Women at Work: A Book Review
A landmark law and key achievement of the civil rights movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pub. L 88–352) was meant to stop discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin by ending segregation in public places such as schools, and making employment discrimination illegal. But sex wasn’t included in the original bill as a protected class — it was added in at the last minute. In 1964, fewer than half of American women were in the paid labor force, and the Civil Rights Act was the beginning of substantial progress for women in the workforce.
As senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Women’s Rights Project, Gillian Thomas specializes in equal employment opportunity. Her book, Because of Sex: One Law, Ten Cases, and Fifty Years That Changed American Women’s Lives at Work (St. Martin’s Press, 2016, 291p.) puts that knowledge — along with her reverence for those who came before her — on display. “Forging ahead with a sex discrimination lawsuit where the odds of a favorable outcome were so uncertain, and where the culture was still so skeptical of working women, took a special brand of moxie. I wanted to try to know these women, and to tell their stories,” Thomas writes in the book’s introduction.
The book begins with the story of how “sex” was added to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, thereby banning discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, and provides background on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which enforces Title VII. The bulk of Because of Sex is spent examining 10 Supreme Court cases that shaped Title VII, starting in 1977 and continuing to present day. Each chapter of the book covers one case in-depth. Some of the cases highlighted include:
- Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321 (1977) — Dianne Rawlinson’s application for a job as a “correctional counselor” (prison guard) is denied based on height and weight restrictions. Rawlinson, represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, files a class action lawsuit against Alabama Department of Corrections officials, challenging the height and weight requirements. A lower court decided in her favor, but the State of Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled 8–1 that the height and weight restrictions were discriminatory.
- California Federal Savings & Loan Association v. Guerra, 479 U.S. 272 (1987) — Lillian Garland, an employee of California Federal Savings & Loan, took pregnancy disability leave in 1982, and upon return to her job was informed that she had been replaced and no jobs were available for her. She filed a lawsuit alleging violations of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which required employers grant job-protected maternity leave for employees. Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 535 U.S. _, is another case profiled in Because of Sex that discusses the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
- Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., 510 U.S. 17 (1993) — Teresa Harris filed a Title VII action alleging that her employer’s president engaged in conduct that led to a hostile work environment, including harassment on the basis of gender. The Supreme Court found that Harris was often insulted because of her gender, and was subjected to sexual innuendos at work. In a unanimous opinion delivered by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the court gave further clarity to the definition of an abusive or hostile work environment.
Women’s participation in the labor force has nearly doubled since the mid-1950s, from 34% of working age women in the paid workforce in 1950 to 57% in 2016. Because of Sex is a great primer for exploring how women’s rights at work have changed and expanded as the number of women in the paid workforce has grown. (EK)
