CD1-track12
Discrimination
1. What is the lecture mainly about?
A The development of anti-discrimination regulations.
B The disadvantages of anti-discrimination laws.
C The advantages of anti-discrimination laws.
D The development of women’s right to equality.
(A)
2. According to the lecture, what are the main changes since the 1970s? (Click on 3
answers)
A Most jobs became open to
ethnic1 groups.
B The word used to refer to the fireman was changed.
C Women began to be trained together with men in the military.
D Individualism has been reflected in the hiring process.
E Women were allowed to flight in the battlefield like men did.
(A,B,C)
听力原文：
CD1-track12
Discrimination
Let's talk about the
pros2 and
cons3 of discrimination in the USA. I'm sure you are
thinking to yourself why I have included pros and cons in my opening statement.
Aren't there only bad things that result in discrimination? Well, the answer in nost
cases is yes. When we
discriminate4, a negative outcome usually results. However ,
let's say you are an employer of a business and the goverment has told you that you
must hire a certain number of women or a certain percentage of black and white
people. This would restrain you from hiring , promoting and firing your emplyees,
Okay, let's take a step back and discuss why in some cases individual freedome to
choose or discriminate who will work for you can be a good thing. During the past 40
years , the American goverment has put rules in place to increase the protection of the
environment and groups such minorities, women, workers and consumers. These new
rules have resulted in numerous regulations and new bodiew of law, which in some
cases have resulted in extreme policies like the one I described before about
an employer not being able to select an employee of his or her choice based on sex or
color. As a result, opponents argue that individualism had been lost with these new
laws. On the other side of the ccoin, some anti-discrimination
proponents5 argued
against the traditional division of occupational roles between men and women, These
arguments led to major legal cases, which in turn led to stong requirements to recruit
women for jobs usually held by men such as skilled manual and mechanical work on
construction sites. The U.S. Congress also allowed the entry of women into the
military academies, In fact, a strong effort was made, particularly those directly involved in combat, but also to train women together with men. Another
anti-discriminatory example involves the Department of Justice, which began to
change the rraditional names of specfic jobas from firemen and policemen fo
firefighters and police officers and required local police and fire forces to hire women
police officers and fire fighters. Discriminatory exminations snd tests, in both the
public and private sextors, wer soon abolished and soon every business was toled to
avoid favoring one sexs over another for specific jobs. These new laws resulted in the
progress of equiliby, because most occupations were now open to women and noen
were closed to people of color.
