A woman weighing 240 pounds had been denied a job as anaerobics instructor by a for-profit fitness center. She sued underSan Francisco law, which prohibits discrimination based onappearance, arguing that she had been leading aerobics classes forfifteen years. Was she being discriminated against because of herweight? In other words, was this pure discrimination? Or was shenot hired because her potential employer felt that her weight wouldensure that few or no clients would take her classes? Was this asound commercial decision based on her likely productivity? It isimpossible to decide between these two possibilities, and this istrue generally in cases where the source of potential bias isconsumer preferences. The same arguments can be made aboutdiscrimination against minorities or women: Businesspeople couldalways rationalize a refusal to hire on grounds that hiring wouldbe bad for business. If determining the underlying cause is sodifficult, in the end, we have to decide which groups to protect onpolitical, not economic, grounds.
500 to 700 words ... essay
