Let's talk about the pros and cons of discrimination in the USA. I'm sure you are thinking to yourself why I have included pros and cons in my opening statement. Aren't there only bad things that result in discrimination? Well, the answer in most cases is yes. When we discriminate, a negative outcome usually results. However, let's say you are an employer of a business. And the government has told you that you must hire a certain number of women, or a certain percentage of black and white people. This would restrain you from hiring, promoting, and firing your employees. Ok, let's take a step back and discuss why in some cases, individual freedom to choose or discriminate who will work for you can be a good thing. During the past forty years, the American government has put rules in place to increase the protection of the environment and groups such as minorities, women workers, and consumers. These new rules have resulted in numerous regulations and new bodies of law, which in some cases have resulted in extreme policies, like the one I described before about an employer not being able to select an employee of his or her choice based on sex or color. As a result, opponents argue that individualism has been lost with these new laws. On the other side of the coin, some anti-discrimination proponents argued against the traditional division of occupational roles between men and women. These arguments led to major legal cases, which in turn led to strong requirements to recruit women for jobs usually held by men such as skilled manual and mechanical work on construction sites.