The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights of 1964 banned any segregation in places of public accommodation like parks, courthouses, hotels, theaters, restaurants, and sports arenas. The Act forbade segregation based on race, religion, or country of origin and gave people of all races the liberty to access public accommodation places without being arrested or harassed (Act, 1964). Black Americans and other racial minorities in the United States could no longer be denied essential services based on the color of their skin.
Apart from addressing the issue of racial segregation in public areas, Title VII of the Act prohibits labor unions and employers from discrimination during employment and recruitment procedures on the grounds of race, gender, religion, and country of origin. The Act also established an Employment Opportunity Commission, which can sue labor unions and employers in any court of law on behalf of workers who feel that there has been racial injustice (Act, 1964). People of all races and gender have equal opportunities for employment, employment, and salary increase based on their qualifications rather than discriminating using physical characteristics like skin color, gender, and religion.
Title IV of the Act prohibited racial segregation in all public institutions of learning and granted the U.S. Attorney General the authority to file cases in court to ensure that the Act is enforced across the nation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also prohibited the use of funds from federal agencies for programs that promote discrimination of any kind. Recipients of federal funds found in violation of Title IV would be barred from receiving funds from the federal government (Act, 1964). In general, the Act addressed the issue of discrimination against racial, religious, and gender minorities in public places, education institutions, and employment, therefore, giving every American citizen equal opportunities.
Hidden Figures Movie
The movie Hidden Figures is an American film that was produced in 2016. The director of this biographical drama film is Theodore Melfi, and it is based on a real-life story as written by Margot Lee Shetterly. Margot Lee Shetterly highlights the story of black female mathematicians who used to work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the time of the Space Race. The star in the film is Taraji P. Henson, who plays the role of Katherine Johnson, who is a mathematician that did calculations for flight trajectories for several missions at NASA (Ikawati, 2018). Also featured in the film is Octavia Spencer playing the role of Dorothy Vaughan, who was a supervisor at NASA and even a mathematician, and Janelle Monae playing the role of Mary Jackson, an engineer at NASA.
The film, which was shot in 2016 in Atlanta, portrays the struggles that black people, especially women, had to endure while working at NASA. The black women worked in a segregated station meant for blacks only and could only use the colored bathrooms (Condon 2018). The three main characters manage to rise to higher levels within NASA through their unique abilities and prove to the white male-dominated organization that black women also have what it takes to be beneficial to the mission. Catherine manages to use her genius brain to calculate the landing trajectory for the space mission, which much impresses her Supervisor (Ikawati, 2018). When Mary gets assigned to the space capsule, she notices that the design is flawed and gets more determined to further her studies to become an engineer at NASA. She later attains her dream after petitioning the court to allow her to study in a whites-only college.
The third woman, Dorothy, is denied the chance to be a supervisor because there are no plans to have a colored supervisor. However, when she learns that IBM 7090 electronic computers are about to be installed and will replace human computers, she takes up an interest in learning to control the computers and successfully learns. She also steals a book from the library and manages to teach herself about programing and later trains her co-workers (Condon, 2018). Her skills enable her to get a supervisory position in the programming department. As a result of the immense contributions of the three white women, NASA successfully launches Friendship 7 into space and manages to land safely in Hawaii.
There are incidences of racial discrimination throughout the film. Inequality is first shown through the segregation of the black female human computers, which can only work in people of color’s workstations and rarely interact with the white people. The space Task group is composed of only white men, and Catherine is lucky to be the only black person in the room due to her excellent skills in analytic geometry (Hernandez, 2019). While there, she faces a lot of discrimination as she cannot share the same coffee pot as the other white people and has to walk half a mile to the bathroom meant for people of color (Ikawati, 2018). The black people are always looked down upon by white people; for example, even though Dorothy is performing duties of a supervisor, she is informed that there are no plans to hire a supervisor for the colored section. There are also many obstacles for Blacks in pursuing their goals and getting the opportunities they desire. For example, despite Mary having the relevant degree to be a NASA engineer, she still must obtain additional training, which is only offered in whites-only institutions of higher learning. She, however, petitions the court and is allowed to attend night classes and pursue her dream.
Apart from issues of racial inequalities highlighted in the film, women are also discriminated against in many instances. The Space Task Group is only composed of white males, and the only women available play junior roles as secretaries. Catherine becomes the first woman to be on the team as women are seen as being incapable of discharging their duties efficiently (Hernandez, 2019). There is a belief that women are not capable of handling complex tasks, as is seen when Lt. Col. Jim Johnson is skeptical about Catherine’s ability to do complex geometrical equations at NASA. Another incident of gender inequality is seen when Mary is allowed to study at Hampton High School as she is the only female in the entire classroom.
4 Requirements for What Should be included in Employee handbook
The employee handbook should contain an at-will employment clause, which states that the employment agreement can be terminated by either the employee or employer whenever necessary. The first parts of the handbook should also contain a statement on equal employment opportunities to assure the employees that each person has a fair chance of employment and upward mobility regardless of their race, gender, or religion (Bernardin and Joyce 2013). Also included in the statement on conflict of interest, confidentiality agreement, and the organizational structure.
The employer also needs to include the code of conduct policy of the organization. This is important as it provides the limits in the behavior or conduct of the employee even as they discharge their duties. Some of the essential aspects of the code of conduct include the dress code policy, policies against harassment of any kind, disciplinary actions to be taken against policy violators, and policies promising drug use (Cushway, 2012). The manual must also offer sufficient information on the office environment describe when and where the employees are expected to do to ensure that work flows smoothly. Here, working hours are highlighted, policies on working from home, and use of company equipment, among others.
The manual also should highlight the communication policies which dictate how the employees should interact with their leaders and team members. Also important to be included is information on compensation and performance reviews, which highlight the schedule for payrolls, deductions, and bonuses, among other vital issues (Bernardin and Joyce 2013). Employee benefits are also highlighted in the employee handbook as well as policies that are applicable if a person decides to quit the job, or if they get fired.
References
Act, C. R. (1964). Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII, Equal Employment Opportunities.
Condon, B. B. (2018). Hidden Figures: A Humanbecoming Movie Review. Nursing science quarterly, 31(2), 201-202.
Cushway, B. (2012). The employer’s handbook 2012-13: an essential guide to employment law, personnel policies, and procedures. Kogan Page Publishers.
Hernandez, R. (2019). To What Extent Does the Movie ‘Hidden Figures’ Inform High School Students on the Contributions Made by African American Women in the Field of Astronomy?.
Ikawati, L. (2018). Afro-American Women Discrimination on Hidden Figures movie: A Critical Discourse Analysis (Doctoral dissertation, SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY).
John Bernardin and Joyce E.A. (2013) Human Resource Management Russell McGraw-Hill Irwin – 6th Edition –ISBN-13: 978-0077602963