Hacker News Reader

Comment by j0nathanB | Hacker News Reader

> Why only women?

Women are the largest "protected" class and the most visible, so a good start on getting "protected" classes on more equal footing.

View on HN

Paradoxical how this so call "largest protected class" makes up the majority of the population, majority of college graduates, majority of purchasing decisions, etc - and yet it needs "protection" and laws to force equality of outcomes.

If it's a start towards that, it's anything but good. Do you realize how many protected classes there are? And I'm sure that I could find a larger one than women.

Which one?

Outside of Christianity, and obesity -- which isn't a protected class IIRC -- I can't think of any that make up more than 51% of the population.

The US Black population is around 13%; Hispanic population is closer to 18-19%. Asian and Pacific Islander is around 5%. LBGT population is estimated at around 5-6%; transgender estimated at around 0.3%. Muslims are <2%, and Jews roughly the same. Old people, defined as those over 65, are around 17% and rising to around 24% because of the baby boom. Kids, defined as 0-14 years, are about 18-19%, and are unlikely to be in the company boardroom. About 19% of the population had some sort of disability, with the majority of those being older (50+).

In 2017, 80.4 million workers age 16 and older in the United States were paid at hourly rates, representing 58.3 percent of all wage and salary workers. Minimum wage isn't a protected class though.

"Old people" is actually defined as over 40 as far as protected classes for age discrimination. There are probably more old people than women. Familial status is another.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com