Gender study

Introduction

The for-profits organizations are afforded the same rights to exercise their religion as persons and religious identity is defined by the owners. By agreeing to the terms of employment contracts, female workers agree with such an identity.

Discussion

The for-profit organizations enjoy the religious rights provided in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed in 1993, hence they are offered the protection that person have in exercising their religion (Liptak, 2014).  The religious identity of the corporation should be defined by the owners or shareholders since they serve their interests.  The corporation has to take on any issues such as religion, race or gender of the members (primary shareholders) in right circumstances to avert cases of discrimination. The same must apply in case of gender and religion, where it should be able to take on cases whose discrimination is on the basis of gender.

When a corporation argues that providing access to some specific kinds of birth control is a violation to their consciousness, they are making appear as accountable for the possible decisions of the many female workers (Lupu & Tuttle, 2014). By agreeing to work under the employment terms offered in the firm, the female workers are corporations’ rights over their rights.  If the corporations exercise of religious beliefs is driven mostly by political dissent rather than religion,  the debate would have been more about religion and contraception and this means that the individuals women’ rights would have superseded corporation’s rights .  

In case of corporate’s political activism, women should be protected so that their rights to reproduction decisions are not violated by these activities. Their rights should not be entangled in such activities. The corporations have to inform their potential workers that they do not provide cover for birth control, due to religious identity, so that while making decision to work for the firm, the employees are aware of consequences.  The corporations relying on Hobby Lobby cannot been prevented from covering unmarried men’s  drugs such as Viagra since it all boils down to what their religious conscious allows them to engage in.  The previous cover of birth control by Hobby Lobby implies that the implementing ACA may violate Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 if it compels faith-based for –profit corporations to act against their religious beliefs.

Conclusion

The right to exercise religion does not mean that the rights of women to reproductive decisions should be violated. Hence, if the issue of religious rights were driven by organization’s political activism and, women’s rights cannot be suppressed.

References

Lupu, I., & Tuttle, R. (2014). Religious Exemptions and the Limited Relevance of Corporate Identity.

 

Liptak, A., (2014).Supreme Court Rejects Contraceptives Mandate for Some Corporations. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/us/hobby-lobby-case-supreme-court-contraception.html