Patterns of Inequality - Paradigms for Equality

Tulsa Law Review, Dec 2010

By Rebecca E. Zietlow, Published on 07/01/10

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Patterns of Inequality - Paradigms for Equality

Rebecca E. Zietlow, Patterns of Inequality - Paradigms for Equality Patterns of Inequality - Paradigms for Equality Rebecca E. Zietlow Zietlow: Patterns of Inequality - Paradigms for Equality PATTERNS OF INEQUALITY - PARADIGMS FOR EQUALITY Rebecca E. Zietlow* U. Press 2009). Pp. 273. $39.95. $41.50. GenderEquality: Dimensions of Women's Equal Citizenship (Linda McClain & Joanna Grossman eds., Cambridge U. Press 2009). Pp. 450. $94.99. Ayelet Shachar, The BirthrightLottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality (Harvard One of the paradoxes of the second half of the twentieth century is that despite advances in human and civil rights laws, the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" continues to expand. In the United States, Supreme Court decisions and federal statutes established that racial segregation and gender discrimination are now illegal.I One would expect to see material improvements in the lives of women and people of color of both genders. Yet the gap between the wealth of people of color and whites has widened, 2 and the gender pay gap remains the same as it was in 1970.3 Internationally, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights contains protections against discrimination and guarantees of basic economic benefits.4 Even though developed nations act upon this commitment by providing foreign aid and other assistance, the gap between the standard of living in developed and underdeveloped nations is still * Charles W. Fornoff Professor of Law and Values, University of Toledo College of Law. Thanks to Wyatt Holliday for his excellent research assistance. 1. See e.g. Frontierov. Richardson,411 U.S. 677 (1973) (sex discrimination violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment); Brown v. Bd. of Educ., 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (race segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment); Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000 d-2000d-7 (1964) (prohibiting recipients of federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race); Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000 e-2000e-17 (1964) (prohibiting employers from discriminating on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender and religion); 1972 Education Amendments, 20 U.S.C. §1681 (1972) (prohibiting educational facilities that receive federal funds from discriminating on the basis of sex). 2. Thomas Shapiro, Tatjana Meschede & Laura Sullivan, The RacialWealth Gap IncreasesFourfold(Inst. on Assets and Soc. Policy 2010) (available at http://iasp.brandeis.edu/pdfs/Racial-Wealth-Gap-Brief.pdf) (reporting that the wealth gap between whites and African Americans increased from $20,000 in 1984 to $95,000 in 2007); Rakesh Kochhar, The Wealth of Hispanic Households: 1996 to 2002 (Pew Hispanic Ctr. 2004) (available at http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/34.pdf) (asserting the net worth of Hispanic households relative to white households has dropped from 9.2% in 1996 to 8.9% in 2002). staggering. 5 The contrast between ideals and reality casts doubt on the extent to which law can remedy deeply entrenched societal inequality. At the very least, this paradox suggests flaws in the paradigms which shape our human and civil rights law. This review discusses three books which critically analyze the basic concepts underlying these laws, and outlines reforms to make them more effective for addressing inequality both domestically and internationally. In When Is Discrimination Wrong, Deborah Hellman examines the premises underlying United States antidiscrimination law and suggests a new way of thinking about discrimination that would more effectively address the harm targeted by antidiscrimination measures such as the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.6 In Gender Equality: Dimensions of Women 's Equal Citizenship, the authors suggest an alternative paradigm for equality law, the rights of citizenship, and argue that citizenship provides a basis for addressing root causes of women's inequality, including gender motivated violence and economic disempowerment. 7 In The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality, Ayelet Shachar points out that citizenship can substantially limit rights by drawing lines of exclusion. Shachar argues that birthright citizenship contributes to both global inequality and inequality within the domestic realm. These provocative, eyeopening works are important additions to the ongoing debate over reformulating equality law in the twenty-first century.9 In When Is Discrimination Wrong, Deborah Hellman examines United States antidiscrimination practices to determine when differentiating based on traits is morally and legally culpable, and therefore subject to legal sanctions. 10 Hellman advocates the principle that "all people are equally important from the moral point of view and so are equally worthy of concern and respect."l l According to Hellman, differentiation becomes disc (...truncated)


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Rebecca E. Zietlow. Patterns of Inequality - Paradigms for Equality, Tulsa Law Review, 2010, Volume 45, Issue 4,