A woman could be fired for being pregnant. Single mothers were often coerced into putting their newborn up for adoption. Single mothers were often denied employment. Single pregnant women were often denied entry in college.
The year 1971 marked one small step for women, and one giant leap against sexual discrimination when the Supreme Court ruled that an employer violates Title VII when it refused to hire women with young children while hiring men who are similarly situated.
In 1974, a young Professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued her case before the Supreme Court. Professor Ginsburg maintained that Corning Glass Company violated the Equal Pay Act by paying women less than men for the same work.
In 1975, Professor Ginsburg successfully argued that it was unconstitutional for public employers to require women to take an unpaid maternity leave after the first trimester of pregnancy.
Over the years, Professor Ginsburg, and others, stood before the mighty nine and successfully convinced them that:
It was unconstitutional for women to serve as jurors, only if they volunteered. It was unconstitutional to set the age of majority for women at eighteen and for men at twenty-one, based on the assumption that women needed less education. Gender based distinctions in the payment of social security survivor benefits was based on archaic assumptions regarding a female’s dependency. Unemployment benefits under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program had to be changed because the program provided benefits to families with unemployed fathers, but not to those with unemployed mothers because the presumption was that fathers are primary breadwinners while mother’s employment was secondary.
In the late 1960s when the Virginia Slims ad executive coined the slogan, “You’ve come a long way, baby,” there should have been a big and bold tag line: “You’ve come a long way, but not far enough.”
The greatest weapon available for women to fight sexual discrimination is to recognize that it exists. It’s time for every woman to ban together to make any form of sexual discrimination unconstitutional and illegal.
Veteran author, N.R. Mitgang, has written for the stage and television, and is the co-author of “The Mirror Lied” and “Mr. Bojangles,” and the author of "Bethann: Love creates a will to survive."
A woman could be fired for being pregnant.
Single mothers were often coerced into putting their newborn up for adoption.
Single mothers were often denied employment.
Single pregnant women were often denied entry in college.
The year 1971 marked one small step for women, and one giant leap against sexual discrimination when the Supreme Court ruled that an employer violates Title VII when it refused to hire women with young children while hiring men who are similarly situated.
In 1974, a young Professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued her case before the Supreme Court. Professor Ginsburg maintained that Corning Glass Company violated the Equal Pay Act by paying women less than men for the same work.
In 1975, Professor Ginsburg successfully argued that it was unconstitutional for public employers to require women to take an unpaid maternity leave after the first trimester of pregnancy.
Over the years, Professor Ginsburg, and others, stood before the mighty nine and successfully convinced them that:
It was unconstitutional for women to serve as jurors, only if they volunteered.
It was unconstitutional to set the age of majority for women at eighteen and for men at twenty-one, based on the assumption that women needed less education.
Gender based distinctions in the payment of social security survivor benefits was based on archaic assumptions regarding a female’s dependency.
Unemployment benefits under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program had to be changed because the program provided benefits to families with unemployed fathers, but not to those with unemployed mothers because the presumption was that fathers are primary breadwinners while mother’s employment was secondary.
In the late 1960s when the Virginia Slims ad executive coined the slogan, “You’ve come a long way, baby,” there should have been a big and bold tag line: “You’ve come a long way, but not far enough.”
The greatest weapon available for women to fight sexual discrimination is to recognize that it exists. It’s time for every woman to ban together to make any form of sexual discrimination unconstitutional and illegal.
Veteran author, N.R. Mitgang, has written for the stage and television, and is the co-author of “The Mirror Lied” and “Mr. Bojangles,” and the author of "Bethann: Love creates a will to survive."