Career Development and Gender, Race, and Class in The United States Essay

Career Development and Gender, Race, and Class in The United States - Essay Example In career development, gender, class and race play a vital role in the life and experience of people. The analysis of race, class or gender enables us to differentiate between thinking relationally and thinking comparatively. In career development, people think comparatively upon learning the experiences other than theirs and then contrast and compare the life experiences of other groups of people. This is where the minority is suppressed especially in cases where development of career in based on majority or discriminated on the basis of race, gender or class. On the other hand, relational thinking entails seeing the existing interrelationships within experiences of diverse groups. When one thinks relationally, they see a social structure that generate history of unique groups simultaneously and together link them in the society. This does not imply that the experiences of minorities are similar to those of the majority group. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss career developmen t and compare the oppressions of gender, race and class. The paper also seeks to discuss the struggles of the minorities and women in general. Career development, gender, race and class are key elements in the life of the minorities who are basically discriminated against based on their limiting factors. African Americans are one of the minority groups who have continuously struggled to curb the discriminations against them by other groups based on race and even religion. For instance, in the early centuries of the republic, Jews and Catholics were denied, in some states, the right to vote. The Jews, Irish, and other immigrants continuously faced a long duration of de facto discrimination in educational opportunities, housing, and employment. In the struggle against such discriminations, the civil rights struggle only involve the racial minorities, as demonstrated by the status of homosexuals, the disabled, and women. Women have also struggle greatly to end the discriminations again st them in various states formerly. For instance, until late 1860s, women were prevented or restricted from owning property in many states. The right of women to vote was not even protected constitutionally until the Nineteenth Amendment ratification in 1920. This was not until the 1964 Civil Rights Act added sex on the list of bases to which people could not be discriminated against. Among other characteristics to which people could not be discriminated according to the Civil Rights Act 1964 were age, race, religion, and national origin. The women struggled through feminism movements to run campaigns against discriminations based on gender and sex (Fitzgerald 116). Other minority groups that have struggled against discriminations included Hispanic Americans who struggled to increase their access to education and increase their voter registration numbers. Their struggle led to the amendment of the Voting Rights Act in 1975, which demanded that the materials of elections be made avai lable in the language of the minority groups including Spanish. The other minority group is the Native Americans who also struggled to stop discrimination and long standing neglect against them. The groups struggled through the American Indian Movement that was aimed to recover their heritage, culture and land issues. Homosexuals have also continually struggled for equal rights. Since early 1980s,