Today in Herstory: Two Victories Have Been Won Against Workplace Gender Discrimination!

[niyad]

Today in Herstory: Two Victories Have Been Won Against Workplace Gender Discrimination!

June 9, 1970: Two long overdue developments today, one in regard to an Executive Order by a former President, and another about a Task Force appointed last year by the present Chief Executive.


The President’s Task Force on Women’s Rights and Responsibilities. The Task Force was chaired by Virginia R. Allan, and the report signed by Elizabeth Athanasakos, Ann R. Blackham, P. Dee Boersma, Evelyn Cunningham, Ann Ida Gannon, Vera Glaser, Dorothy Haener, Patricia Hutar, Katherine B. Massenburg, William C. Mercer, Alan Simpson and Evelyn E. Whitlow.

Though it certainly took a while, guidelines have finally been issued specifying what kinds of sex discrimination in the workplace were barred by President Johnson’s Executive Order issued on October 13, 1967. The order required equal opportunity and equal treatment of women by contractors and subcontractors when they do business with the Federal Government, but it didn’t say exactly what constituted illegal treatment.

The new guidelines were issued by the Labor Department at a White House briefing, and they ban a number of common practices. Newspaper “Help Wanted” ads may no longer specify whether the employer is looking to fill the position with a man or a woman, unless it can be shown that gender is a “bona fide occupational qualification” for the job. It is also now illegal to penalize women for taking time off to give birth, or to bar mothers of young children from being hired unless fathers of young children are similarly banned. Specific job classifications may no longer be made off-limits to women, and separate seniority lists based on sex are unlawful. Enforcement can begin immediately, and will be the responsibility of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance.

Unfortunately, establishing these guidelines is the only part of the 33-page report by the President’s Task Force on Women’s Rights and Responsibilities that President Nixon accepted. The report itself was completed and submitted on December 15th, but was suppressed by the White House until today, though some parts of it have leaked out.

The Task Force, announced with great fanfare by President Nixon on October 1st of last year, and headed by Virginia R. Allan, gathered information about sex discrimination in the U.S., and made recommendations about how to end it in its report entitled “A Matter of Simple Justice.”


. . . .

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2015/06/09/today-in-herstory-two-victories-have-been-won-against-workplace-gender-discrimination/