One example of a class-action lawsuit brought against the USDA is when
women farmers sued it in 2001. They claimed there to be gender discrimination
within the delegation of farm loan programs. I think the plaintiffs in these
lawsuits were justified. For instance, when one Floridian woman farmer tried to
apply for a loan to start a farm, she was told that there were no applications
available. Her husband, on the other hand, was easily able to access an
application. This does not undoubtedly point to gender discrimination, but it
certainly implies that there could be. Later, when she was specifically told by
an FSA loan officer that women cannot run farms is when it becomes clear that
there exists blatant gender discrimination. This situation happened to her not
once, but twice.
One potential solution is that there could be better screening and
hiring regarding the employees that possess the power to process these loan
applications. According to this case study there seem to be too many
disturbingly sexist men at the helm. By making sure these officers are less
discriminatory there will be less discrimination.
The attacks against the USDA are most certainly justified. It’s
incredible that the comments being made by the employees were being made in the
past 30 years.
I think that your potential solution is a great idea. However, many of the current employees at the USDA have been there for a long time which is why cases of discrimination have still occurred in recent years. Do you think the USDA should fire these employees? One solution to this issue would be to require all employees to attend yearly diversity conferences.
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