Discrimination

[hofergregory]

As a member of a Flight Attendant Union where 65 percent of the membership are woman, would it be discriminatory to write a bylaw amendment to require that at least one woman be appointed to the Negotiating Committee.

Does RONR address what may be considered discriminatory practices? I'm asking for a RONR perspective first then if you like from a personal perspective. Should appointees to any committee be based on gender?

[Chris Harrison]

Does RONR address what may be considered discriminatory practices?

No.

[rthib]

Does RONR address what may be considered discriminatory practices? I'm asking for a RONR perspective first then if you like from a personal perspective. Should appointees to any committee be based on gender?

From RONR, all members are equal.

Discriminatory practices would be denying a member who has the right to participate in debate a voting those rights, regardless of the reason.

However, if the membership wishes to amend the bylaws so that a person has to be left-handed and speak Klingon to be on a committee they can.

Is it discriminatory - Yes by definition you are giving a preference to someone based on gender. Is it wrong or not allowed - No.

However, if I were going to speak on the issue from a non-RONR perspective I would simply state this - I judge a person by the content of their character period.

How many of the members are right handed vs left handed? Should the bylaws be written so that they require someone to be left handed on the committee? What about Race? Religion? Eye Color? Height?

For me, I would want the best negotiators on the negotiation committee - period.

[Guest Edgar]

Should appointees to any committee be based on gender?

I can certainly imagine committees where gender might be a relevant factor.

[Rev Ed]

This would not be wrong based on RONR, however you might want to check with a human rights lawyer about this. However, I do not see a problem with this unless the Committee isn't made up of at least three members.

[Trina]

...

unless the Committee isn't made up of at least three members.

Huh??

The relevance of this to an hypothetical rule that at least one woman be appointed is what?

[rthib]

Huh??

The relevance of this to an hypothetical rule that at least one woman be appointed is what?

I think his point is that if with a rule like that you are saying that the person will not be representing the full membership

(If you have a rule that says you have to have a female member to represent the female members, then logic dictates that she is unable to fully represent the entire membership since apparently only members of the same gender can represent you.)

So since that person is inherently biased, that position should not have absolute (Majority) or veto power (can prevent a majority). Thus you would need a committee of three.

[Guest Edgar]

I think his point is that . . .

I think you might want to let the delightfully inscrutable Rev Ed explain his own delightfully inscrutable comments.

[Rev Ed]

But that is my point - thanks for helping.

[Gary Novosielski]

And what was the third gender, again?

[Guest Nancy N.]

(First. My bugbear, original poster hofergregory: possible discriminatoryness is not a member!*)

And what was the third gender, again?

2nd. LOL. Mot juste! Bravo!

(Poor Edgar and Trina, squirming in the restraints of decorousness.)

__________

*Not that "discriminatoryness" is a real word. Get the point.

1.

[sMargaret]

I was going to note that perhaps the bylaws could call for members of each gender to be on the appropriate committee, but then thought that this may lead down to a road of gender checking (prove you actually have XX chromosomes!), or discussions of non-traditional gender identity (aka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender )

I do think it would be less discriminatory to specify that you must have at least one man and at least one woman on the appropriate committee, rather than specify that you must have at least one woman on the committee. However, this is something that the members of the organization must decide - the default RONR answer would be that the members should elect each time who they think will serve best.