Discrimination Against Women With Children

Since women first entered the U.S. workplace, employers have treated women with children differently from other employees. That women’s physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence is obvious. This especially true when the burdens of motherhood are upon her. Nearly a century later, such sex stereotypes remain prevalent, albeit modified in form. Working mothers remain subject to significant restrictions on advancement to higher positions in the workplace.

The EEOC later adopted regulations providing workplace protection specifically for married women : “The Commission has determined that an employer’s rule which forbids or restricts the employment of married women and which is not applicable to married men is discrimination based on sex prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act”. An employer policy or practice, even if not directed against all female employees, is nevertheless discriminatory if a subgroup, such as married women, is singled out for treatment different from that extended to male employees. Similarly, an employer may not select unmarried women with children for adverse treatment. With this marked growth in the employment of married women with children has come an increased reliance of working mothers upon.

Despite the generally unfavorable reception given by courts to cases that raise these issues, some employers have altered their position regarding the workplace role of working mother. In recognition that women with children confront problems in the workplace unique to them, some employers have initiated special career paths, commonly called “mommy tracks” designed specifically to accommodate working mother. Flex-time, part-time, extended maternity leaves and job sharing are some of the workplace variations that typical mommy-track plans offer.

The elimination of the workplace problem that working mothers have long experienced does not appear to be close at hand. Sex bias will continue to corrupt the workplace whenever employers question the appropriateness of the presence of working mothers. Unhappily, the courts give increasing evidence that their views of the protections provided by Title VII for working women with children may not be sufficiently expansive to bring about meaningful change.