 88%

World Bank. (2012). Data: labour participation rate, female. Retrieved Oct. 2, 2012 from

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS

Participation Rates in Canada

• Men: 80%+• Women:

– 1970: 38%– 1980: 50.4%– 1992: 57.6%– 1998: 70%+

Social Change in Canada

• In 1970s, Canada’s female participation rate was 38%.

• Why has it increased so much?

Reason for increased part. rate for women

Effect / how the factor increased rates

Higher education levels Women want to put their education into practice and get job s that were previously male dominated

Smaller families more time to invest in careers rather than raising a family

Higher divorce rates More freedom to work; when single/lone-parent they need to support themselves

Shift in attitudes toward working womenOpening of more jobs to women

Homework• Read and take notes on rest of 91 to middle of 94.

Include key concepts(make sure you include all the info answering question 3 on page 97)

• Read Case Study E (Systemic Discrimination: Karen) and answer the two questions on the bottom

• Continue Environmental Behaviour Modification Assignment

HSB4U – Challenge & Change

Systemic Discrimination

The Employment Equity Act (1986)

• Affected all employees of the federal government and all federally regulated industries and crown corporations (e.g. the armed forces, the health care system, postal service)

• Purpose: fight systemic discrimination

• Four target groups: • Women• Aboriginal people• Members of visible minorities• People with mental and physical disabilities

Employment Equity Act cont’d• Requires these employers to set hiring goals for each target

• Purpose: achieve workplace equity

Employment Equity Act cont’dEqual pay for work of equal value: • Established a scoring system to compare the value of different jobs

• All jobs scoring equally must be paid at the same rates

• Purpose was to end discriminatory pay practices

Overall:1) End discriminatory hiring practices2) End discriminatory pay practices

Remember: Only for employees of the federal government and federally regulated industries. Not private corporations/companies

Case Study E: Karen1) Did Karen face discrimination? What type?

2) What would need to be done to ensure that women had equal opportunity at this company?

Case Study: Karen

Relating Karen’s case to previous course content:

1) Social Change

2) Alienation and Conformity

3) Income Inequality

4) Social Assistance

5) Employment Equity

Systemic Discrimination

Systemic discrimination (page 91): when a system favours one or some groups over others in terms of hiring, benefits, promotions and pay increases.

Systemic racism or sexism (page 290): when inequality is part of the operation of the whole company, organization, or government. Also known as institutional racism.

Systemic DiscriminationSystems can include: corporations, organizations, governments, countries, or any other social institutions

• Quebec laws that kept women from voting until 1940 • Swiss women couldn’t vote until 1971• Apartheid laws kept black South Africans from voting until 1991• Immigration in Canada once favoured white Europeans over others

(restrictions on Black people, Chinese, Japanese, Sikhs, other Asians) • MS St. Louis carrying 907 Jewish refugees not allowed to land and

sent refugees back to Europe, many to do die in concentration camps

• Aboriginals on reserve couldn’t vote until 1962• Aboriginal Canadians face social and economic barriers to success

Example of systemic discrimination?

Systemic Discrimination

1) Read “Aboriginal People Face Systemic Racism in Canadian Workforce” (2001): p. 291-2.

2) In groups of 3, answer question 1 on page 292

AND

Find evidence of employment disadvantage faced by Aboriginal Canadians and foreign born visible minorities. Support each with a piece of data.

Systemic Discrimination: Aboriginal Canadians

Wab Kinew

Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbYcuHtvulI

500 years in two minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmYu-Wppp3c

Systemic Discrimination: Aboriginal Canadians

• Housing Conditions: Nearly half (45%) of First Nations people living on reserve in 2006 lived in homes that they identified as needing major repairs, compared to 36% a decade ago.

• Post-Secondary Education: In 2006, one-quarter of non-Aboriginal adults had a university degree, compared to 7% of First Nations people.

• High School Education: In 2006, one-third (33%) of Aboriginal adults aged 25 to 54 had less than a high school education compared to nearly 13% of the non-Aboriginal population

• Employment: In 2006, the employment rate for Aboriginal people of core working age (25 to 54) was 65.8%, compared to 81.6% for non-Aboriginal people in 2006

Systemic Discrimination: Aboriginal Canadians

• Income: The median total income of the Aboriginal population aged 25 to 54 in 2005 was just over $22,000, compared to over $33,000 for the non-Aboriginal population in the same age group.

• Note: The median income for First Nations people living on reserve was just over $14,000

• Justice system: In 2006 Aboriginal people represented 3.1% of all adults 18 years of age and older, but accounted for 25% of adults admitted to provincial/territorial sentenced custody and 18% of all adults admitted to federal custody. Aboriginal adults accounted for 20% of all adults admitted to probation as well as 21% of those admitted to a conditional sentence.

• Victims of Violence: In 2004, there were 319 violent incidents for every 1,000 Aboriginal people compared to 101 incidences for every 1,000 non-Aboriginal people

Systemic Discrimination: Aboriginal Canadians

Holmes on Homes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVB_HqcwZKo

Homework

Read “Justice for Some” article

Make a list of institutions mentioned in the article that systemically discriminate, AND defining racial profiling.