by Natalie Case

Created on: October 22, 2009

Gender is, by and large, a construct of the society in which we live. It is a perceived set of norms that we have arrived at over time, based on the collective experience, culture, needs and desires of those that have shaped that society.

Gender roles can vary from society to society and from generation to generation. One need look no further than fifty to sixty years ago to see the truth in that. Fifty to sixty years ago, the workplace was the domain of men. If women worked, it was in specifically female roles.

Discrimination against women, when that began to change, was widespread and normal.

It wasn't based on anything substantial, such as intelligence or skills or training. Discrimination was based on gender, on nothing more than the biological difference between men and women. Over time, we, as a society came to recognize that this kind of discrimination was not only wrong, but it did a disservice to our entire society, not just the women involved.

For one thing, there was the matter of talent. Slowly we discovered that some of those women we were not hiring, not promoting, not letting out of the Steno-Pool, were talented leaders, brilliant business people, inspired idea creators. For another, there was the increasing divorce rate, that left the working mother trying to support a household on the meager pay of whatever job she could find. Denying that woman the right to support herself and her family meant greater numbers of people enrolled on welfare programs.

It took us a while to realize our outdated norms needed retrofitting, but eventually we figured out that discriminating against someone based on their body structure was stupid, wrong, and ultimately self destructive. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal for any employer to discriminate in any way against any person based on their race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Currently there is no State or Federal law that explicitly prohibits discrimination of transgendered or transsexual individuals, although there are some localities (cities and counties) that have enacted laws to expressly forbid such discrimination. California in particular has at least four such locations; San Francisco, City and County of Santa Cruz and West Hollywood, according to http://www.transgenderlaw.org.

The interpretation of Title VII has, in the past, not included transgendered people. See Ulane v. Eastern Airlines, Inc., 742 F.2d 1081 (7th Cir. 1984), 471 U.S. 1017 (1985), which held that

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