I. Introduction
With the rise of the modern age economic survival has become difficult for families based on a single income. This economic need along with modern attitudes toward gender equality has resulted in women being represented in the workforce in greater numbers. However, until the 1960’s women faced severe discrimination when trying to enter and maintain a position in the workforce. Often qualified women would be passed over for men with less experience and education. Employers were fearful that women were too emotional and were not equipped to handle the stress of the work environment. Also driving the decision to not hire or promote women was the concern over the additional health care expenses and leave time pregnant employees would require. The road to equal treatment of women in the workforce would begin with the passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically the portion entitled Title VII. While Title VII offered women some projection against discrimination in the workforce the ambiguity of the law would prevent protection on one key area: pregnancy. The legislation that would remove the final discriminatory roadblock to woman in the workforce would come from the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. This momentous act would extend the coverage of Title VII and prevent discrimination of women in employment due to a pregnancy and pregnancy related complications. While the law may have stemmed from a controversial decision by the Supreme Court
II. History of the Law
The first step towards the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act began with the creation of another piece of anti-discrimination legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Primarily the Civil Rights Act was created ...
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...Act is by no means perfect it has certainly paved the way for the ethical and fair treatment of women who choose to get pregnant and remain in the workforce. While
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January 22, 1973 is a day that, in the eyes of many modern feminists, marked a giant step forward for women's rights. On this date the U.S. Supreme court announced its decision in Roe v. Wade, a verdict that set the precedent for all abortion cases that followed. For the first time, the court recognized that the constitutional right to privacy "is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy" (Roe v. Wade, 1973). It gave women agency in their reproductive choices; no longer were they forced to succumb to second rate citizenship as a housewife, a single mother, or a mother in poverty on account of pregnancy.
Many cases are being brought to the Supreme Court because many companies and employers are not cooperating with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Just recently a young women working with UPS was forced into unpaid time off because she was pregnant and was told by her doctor she could not lift more than 20 pounds. She felt that she had been unfairly treated because UPS made accommodations for other workers with disabilities but didn’t offer to make accommodations for her. I think that even though the Pregnancy Discrimination Act is there, many companies and employers are not following it. It is not fair for women who become pregnant to be treated any differently than another worker who has a temporary disability. I think that congress should strengthen this act so that women are not forced to choose between their job and the health of their pregnancy and baby. I think that companies and employers who are not following the rules of this act should be punished in some way. One way could be that if they are not obeying this act, they could be fined. It would make them more likely to follow through and follow the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. With more and more women in the work force, it is obvious at some point a majority of these women will be
No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.
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While the 1960s were a time of advancement for minorities, it was also a time of advancement for women. In 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, which outlawed discrimination in the workplace based on a person’s sex (Foner 944). To ensure that women would have the same opportunities as men in jobs, education, and political participation, the National Organization for women was formed in 1966 (Foner 944). The sixties also marked the beginning of a public campaign to repeal state laws that banned abortion or left the decision to terminate a pregnancy to physicians instead of the woman (Foner 945).
...ke all men, women have the right to chose form themselves, furthermore Trap laws and the Supreme court ruling of the Planned parenthood V. Casey is unconstitutional because they are controlling the choice of women have an abortion. Women with unwanted pregnancies may not able to support or care for the child and may suffer growing up. The Roe v. Wade Supreme court ruling that women should have abortion access with out restriction as long it is with in the first three months of the pregnancy.
Women have the wonderful ability to bring a new life into this world and are granted maternity leave, a certain amount of time after birth to be away from the labor force. However, maternity leave was not always available to women because of the low levels of employed and educated females. In 1978 changing gender norms and increased female labor involvement influenced the passing of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibiting employment discrimination of women due to pregnancy (Smith, Downs, and O’Connell 3). After this legislation, a higher percentage of women in the United States were not only educated but also employed. In 1987, a critical Supreme Court case (California Federal Savings and Loan Association v. Guerra) in California defined
Despite the passage of protective federal legislation in the forms of the Equal Pay Act in 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Acts of 1964, there still exists prominent gender discrimination in the workplace that negatively impacts career advancement for women. This is best seen through the case example of Ann Hopkins. Hopkins was denied a career advancement to partner status within Price Waterhouse solely based on her perceived femininity and not the quality of her previous work for the company. This incident occurred in 1982, roughly 20 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII. Although the Equal Pay Act and Title VII have made great strides towards economic gender equality in the United States, they are by no means complete. The United States needs additional legislation in order to guarantee equal pay for equal work.
While the wage gap was a term first introduced in the early 1940’s, the twenty-first century progress of women’s rights, specific to equal earnings between men and woman, is relevant today and remains greatly influenced by specific historical events. This paper will examine the cultural context of employment for white, middle-class, American women from the early 1920’s to present. Exploring the progression and integration of women into the workforce, detailing the forces and influences for change and examining critical court rulings, this paper will offer a perspective of the imeragey taken from the author.
Age discrimination issue is getting serious with the modernization and industrialization of the United States. However, the issue did not catch policy makers’ attention until WWII (1939-1945). The following part shows the time prior the Age Discrimination of Act 1967.
“The Rights of Pregnant Women.” NARAL Pro-Choice America. 24 March 2004. <http://www.naral.org/Issues/pregnantwomen/> {unrestricted; internet publication}
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 was passed by the United States Congress as an amendment to the sex discrimination section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978 amended TitleVII to require that employers treat maternity leave the same as any other personal or medical leave. (Mathis, R. page 81) Title VII states that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions is a form of sexual discrimination. The PDA is closely related to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. (Mathis, R. page 81) Prior to this Act being passed, there was two cases that was open that specifically dealt with issues of discrimination
Since the time women were eligible to be an employee of a workplace, they have become victims of discrimination. Discrimination is the practice of treating a person or group of people differently from other people (Webster, 2013). Thousands of women have suffered from discrimination in workplaces because they are pregnant, disabled, or of the opposite sex. It is crazy to think that someone would fire a woman because she became pregnant and needed to have some work adjustments ("pregnancy and parenting"). A woman goes through a lot of giving birth to children, and men will never understand the complications a mother encounters during the pregnancy.