Running Head: DISCRIMINATION 1
PHI_445 Week 5 Final Paper, Gender
Discrimination: Goodyear
Gender Discrimination
NAME
PHI445: Personal and Organizational Ethics
Professor
DATE
, DISCRIMINATION 2
Gender Discrimination
Over the years in American history there have been years and tears of gender
discrimination, and when women joined the workforce, these practices continued to carry on. In
this country, there has always been a division of the genders throughout history. Women have
sought to be looked at and treated as equals in the very society that they live and thrive in. In the
case of Lilly Ledbetter vs. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., this issue was very prominent and was
a matter of unethical business behavior. While companies such as Goodyear are in a capitalist
economy and private business, allowing companies to treat their employees in such a manner is
unethical because if one is required to do the same work, then one should get paid the same. It
also keeps the wage gap been men and women distant while giving companies the idea that they
are allowed to treat its employees unfairly while not having to abide by the law, such as the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. Goodyear is not morally justifiable when discriminating an employee’s
wage solely based on their gender.
Lilly Ledbetter was hired in 1979 as a supervisor in the Goodyear tire plant in Alabama,
and over the years was denied merit raises due to her performance evaluations which resulted in
her pension to be less than her male co-workers in the end. She noticed little things throughout
her career but never realized how these little things really made an impact on her life. Working
in a male dominated field, Lilly took many things with a grain of salt because she did not have
all the evidence necessary to build a case prior to her retirement. After retirement, Lilly took all
the information she gained, some of which was anonymous; she decided to take her case to court
for gender pay discrimination in the workforce at the end of her career with Goodyear. Lilly
took her case to civil court where she won was awarded her back pay as well as punitive
PHI_445 Week 5 Final Paper, Gender
Discrimination: Goodyear
Gender Discrimination
NAME
PHI445: Personal and Organizational Ethics
Professor
DATE
, DISCRIMINATION 2
Gender Discrimination
Over the years in American history there have been years and tears of gender
discrimination, and when women joined the workforce, these practices continued to carry on. In
this country, there has always been a division of the genders throughout history. Women have
sought to be looked at and treated as equals in the very society that they live and thrive in. In the
case of Lilly Ledbetter vs. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., this issue was very prominent and was
a matter of unethical business behavior. While companies such as Goodyear are in a capitalist
economy and private business, allowing companies to treat their employees in such a manner is
unethical because if one is required to do the same work, then one should get paid the same. It
also keeps the wage gap been men and women distant while giving companies the idea that they
are allowed to treat its employees unfairly while not having to abide by the law, such as the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. Goodyear is not morally justifiable when discriminating an employee’s
wage solely based on their gender.
Lilly Ledbetter was hired in 1979 as a supervisor in the Goodyear tire plant in Alabama,
and over the years was denied merit raises due to her performance evaluations which resulted in
her pension to be less than her male co-workers in the end. She noticed little things throughout
her career but never realized how these little things really made an impact on her life. Working
in a male dominated field, Lilly took many things with a grain of salt because she did not have
all the evidence necessary to build a case prior to her retirement. After retirement, Lilly took all
the information she gained, some of which was anonymous; she decided to take her case to court
for gender pay discrimination in the workforce at the end of her career with Goodyear. Lilly
took her case to civil court where she won was awarded her back pay as well as punitive
