Discrimination – Women And Aboriginals Essay, Research Paper

Discrimination is any situation in which a group or individual is treated differently based on something other than individual reason, usually their membership in a socially distinct group or category. Such categories would include ethnicity, sex, religion, age, or disability.

Two types of discrimination my essay will include are Women?s Rights and Indigenous Australians and the One Nation Party.

Women?s RightsUntil the second half of the 20th century, women in most societies were denied some of the legal and political rights accorded to men. Although women in much of the world have gained significant legal rights, many people believe that women still do not have complete political, economic, and social equality with men.

Throughout much of history, deep-seated cultural beliefs allowed women only limited roles in society. Many people believed that women?s natural roles were as mothers and wives. These people considered women to be better suited for childbearing and homemaking rather than for involvement in the public life of business or politics. Widespread belief that women were intellectually inferior to men led most societies to limit women?s education to learning domestic skills. Well-educated, upper-class men controlled most positions of employment and power in society.

Until the 19th century, the denial of equal rights to women met with only occasional protest and drew little attention from most people. Because most women lacked the educational and economic resources that would enable them to challenge the prevailing social order, women generally accepted their inferior status as their only option. At this time, women shared these disadvantages with the majority of working class men, as many social, economic, and political rights were restricted to the wealthy elite. In the late 18th century, in an attempt to remedy these inequalities among men, political theorists and philosophers asserted that all men were created equal and therefore were entitled to equal treatment under the law. In the 19th century, as governments in Europe and North America began to draft new laws guaranteeing equality among men, significant numbers of women?and some men?began to demand that women be accorded equal rights as well.

Women?s Rights Today The status of women?s rights today varies dramatically in different countries and, in some cases, among groups within the same country. Many disparities persist between women?s legal rights and their economic status. Women today constitute nearly 70 percent of the world?s poor, despite international efforts to compensate women and men equally in the workplace.

Indigenous AustraliansPauline Hansen?s One Nation Party made its first appearance in September 1996. The aim of the One Nation Party was to make sure that all Australians, no matter what their race, were treated equally with not one group receiving more benefits than another. For example Aboriginals receiving more benefits than non-Aboriginals.

In Pauline Hansen?s maiden speech she said:

?Present governments are encouraging separatism in Australia by providing opportunities, land, money and facilities available only to Aboriginals. Along with millions of Australians, I am fed up to the back teeth with the inequalities that are being promoted by the government and paid for by the tax payer under the assumption that Aboriginals are the most disadvantaged people in Australia. I do not believe that the colour of one?s skin determines whether you are disadvantaged.”

She also said:

?This nation is being divided into black and white, and the present system encourages this. I am fed up with being told, ?This is our land.” Well, where the hell do I go? I was born here, and so were my parents and children. I will work beside anyone and they will be my equal but I draw the line when told I must pay and continue paying for something that happened over 200 years ago. Like most Australians, I worked for my land; no-one gave it to me.”

I agree with Pauline Hansen when she said this nation is being divided into black and white because it is. Not because they receive more benefits than non-Aboriginal people but because they have their own sporting teams which in most cases won?t allow non-Aboriginal people in, they also have their own pre-schools etc.