Sonia Pressman Fuentes on Rights of US Women
Hi friends of women in science,
Sonia Pressman Fuentes, a founding member of NOW and a prominent civil rights lawyer who had a front row, active seat for the development of most of the rights working women today have, has again agreed to write a guest piece for the Forum. She has covered this material on the Forum before, but this is a refresher course for us. She is worried that so many women don't seem aware of the rights for which she and others fought, and which are supported by law today. Please read her guest posting below and pass on the very helpful knowledge of our legal standing to all the women you know who need to hear this. Thanks so much to Sonia!
cheers, Laura
US Women Have Secured Many Rights Since 1964: Do You Know What They Are?
I became involved in women's rights in 1963 when I testified on behalf of
the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) before a Congressional Committee
in favor of the Equal Pay bill, which was passed later that year and became
effective in 1964. It required equal pay for equal or substantially equal work without regard to gender.
In 1965, I became the first woman attorney in the Office of the General
Counsel at the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), which
enforced Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which became effective
in 1965. Among other things, Title VII prohibited discrimination based on gender
in all terms and conditions of employment by covered employers, labor
unions, and employment agencies.
In addition to Title VII, which is federal legislation, states and localities also have fair employment practice laws, and complaints of discrimination can be filed with the appropriate state and municipal agencies.
While at the EEOC, in 1972, I drafted the Commission's Guidelines on Pregnancy and Childbirth. Those Guidelines were later adopted by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which amended Title VII. My discussion of women's rights in connection with pregnancy and childbirth was contained in a 2010 article on Scitable's website at http://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/women-in-science/sonia-pressman-fuentes-on-pregnancy-leave-parental-13179251. In addition to discussing rights in connection with pregnancy and childbirth under Title VII, that article also discusses the Family and Medical Leave Act. The discussion of federal law contained in that article with regard to parental rights to pay and leave in connection with pregnancy and childbirth remains true to this day.
There are other federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender.
The Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968) outlawed the refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of gender, among other things.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibited educational institutions, from preschools through colleges and universities, that received federal funds from discriminating on the basis of gender against students and all employees, including administrative personnel and faculty members. Title IX is generally in the news with regard to discrimination in the equality of expenditures for school athletic programs but its reach goes way beyond that area.
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), enacted in 1974, makes it unlawful for any creditor to discriminate against any applicant with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction on the basis of gender, among other things (provided the applicant has the capacity to contract).
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is not focused on discrimination based on gender but it does offer protection to women, as well as men, who have a physical or mental disability. It requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities if the employer can do so without imposing an undue burden on its business.
There are also presidential executive orders that have granted women rights. Executive Order 11375, signed in 1967, amended Executive Order 11246, and banned discrimination on the basis of gender in hiring and employment in both the federal workforce and on the part of covered contractors and subcontractors of the federal government. Executive Order 11375 requires contractors and subcontractors of the federal government to take affirmative action to hire and promote women or risk the loss of millions of dollars in government contracts.
I have been speaking and writing about these rights acquired by American women since the early 1960s for the past forty-eight years, as have many others. Nonetheless, women's knowledge of their rights is abysmal. It is distressing that so few working women know what rights they have under current laws and what to do if they feel they may be the victims of unlawful discrimination based on gender. Among the things they may want to do is seek the assistance of their union, if there is one; seek advice from the government agency that administers the law involved; seek the advice of organizations such as their local women's bar association or their nearest chapter of NOW (National Organization for Women); or seek the advice of an attorney who specializes in labor and EEO law.
I've spoken to any number of women who thought the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was the first federal law to mandate equal pay without regard to gender. Actually, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act dealt only with the time within which certain complaints of gender discrimination in pay could be filed. The laws requiring equal pay, the Equal Pay Act and Title VII, have been in effect since 1964 and 1965, respectively.
This is not to say that in the US we have all the constitutional rights and legislation we need to provide equal rights for women. In spite of decades of efforts, the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) to the US Constitution, which would prohibit gender discrimination by state and federal agencies, has shamefully not yet become the law of the land. The US has still not ratified CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women), an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.
In addition, the governmental agencies charged with enforcing these laws need to have their budgets increased so they can
(1) study the effects of the laws they enforce; (2) disseminate information about the laws they enforce; and (3) expeditiously process complaints of discrimination.
Many laws, including those in the equal pay and pregnancy areas, need amending so as to provide more complete protections for women. But it behooves women to know what rights they already have and to make use of existing laws to implement those rights before they become advocates for additional rights.
I cannot give individual legal advice but if I can be of assistance to anyone with regard to the federal laws and executive orders that provide rights for women, please contact me at spfuentes@comcast.net.
You may find it useful to (1) review the articles, audiotapes, and videotapes available on my website at www.erraticimpact.com/fuentes and (2) read my October 2012 speech on the rights women have secured since the early 1960s and some of the major problems that remain. That speech is in the legal repository of Cornell University's School of Law and you can access it at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=avon_clarke
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Thank you Dr. Hoopes for allowing such an invaluable topic to be addressed in your forum. Seeing the insignia of "AAUW" and reading of your work, females in the STEM field have had and still are having to traverse rough waters. Female faculty members worldwide are discriminated daily by pay inequity alone: not to mention opportunities for advancement and research. I could ramble on infinitely on the subject of discriminatory practices against women...
Quite simply, thank you for your dedication and impact on all students who cross and walk along diverse paths in life's journey with you.
Dear Diana:
If you will look at my article on pregnancy and childbirth that appeared on Scitable in 2010, I said there that the US and Australia were the only two industrialized nations that did not provide for paid parental leave, but that Australia would introduce paid parental leave on January 1, 2011. That did indeed happen. So now the US is the only industrialized nation that does not provide for paid parental leave.
Yes, women's organizations are constantly working to get paid parental leave required in the US but that has not yet come to pass regrettably. You can read about it here:
http://www.everymothercounts.org/blog/201307/how-us-stacks-maternity-leave
Hi Sonia--
I'm surprised, looking at the earlier posting that's connected above on pregnancy and childbirth, that US and Australia are the only developed countries where there is no paid childbirth leave. Have there been attempts to get such leave? It makes us seem pretty backward to be one of the last two holdouts!
thanks,
Diana
Hi Bek, Sonia and other friends,
It has been our special pleasure on this Forum that Sonia began to help us with her insights almost from day 1 when I started us off. You are definitely right, Bek, to say she's a treasure and we all value her input. And thanks, Sonia for the kind words!
best,
Laura
Thank you, Bek. This has been my life's work and what I love to do. I am grateful to a very special woman, Dr. Laura Hoopes, for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts and information with you.
Dear Sonia,
This post is wonderfully informative and most certainly, timely. I appreciate your time and willingness to share this with so many: I shall pass this along to as many friends and acquaintances as is possible. For your lifelong devotion to advancing women's rights and continued conviction to further educate our generation and all those yet to come, I kindly thank you.
Millie: The Walmart case is not over yet. It has not been decided on the merits but the court held that the plaintiffs did not establish that a class existed and so it was thrown out for that reason. What happened was a group of women filed a lawsuit claiming they represented the class of all women employees at Walmart nationwide and the court held that they were not representative of all women employed at Walmart.
Now lawyers for the plaintiffs are filing actions in individual states rather than for the women employed at Walmart nationwide. You can read about it here:
http://www.walmartclass.com/public_home.html
Me too! I thought Lilly Ledbetter was the start of Equal Pay. Wow, it's supposed to have been fair for a long time. Tell me about how Walmart got away with what it does, then? I guess some of us are more equal than others (the ones of the male persuasion?)
Hey Laura, way to go getting Sonia to cover this for us. She really knows where it all came from and what the law is. Great stuff!
Millie
Hi Sonia--
No kidding! I had no idea we had such a long legal precedent for fair and equal pay. But it's pretty shameful that we still need more legislation to make it legal for women (and men) to compare salaries, etc. We need to get this right.
I'm going now to read up on the pregnancy and childbirth rules in your earlier article. Thanks!
Livi M
