Because of Sex: One Law, Ten Cases, and Fifty Years That Changed American Women's Lives at Work

by Gillian Thomas

Overview

One of The New York Times’s 10 Books to Read for Women’s History Month

Gillian Thomas's Because of Sex tells the story of how one law, our highest court, and a few tenacious women changed the American workplace forever. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act revolutionized the lives of America’s working women, making it illegal to discriminate “because of sex.” But that simple phrase didn’t mean much until ordinary women began using the law to get justice on the job—and some took their fights all the way to the Supreme Court. These unsung heroines’ victories, and those of the other women profiled in Because of Sex, dismantled a Mad Men world where women could only hope to play supporting roles, where sexual harassment was “just the way things are,” and where pregnancy meant getting a pink slip.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250138088
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	08/08/2017
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,146,950
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

GILLIAN THOMAS is a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Women’s Rights Project. She previously litigated sex discrimination cases at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund). Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and Slate, and she has been interviewed by NPR and The Wall Street Journal, among others. She lives in Brooklyn.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction
1 Women and Children Last—Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation (1971)
2 Breaking Through the Thin Blue Line—Dothard v. Rawlinson (1977)
3 Live Long(er) and Prosper—City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power v. Manhart (1978)
4 A Hostile Environment—Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson (1986)
5 “A Floor, Not a Ceiling”—California Federal Savings & Loan Association v. Guerra (1987)
6 Making “Lady Partner”—Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins (1989)
7 Potentially Pregnant—International Union, United Auto Workers of America v. Johnson Controls, Inc. (1991)
8 Taking It All the Way to “Sandra Fucking Day O’Connor”—Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. (1993)
9 Don’t Shoot the Messenger—Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Company v. White (2006)
10 “Everyone Deserves a Safe Delivery”—Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. (2015)
Epilogue

Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

One strength of the book is [Thomas's] acute awareness of how people have responded to chance accidents, improbable circumstances and unimagined consequences…Like Fred Strebeigh's Equal (2009), Because of Sex is both meticulously researched and rewarding to read. The cases Thomas discusses put the muscle on the new law's bones…Thomas is a gifted storyteller, and the changing circumstances of these women's lives as their cases drag on, along with the unpredictability of the courts, give her plenty to work with.

The New York Times Book Review - Julie Berebitsky

01/25/2016
ACLU attorney Thomas does a stellar job of illustrating how Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act has dramatically improved working conditions for American women in this compulsively readable narrative that makes the law, and its history, accessible to lay readers. She grips from the very start, with an account of how the crucial three words, “because of sex,” were added to the section of the Civil Rights Act dealing with employment discrimination by an “unrepentantly racist male octogenarian,” Howard Smith, a U.S. Representative from Virginia. Thomas then traces the revolutionary developments that followed, as brave women fought the system, and won. Their triumphs are even more impressive because, as Thomas points out, they were “breaking new legal ground entirely.” Chapter after chapter humanizes the plaintiffs, such as Ida Phillips, whose hopes for a better job on an Orlando, Fla., assembly line were dashed when, in 1966, she was barred from applying for a job because she had a three-year-old at home. The author merges the personal stories with the legal intricacies of the litigation, and crafts a moving and informative account of a struggle for equality that remains incomplete. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

**ELLE's Lettres April 2016 Readers' Prize**

"Meticulously researched and rewarding to read. … Thomas is a gifted storyteller.” —The New York Times Book Review

"Compulsively readable … a moving and informative account of a struggle for equality that remains incomplete." —Publisher's Weekly

"Gives well-earned attention to women who remained unknown even as the causes they fought for gained support and the legal actions they brought entered the casebooks under their names." —Linda Greenhouse, The New York Review of Books

"One of the brilliant aspects of this book is how it intertwines political history with developments in the law. In the end, this book is about the sacrifices women have made for women. It is about all of us and the commitment we will make to ensure dignity, respect, and equal rights for the average women who make this country great." —Laurie Levenson, LA Review of Books

"Thomas chronicles court cases crucial to Title VII, and in doing so, illustrates the decision's enduring achievement." —Broadly

"[Thomas's] book overflows with “I can’t believe he really said that” stories and “head-shaking” moments—stories that would be unbelievable if they weren’t true... But the book is also full of strong women and their attorneys who fought back—and won." —Ms. Blog, "Telling Her Story," March 2016

"'Giving faces to the names of women who brought these cases,' says one reader, 'makes this book remarkable beyond the important historical perspective it offers.'" —Elle

"Thomas writes with precision and grace (and a lovely lack of jargon) about 10 cases that established the full reach and scope of Title VII. The plaintiffs and attorneys she profiles here — some of whose courage and determination render them truly heroic — helped build the precedents that enable women to seek formerly male-only jobs, to work through marriage and parenthood, to be free from sexual harassment." —The Boston Globe

"A riveting read, particularly for fans of Gail Collins's When Everything Changed." —Starred, Library Journal

"Eye-opening ...Although the author's well-delineated examples will ring outrageous to modern-day ears, she reminds us how much there is still to be achieved. " —Kirkus Reviews

"It is because of sex that women are discriminated against in the workplace, and it is also because of sex that men are favoured in language. Maybe it’s time to follow Thomas’ lead...and make that clear." —A Little Feminist Blog on Language

"Thomas grips her reader from the start.. [she] writes with a narrative style that makes reading legal cases accessible and enjoyable." —Girl with Pen, thesocietypages.org

"Elegantly written and vividly described, Gillian Thomas’s Because of Sex tells the fascinating story of the transformation of the American workforce. . It is a must read for anyone—man or woman—who puts on a uniform, or a suit, and goes to work every day." —Clara Bingham co-author, Class Action: The Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law

"In these gripping stories of the unsung women who helped lead the legal fight for gender equality, Gillian Thomas elegantly proves Justice Holmes’s maxim, 'The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience,' and she shows in vivid, painful detail how the brave battles of these plaintiffs made real life better for millions of their fellow Americans, women and men alike – if, sadly, not always for themselves." —Todd S. Purdum, author of An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964

"Because of Sex is the definitive and up to the minute account of one of—if not the—most important achievements of the feminist revolution: legal equality in the workplace. Not only does Thomas tell this invaluable story, she brings the wronged women, their lawyers, and even the bad actors on the other side to life in the most engaging way. The reader comes to care for these largely unsung heroines deeply and to learn a lot of law along the way. Brava!" —Linda Hirshman, author of Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World

“A singularly important look into the relationship between women, the workplace, and the law. Gillian Thomas close-reads ten seminal cases. It's almost impossible to believe that this legal architecture didn't exist until so recently, or that women managed to work at all without it. This is a compelling, readable narrative about a law that changed everything, and the people who worked to spearhead a revolution.” —Dahlia Lithwick, Slate

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2016
Thomas, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project and former litigator of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cases, knows whereof she writes in this eminently readable book. Title and subtitle say it all, as Thomas explores the genesis and evolution of Title VII, a groundbreaking chapter of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that prohibits (among other things) discrimination "because of sex." Throughout its 50-year history, Title VII has enabled women to claim equal rights and equitable treatment in the workplace. As Thomas demonstrates, enforcement of the statute has been as difficult as its creation. The book introduces readers to ten remarkable women who pursued workplace injustice all the way to the Supreme Court, where they finally triumphed. These landmark cases—Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986), Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins (1989), and Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993) among them—chart the troubled journey to justice, as interpretation and concomitant ramifications of Title VII were fiercely litigated. VERDICT A riveting read, particularly for fans of Gail Collins's When Everything Changed. [See Prepub Alert, 9/28/15.]—Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown

Library Journal

2015-12-10
An elucidating study of landmark sex-discrimination cases waged in the wake of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. A Brooklyn-based senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project, Thomas presents 10 cases that illustrate the early efforts by working women to find some equality and justice in the workplace, from being hired in jobs once the exclusive domain of men to protection from sexual harassment and from discrimination for pregnancy. A cadre of crusading attorneys and frustrated working women challenged the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency endowed by Title VII to enforce the statute—which included an amendment against sex discrimination almost as a risible afterthought—over many decades after the law's 1964 enactment, paving the way for the advances of working women today. Each case took years and moved all the way up to the Supreme Court. In 1966, receptionist Ida Phillips was outraged at being refused employment at missile manufacturer Martin Marietta in Orlando, Florida, for having preschool-age children and sought help from the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund. Her case (Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation, 1971) would be the first time the court would consider the meaning of Title VII's "because of sex" provision. In 1975, Brenda Mieth and Dianne Rawlinson challenged Montgomery, Alabama's official restrictions against hiring women as state troopers and prison guards (Dothard v. Rawlinson, 1977), and Mechelle Vinson's attempts to stop the hostile treatment by her supervisor at a Washington, D.C., bank became a groundbreaking case against sexual harassment in the workplace (Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson, 1986). In the late 1980s, women workers at a Vermont car-battery manufacturer challenged the company's official "fetal protection" policy, which essentially relegated women to lower-paying jobs (International Union, United Auto Workers v. Johnson Controls, 1991). Thomas takes the cases one by one, delivering an eye-opening reference for lay readers. Although the author's well-delineated examples will ring outrageous to modern-day ears, she reminds us how much there is still to be achieved.

Kirkus Reviews