Treated someone unfairly because of their race, gender, religion, or other characteristic; to distinguish or differentiate between things.
From Latin 'discriminatus,' past participle of 'discriminare'—'dis-' (apart) + 'crimen' (distinction). Originally meant 'to distinguish,' but evolved to mean 'to unfairly distinguish based on prejudice.'
The word discriminate originally just meant 'to tell apart' or 'to recognize differences'—but society's use of discrimination based on identity is so negative that the word now rarely gets used in its neutral sense!
Discrimination law developed unevenly; gender discrimination was legally recognized later than race (1960s-70s in most jurisdictions). Historical enforcement gaps meant women's discriminatory treatment went unnamed and unredressed for decades.
Use 'discriminated against' to center the harmed party. Be specific: 'discriminated against on grounds of gender' clarifies which axis.
["treated unfairly on the basis of","subjected to bias regarding","excluded due to"]
Women litigators and civil rights advocates (Pauli Murray, Ruth Bader Ginsburg) built the legal theory and cases that made gender discrimination actionable; their intellectual labor created legal remedies now taken for granted.
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