Women's Rights Timeline

By echa

  • FDA approves the first commercially produced birth control pill in the world.

  • President JFK signs into law the Equal Pay Act

  • President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law; Title VII bans employment discrimination based on race, religion, national origin or sex.

  • Executive Order 11246 prohibits sex discrimination by govt contractors and requires affirmative action plans for hiring women

  • Weeks v. Southern Bell opens the door to many previously male-only jobs to women

  • SCOTUS outlaws the practice of private employers refusing to hire women with pre-school children.

  • President Nixon signs Title IX of the Education Amendments into law.

  • SCOTUS declares that the Constitution protects a woman's legal right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade

  • The Supreme Court bans sex-segregated "help wanted" advertising

  • In the "The Battle of the Sexes,: Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs during an exhibition match.

  • Cleveland Board of Education v LaFleur determines it is illegal to force pregnant women to take maternity leave on the assumption that they are incapable of working in their physical condition.

  • SCOTUS overturns state laws designating a husband "head and master" with unilateral control of property owned jointly with his wife

  • Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in by President Reagan as the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court.

  • Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.

  • Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale names Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, making her the first woman VP nominee by a major party.

  • SCOTUS held that a hostile or abusive work environment can prove discrimination based on sex.

  • Janet Reno becomes the first female attorney general of the United States.

  • President Clinton signs the Violence Against Women Act as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.

  • Madeleine Albright is sworn in as the nation's first female secretary of state.

  • Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female speaker of the House.

  • The US military removes a ban against women serving in combat positions

  • Hilary Clinton becomes the first woman to receive a presidential nomination from a major political party.

  • Kamala Harris is sworn in as the first woman and first woman of color VP of the US.