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Women win largest sex discrimination suit

J M Shenoy

Jahanara Hasan had given up the hope that there will be a judgment at all but on Tuesday she heard that she, along with over 1,100 women who had worked for Voice of America, had won a $ 508 million judgment against the government agency.

The case was filed nearly 23 years ago. It is the largest sex discrimination case victory against the government in America since the Civil Rights Act was installed in 1964.

The government has to shell out more than $ 35 million in back pay and fees for the lawyers which could come to about $ 12 million.

"We have won the war, a just war," said 56-year-old Hasan, who was rejected for a position of Bengali broadcaster, in favor of what she described a less qualified man.

"The United States, being one of the greatest advocates of human rights, should not allow its officials to bring dishonor to the country," Hasan, who works as a translator in Washington DC, told the media.

Attorneys for the women had argued the United States Information Agency, which ran VOA and is now part of the State Department, routinely manipulated the hiring process to keep women out. They alleged in the court the agency "rigged the system" and altered test results to favor men.

"A woman's place is at the stove, not on the air," a man told a woman employee, according to Bruce Fredrickson, the lead attorney for the women.

Fredrickson asserted the suit had sent a message to the American government and its employees worldwide that the cost of discrimination is high. If the government continues to fight the cases, the cost of discrimination becomes "enormous," he added.

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