More groups win legal rights: women, farmworkers, Native nations, people with disabilities

Grade 11 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Rights won by amendment and by statute, 1962 to 1973 (cards A to D and a table). Card B, the Equal Pay Act, section 3 (a federal law approved June 10, 1963; Statutes at Large, vol. 77, 77 Stat. 56): "No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate … between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex …" A summary in our words: the rule took effect one year after the law was approved.

2. 1.

   At a bakery, a man and a woman do the same oven job. The man earns more under a written seniority system. Does card B, Ari asks, forbid that gap?

   • No, because card B lets an employer set pay by any written rule, and a seniority system is one such rule
   • Yes, because the seniority exception applies just if the system also measures skill, effort and responsibility
   • No, because a seniority system is among the exceptions card B lists to equal pay
   • Yes, because card B bans a pay gap between a man and a woman in the same job, and a seniority system is no excuse

3. Use this

   Rights won by amendment and by statute, 1962 to 1973 (cards A to D and a table). Card D, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (a federal law approved September 26, 1973; 87 Stat. 394): "No otherwise qualified handicapped individual [the 1973 law's term for a person with a disability] in the United States … shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance …"

4. 2.

   A family restaurant takes no federal money and has no ramp. Does card D, Section 504, reach that restaurant, Esme asks?

   • Yes, because card D bans discrimination 'solely by reason of his handicap', which a missing ramp would be
   • No, because card D covers just programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance
   • No, because card D protects employees of a program but gives no protection to its customers or visitors
   • Yes, because the restaurant is open to the public in the United States, and card D protects 'any otherwise qualified individual'

5. Use this

   Rights won by amendment and by statute, 1962 to 1973 (cards A to D and a table). Card C, Title IX of the Education Amendments, section 901(a) (a federal law approved June 23, 1972; 86 Stat. 373): "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance …" A summary in our words: the law's separate rule on admissions applies only to vocational, professional and graduate schools and to public colleges.

6. 3.

   A private undergraduate college takes federal money but admits only men. Does card C's separate admissions rule, Jun asks, reach that admission policy?

   • No, because that rule reaches just vocational, professional and graduate schools and public colleges
   • Yes, because card C's admissions rule names colleges, and a private undergraduate college is a college
   • No, because the main sentence of Title IX protects students after they enroll but does not decide who is admitted
   • Yes, because a college that takes federal money falls under the admissions rule whatever kind of school it is

7. Use this

   Rights won by amendment and by statute, 1962 to 1973 (cards A to D and a table). Card A, the 24th Amendment in brief (Summary in our words, not a quotation): A poll tax was a fee a person had to pay before voting. Congress passed the amendment on August 27, 1962, and it was ratified on January 23, 1964. The Administrator of General Services certified that the legislatures of 38 states, among them West Virginia, had ratified it. It says no citizen may be kept from voting in a federal election for failing to pay a poll tax or any other tax.

8. 4.

   An amendment needs ratification by three-fourths of the 50 states. Kira reads card A's count of 38 states. Which conclusion is fair?

   • The count shows broad regional support, because West Virginia is among the 38 states that ratified
   • The amendment had 12 states to spare, since 38 of 50 states is far above a simple majority of 26
   • The amendment had a comfortable margin, since 38 states is well above the two-thirds that Congress needs to propose a change to the Constitution
   • The amendment had just enough states, since 38 is the next whole number above 37.5

9. Women's median earnings as a percent of men's

   Columns Year | Percent. Row 1: 1960 | 60.7. Row 2: 1963 | 58.9. Row 3: 1970 | 59.4. Row 4: 1980 | 60.2. Row 5: 1990 | 71.6. The ratio compares full-time, year-round workers; before 1989 it counts civilian workers only. Data: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, table P-40.

10. 5.

    The Equal Pay Act was approved in 1963. What does the table show about women's earnings ratio from 1963 to 1970, Milo asks?

    • The ratio hardly changed, so the Act had no effect on the pay of the women it covered
    • The ratio fell 1.3 points from 1960 to 1970, so the gap grew once the Act passed
    • The ratio rose, which shows that the Act began to close the gap, though slowly
    • The ratio rose 0.5 point, from 58.9 to 59.4, so the gap barely narrowed in the first years
11. 6.

    Which statement about 1980 to 1990 does the table support, Noah asks?

    • The ratio rose 11.4 points, so the pay gap between women and men in the same jobs fell by that much
    • The ratio rose 11.4 points, the largest change between rows, with no reason given in the table
    • The ratio rose 11.4 percent, so women's pay rose 11.4 percent between 1980 and 1990
    • The ratio rose 11.4 points, which shows the Equal Pay Act finally took full effect in the 1980s

12. Use this

    Rights won by amendment and by statute, 1962 to 1973 (cards A to D and a table). Card B, the Equal Pay Act, section 3 (a federal law approved June 10, 1963; Statutes at Large, vol. 77, 77 Stat. 56): "No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate … between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex …" A summary in our words: the rule took effect one year after the law was approved. Table "Women's median earnings as a percent of men's", columns Year | Percent. Row 1: 1960 | 60.7. Row 2: 1963 | 58.9. Row 3: 1970 | 59.4. Row 4: 1980 | 60.2. Row 5: 1990 | 71.6. The ratio compares full-time, year-round workers; before 1989 it counts civilian workers only. Data: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, table P-40.

13. 7.

    What does the ratio leave out that matters when judging the Equal Pay Act in card B, Pia asks?

    • It counts just workers covered by the Act, so it cannot show the pay of women in other jobs
    • It leaves out the cost to employers of paying equal wages, so the Act's success cannot be judged
    • It compares typical pay of all full-time women and men, not women and men in the same jobs
    • It stops in 1990, so it cannot show whether the pay gap narrowed after the Act

14. Use this

    Rights won by amendment and by statute, 1962 to 1973 (cards A to D and a table). Card A, the 24th Amendment in brief (Summary in our words, not a quotation): A poll tax was a fee a person had to pay before voting. Congress passed the amendment on August 27, 1962, and it was ratified on January 23, 1964. The Administrator of General Services certified that the legislatures of 38 states, among them West Virginia, had ratified it. It says no citizen may be kept from voting in a federal election for failing to pay a poll tax or any other tax. Card B, the Equal Pay Act, section 3 (a federal law approved June 10, 1963; Statutes at Large, vol. 77, 77 Stat. 56): "No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate … between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex …" A summary in our words: the rule took effect one year after the law was approved.

15. 8.

    Card A is a summary written today; card B is the 1963 law itself. What is card B better evidence for, Ren asks?

    • Why Congress passed the rule, since a law's text states the lawmakers' reasons
    • Whether the pay gap came from sex discrimination, since the rule bans discrimination
    • How courts read the rule in later cases, since a law's text includes its later interpretation
    • The exact words and exceptions Congress wrote into the rule, not how employers acted

16. Use this

    Rights won by amendment and by statute, 1962 to 1973 (cards A to D and a table). Card D, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (a federal law approved September 26, 1973; 87 Stat. 394): "No otherwise qualified handicapped individual [the 1973 law's term for a person with a disability] in the United States … shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance …"

17. 9.

    Card D says 'handicapped individual', and a bracket explains the term. Why did Tala's textbook keep the old word inside the quotation?

    • A quotation may be updated to today's term, but the textbook left the word as an oversight
    • The card's author chose the term today as a clear way to describe the group that the law covered then
    • The term shows that Congress in 1973 did not see equal rights as the aim of the law
    • The words are the 1973 law's own, so the quotation keeps its term and a bracketed gloss explains it

18. Use this

    Rights won by amendment and by statute, 1962 to 1973 (cards A to D and a table). Card B, the Equal Pay Act, section 3 (a federal law approved June 10, 1963; Statutes at Large, vol. 77, 77 Stat. 56): "No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate … between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex …" A summary in our words: the rule took effect one year after the law was approved.

19. 10.

    A woman with no union contract was paid less than a man for equal work on March 1, 1964. Could Zee's cousin use card B's rule then?

    • Yes, because the law was approved in June 1963 and nine months had passed by March 1964
    • Yes, because the one-year wait applied just to workers under union contracts, and she had no such contract
    • No, because the rule took effect one year after June 10, 1963, which came after that date
    • No, because for workers with no union contract the rule took effect two years after approval