Equal employment opportunity
Equal employment opportunity is equal opportunity in employment. Examples of legislation to foster it or to protect it from eroding include the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was established by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to assist in the protection of United States employees from discrimination. The law was the first federal law designed to protect most US employees from employment discrimination based upon that employee's (or applicant's) race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (Public Law 88-352, July 2, 1964, 78 Stat. 253, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000e et. seq.). Employment discrimination entails areas such as firing, hiring, promotions, transfer or wage practices and it is also illegal to discriminate in advertising, referral of job applicants, or classification. The Title is pertinent in companies affecting commerce that have fifteen or more employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is section 705 of the title.
United Kingdom employment equality law
Anti-discrimination law is a recent development. Religious discrimination was first tackled by laws aimed at Roman Catholics. The Papists Act 1778 was the first act that addressed legal discrimination against Roman Catholics, but it was not until the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 that Catholics were considered fully emancipated. A year later, in 1830, debates began on the subject of making similar provisions for Jews. A strong Tory lobby in Parliament prevented any furtherance of this cause until the Religious Opinions Act 1846, although this only went some way towards acceptance of all religious viewpoints. It was only the Reform Act 1867 that saw extension of the vote to every male householder. Women were also marginalised from general social participation. The first changes came at municipal level, particular in the Birmingham Municipal Council from the 1830s. The Chartists from the mid 19th century, and the Suffragettes after the turn of the 20th century lobbied for universal suffrage against a conservative judiciary and a liberal political establishment. In "Nairn v The University Court of the University of St Andrews" (1907), Lord McLaren even proclaimed that it is