Mitch Teberg, MA Associate Member

Journey for Fair Trade: Gender Equity Activity

Different Approaches to Equality: Case Study
In a State prison all the prisoners were men. Of these, 20% were dangerous sex offenders. Because of the absence of adequate facilities, the prisoners were not classified / segregated according to their offence or level of dangerousness and were scattered throughout the prison. The wardens in this prison were both women and men. The prison authorities issued a regulation providing that the women warders would only do desk jobs, prohibiting them from contact positions with the prisoners. The women wardens challenged the regulation in court. The court upheld the regulation, reasoning that given the volatile nature of this situation in the prison, the greater vulnerability of women to sexual attack justified their exclusion. Do you agree or disagree with the decision of the Court? Give your reasons in terms of its implications for the women. In case of disagreement, please suggest other options in the way the Court could have ruled. Which of the options would you choose and why?
IWRAW Asia Pacific. 2009 Mitch Teberg, MA 2011 International Consultant Sustainable Development / Fair Trade / Womens Rights and Gender Researcher / Trainer / Consultant www.journeyforfairtrade.blogspot.com Posted on: http://journeyforfairtrade.blogspot.com/2011/10/rights-based-approach-to-fair-trade_29.html