{"id":46815,"date":"2022-02-15T18:19:21","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/womens-rights-workplace"},"modified":"2025-06-17T14:48:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T18:48:19","slug":"womens-rights-workplace","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/womens-rights\/womens-rights-workplace","title":{"rendered":"Women's Rights in the Workplace"},"parent":46811,"menu_order":2,"template":"","class_list":["post-46815","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210590,"intro":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","what-you-need-to-know":null,"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":null},"featured-stories":null,"latest-stories":null,"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"The ACLU works to ensure that all women\u2014especially those facing intersecting forms of discrimination\u2014have equal access to employment free from gender discrimination, including discrimination based on sex stereotypes, pregnancy, and parenting; discrimination in the form of barriers to working in fields from which women have traditionally been excluded; and the systemic undervaluing of work traditionally performed by women.\r\n\r\nAlthough pregnancy discrimination has long been illegal, workers who are pregnant or breastfeeding are often fired or pushed out of the workplace. This practice is rooted in the stereotype that women should be mothers, not workers, and it is reinforced by workplace policies modeled on traditional male norms.\r\n\r\nThe ACLU works to end wage discrimination in the workplace and ensure that all workers\u2014regardless of sex, race, national origin, age, or disability\u2014are able to bring home every dollar they rightfully earn. As a result of discrimination, including employers\u2019 reliance on gender stereotypes, women lack parity with men in earnings. On average, women today earn just 78 cents for every dollar that men earn\u2014an increase of only 17 cents on the dollar since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was enacted. The figures are even more dismal for women of color. Black women are paid only 64 cents and Latinas only 54 cents for every dollar that white men earn. Obstacles such as punitive pay secrecy policies and weak remedies in some of our laws make it difficult to challenge the ongoing wage gap.\r\n\r\nA range of barriers prevent women from having an equal opportunity to succeed in jobs from which they have traditionally been excluded. These can include formal barriers, such as physical ability tests unrelated to job performance or bans on their ability to serve in combat units, but they can also include other forms of discrimination and unconscious bias, including policies that force women out of non-traditional sectors like shipping and factory work when they become pregnant or return to work after having a baby.\r\n\r\nFinally, the work of caring for children, sick family members, and elderly parents has traditionally been assumed to be, and often is, \u201cwomen\u2019s work.\u201d This caregiving work, although essential to society, tends to be undervalued and is often either unpaid (when women combine care for their own families with paid work) or underpaid (when they work in caregiving occupations, such as in nursing homes). Workplace policies still fail to account for these obligations, and workers with child or elder care responsibilities often face sex discrimination and harassment, which inhibits their advancement in the workforce."},"actions":"","drupal-id":196,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women's Rights in the Workplace | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/womens-rights\/womens-rights-workplace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T18:48:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/womens-rights\/womens-rights-workplace\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/womens-rights\/womens-rights-workplace\",\"name\":\"Women's Rights in the Workplace | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:19:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T18:48:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/womens-rights\/womens-rights-workplace\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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