The goal of equal employment opportunity statutes is to enforce the Constitutional notion of equality. The legislation has been necessary because the definition of equality, and to whom it applies, has needed to address changing public opinion of what those definitions mean in daily life. Over the decades, women fought for and gradually received the legal right to that equality, from suffrage to employment to the military to executive suites.
Having the legal right is one step. Ensuring that the rights afforded by our Constitution are received is quite another.
Since a democracy means rule by majority through elected representatives, there is always a minority segment that may range from very small, to nearing the size of the majority. The minority of people who either oppose equality for women in some number of circumstances, or who just don’t care that much about it, can typically subvert legislated mandate for Constitutional equality. They can subvert it by simply doing nothing pro-actively to increase the kind of equality that they may disagree with. Some subvert it by acting to actually oppose the achievement of equality, making conscious decisions that result in continued differences in opportunity, pay, position and advancement. These are influential reasons why women still make about 25-30% less than men in equivalent jobs with equivalent performance, and are not found in positions of authority proportional to their demographic representation.
Enforcement agencies are created or assigned when laws are passed, recognizing this fact. However, the cost of enforcement and the practical realities of monitoring keep the parties opposing equality alive, in that a certain level of infraction becomes almost “safe” for those who violate the laws. Government prosecutors must focus on big cases which can affect a larger pool of organizations and people, simply out of a need to be efficient with limited budgets. This serves as a cost-effective warning to other similar organizations. Civil litigators are speculators whose financial incentives are built around finding a company with deep pockets who’s made a stupid mistake on a type of case that carries stiff monetary penalties. So the preservation of inequality, as defined by our Constitution and subsequent laws, percolates along below the radar, in most organizations.
To fill this “enforcement gap”, many minorities have created organizations to ensure that the Constitutional rights they should expect are actually received. Like any other organization, these coalitions are not perfect and sometimes can even behave in ways that are hypocritical or contradictory. Humans are involved, right? The rationale for the existence of such promotional entities is clear, however. And some of them are outstanding.
Athena San Diego is an impeccable organization of over 500 professional and executive women and men in San Diego. Its mission is professional growth through education and collegial relationships for executive women. Its mission is also to prepare the next generation of women to succeed in a business world that our democracy has said should be an even playing field for both genders. But it isn’t yet.
We need Athena in San Diego, and organizations like it throughout the country. The presence of these supporting entities creates another avenue for achievement of Constitutionally-mandated equality. I hope someday such organizations are irrelevant. Wouldn’t it be a scene, sometime in the not-too-distant future…
“Dad?” my thirty-five year old daughter Leah asks.
“Yes?” I reply.
“Why are we here at a huge party celebrating the end of Athena?” she asks. “Isn’t it a sad thing that the organization is going away? Why’s everyone so happy?”
“How would you feel if you had just won a 1,000 mile foot race, barefoot over gravel?” I ask her. “Athena and women everywhere no longer need to fight to be equal. Women have achieved what they set out to do centuries ago.”
“Wow. I just can’t imagine a time when it was any different” she muses. “I’m glad it’s the way it is now, though!”
“Me too!” I say. “Oh, can I borrow your car and $250 for gas? Mine’s in the shop.”
Hey, women are equal, right?