In celebration of Women’s History Month, these are significant events affecting women in legal history that have occurred during the time that Vernis & Bowling has been in practice.
- 1971Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation, 400 U.S. 542: The U.S. Supreme Court outlaws the practice of private employers refusing to hire women with preschool children.
- 1972Title IX (Public Law 92-318) of the Education Amendments prohibits sex discrimination in all aspects of education programs that receive federal support.
- 1972In Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438, the Supreme Court rules that the right to privacy encompasses an unmarried person’s right to use contraceptives.
- 1973Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 and Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179: The U.S. Supreme Court declares that the Constitution protects women’s right to terminate an early pregnancy, thus making abortion legal in the U.S.
- 1974Housing discrimination on the basis of sex and credit discrimination against women are outlawed by Congress.
- 1974Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur, 414 U.S. 632 (1974), determines it is illegal to force pregnant women to take maternity leave on the assumption they are incapable of working in their physical condition.
- 1975Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522 (1975), denies states the right to exclude women from juries.
- 1976General Elec. Co v. Gilbert, 429 U. S. 125 (1976), the Supreme Court upholds women’s right to unemployment benefits during the last three months of pregnancy.
- 1978The Pregnancy Discrimination Act bans employment discrimination against pregnant women.
- 1981The U.S. Supreme Court rules that excluding women from the draft is constitutional.
- 1981Kirchberg v. Feenstra, 450 U.S. 455, 459-60, overturns state laws designating a husband “head and master” with unilateral control of property owned jointly with his wife.
- 1981Sandra Day O’Connor is appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as the first woman on the Supreme Court.
- 1984In Roberts v. U.S. Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609 (1984), sex discrimination in membership policies of organizations, such as the Jaycees, is forbidden by the Supreme Court, opening many previously all-male organizations (Jaycees, Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions) to women.
- 1984The state of Mississippi belatedly ratifies the 19th Amendment, granting women the vote.