New developments concerning marital status discrimination

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore new developments concerning marital status discrimination. This will start with the principle of equality among citizens in a democratic society. The limits of statutory rights, as challenged by personal prejudice and institutionalised systematic practices of discrimination, will be addressed. The historical limitation of some groups of the population in benefiting from statutory equal rights and the attempts to remedy this limitation shall be visited. After exploring the general conceptual issues related to equality, discrimination as related to marital status will be defined and discrimination issues in relation to marital status shall be identified. This will be followed by detailed analysis of the manifestation of discrimination experienced by individuals due to their marital status. Although the types of real or alleged discrimination experienced by people of different marital status are broad, the focus will be on the major ones: housing, employment, credit and insurance. In looking at the new trends and developments, an attempt will be made to identify applicable laws that are meant to prevent or to remedy any marital status related discrimination. Opinions and stands of opposing interest groups, governmental and non‐governmental agencies shall be looked at. Some applicable case law in some states in the United States of America shall be explored. Possible future trends will be pinpointed.

Citation

Gebremeskel, D. and Kleiner, B.H. (2002), "New developments concerning marital status discrimination", Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 21 No. 8, pp. 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610150210787253