| Sex discrimination in the workplace presents one of the most significant problems for women in the twentieth century. American women had remained without legal recourse over issues of employment discrimination until the passage of Title VII, an important, but relatively unknown segment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In theory, Title VII had the explosive potential to eliminate all barriers hindering women's advancement in the workplace. Thus, this law marked the most significant piece of legislation for women since the Nineteenth Amendment was born in 1920.;Yet, change came slowly. Despite the revolutionary promise of this bill to ensure equal opportunity for women alongside of other minority groups, the subsequent enforcement of Title VII produced a seesawing pattern of hard won gains and disappointing losses for women. Conservative congresspersons, cautious business and labor coalitions, ambivalent administrators, and hesitant judges resisted the notion that women's primary role could be one of worker not mother. Despite such stumbling blocks women workers boldly fought for workplace equity as they challenged protective legislation, marital restrictions, tenure discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, and pay inequity in federal court.;This dissertation provides an historical analysis of working women's challenges to workplace injustices through their use of Title VII from 1964-1980. It chronologically traces legislative amendments to the bill, waffling administrative guidelines established by the EEOC, and fluctuating judicial rulings in federal court. However, most importantly, it illuminates working women's significant contributions to the shaping of twentieth century discrimination law through their courageous and novel court challenges. |
