1850–1874

1850

• California: Married Women's Property Act grants married women separate economy.^[13]
• Wisconsin: Married Women's Property Act grants married women separate economy.^[13]
• Oregon: Unmarried women are given the right to own land.^[14]
• Tennessee becomes the first state in the United States to explicitly outlaw wife beating.^[15][16]

1852

• New Jersey: Married women are granted separate economy.^[11]
• Indiana: Married women are given the right to own (but not control) property in their own name.^[4]
• Wisconsin: Married women are given the right to own and manage property in their own name during the incapacity of their spouse.^[4]

1854

• Massachusetts: Married women are granted separate economy.^[13]

1855

• Michigan: Married women are granted separate economy.^[17]

1856

• Connecticut: Married women are granted patent rights.^[4]

1857

• Maine: Married women are granted the right to control their own earnings.^[11]
• Oregon: Married women are given the right to own (but not control) property in their own name.^[4]
• Oregon: Married women are given the right to own and manage property in their own name during the incapacity of their spouse.^[4]

1859

• Kansas: Married Women's Property Act grants married women separate economy.^[13]

1860

• New York's Married Women's Property Act of 1860 passes.^[18] Married women are granted the right to control their own earnings.^[11]
• Maryland: Married women are granted separate economy, the right to control their earnings, and trade licenses.^[4]

1861

• Illinois: Married women are granted separate economy and control over their earnings.^[4]
• Ohio: Married women are granted separate economy and control over their earnings.^[4]

1862

• New York's Married Women's Property Act of 1860 is amended so that women lost equal guardianship of their children, and only had veto power over decisions on apprenticeship and the appointment of testamentary guardians. Parts of the act that made husbands and wives equal in realty in cases of intestacy were overturned.^[18]

1864

• North Carolina: The Supreme Court of North Carolina decides, in the case State v. Black, that "[a] husband cannot be convicted of a battery on his wife unless he inflicts a permanent injury or uses such excessive violence or cruelty as indicates malignity or vindictiveness; and it makes no difference that the husband and wife are living separate by agreement."^[19]

1865

• Louisiana: Married women are given the right to own and manage property in their own name during the incapacity of their spouse.^[4]

1867

• Illinois: In 1867, the state passes the Bill for the Protection of Personal Liberty, which guaranteed all people accused of insanity, including wives, had the right to a public hearing.^[20] It also passes a bill that made abortion and attempted abortion a criminal offense.^[21][6]
• Alabama: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]
• New Hampshire: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]

1868

• North Carolina: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]
• Arkansas: Married women are granted trade licenses.^[4]
• Kansas: Married women are granted separate economy, trade licenses, and control over their earnings.^[4]
• South Carolina: Married women were given the right to own (but not control) property in their own name.^[4]
• Georgia: Married women were given the right to own (but not control) property in their own name.^[4]
• New York City: Susannah Lattin's death led to an investigation that resulted in the regulation of maternity clinics and adoptions in New York City.^[22][23]

1869

• Minnesota: Married women were granted separate economy.^[4]
• Georgia: Married women were granted separate economy.^[24]
• South Carolina: Married women are granted separate economy and trade licenses.^[4]
• Tennessee: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]
• Iowa: Married women are granted control over their earnings.^[4]
• Illinois and Massachusetts: Legislation passed in both states allow married women equal rights to property and custody of their children.^[25]

Circa 1870

• Illinois passes another law banning the sale of drugs that could cause induced abortions, allowing an exception for "the written prescription of some well-known and respectable practicing physician".^[7]

1870

• Wyoming Territory: Justice Howe gives women the rights to sit on a jury.^[26] The first woman to serve on a jury was Eliza Stewart Boyd.^[27]

1871

• Mississippi: Married women are granted separate economy, trade licenses, and control over their earnings.^[4]
• Arizona: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]
• Arizona: Married women are granted trade license.^[4]

1872

• New York: The state makes it a penalty to perform an abortion, with a criminal sentence of between 4 and 20 years in prison.^[8]
• Pennsylvania: Married women are granted control over their earnings.^[4]
• California: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]
• Montana: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]
• California: Married women are granted trade license.^[4]
• California: Married women are granted control over their earnings.^[4]
• Wisconsin: Married women are granted control over their earnings.^[4]

1873

• Arkansas: Married women are granted separate economy and control over their earnings.^[4]
• Kentucky: Married women are granted separate economy and trade licenses.^[4]
• North Carolina: Married women are granted control over their earnings.^[4]
• Delaware: Married women are granted control over their earnings.^[4]
• Iowa: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]
• Nevada: Married women are granted separate economy, trade licenses, and control over their earnings.^[4]
• Iowa: Married women are granted trade license.^[4]
• The Comstock Law was a federal act passed by the United States Congress on March 3 as the Act for the "Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use". The Act criminalized usage of the U.S. Postal Service to send any of the following items:^[28]
  • erotica
  • contraceptives
  • abortifacients
  • sex toys
  • personal letters alluding to any sexual content or information
  • information regarding the above items

In places like Washington D.C., where the federal government had direct jurisdiction, the act also made it a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, to sell, give away, or have in possession any "obscene" publication.^[28] Half of the states passed similar anti-obscenity statutes that also banned possession and sale of obscene materials, including contraceptives.^[29]

The law was named after its chief proponent, Anthony Comstock. Due to his own personal enforcement of the law during its early days, Comstock received a commission from the postmaster general to serve as a special agent for the U.S. Postal Services.^[28]

• Bradwell v. State of Illinois^[30] was a United States Supreme Court case that solidified the narrow reading of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and determined that the right to practice a profession was not among these privileges. The case is notable for being an early 14th Amendment challenge to sex discrimination in the United States. In this case the United States Supreme Court held that Illinois constitutionally denied law licenses to women, because the right to practice law was not one of the privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed.^{[non-primary source needed]}

1874

• Massachusetts: Married women are granted control over their earnings.^[4]
• New Jersey: Married women are granted control over their earnings and trade licenses.^[4]
• Rhode Island: Married women are granted control over their earnings.^[4]
• Colorado: Married women are granted separate economy, trade licenses, and control over their earnings.^[4]
• Illinois: Married women are granted trade license.^[4]
• Minnesota: Married women are granted trade license.^[4]
• Montana: Married women are granted control over their earnings and trade licenses.^[4]

1875–1899

1875

• The Page Act of 1875 is the first restrictive federal immigration law in the United States, and effectively prohibited the entry of Chinese women, marking the end of open borders.^[31] The law technically barred immigrants considered "undesirable",^[32] defining this as a person from East Asia who was coming to the United States to be a forced laborer, any East Asian woman who would engage in prostitution, and all people considered to be convicts in their own country. Only the ban on female East Asian immigrants was effectively and heavily enforced, and it proved to be a barrier for all East Asian women trying to immigrate, especially Chinese women.^[33] The act was later repealed.
• New Hampshire: Married women are granted trade licenses.^[4]
• Wyoming: Married women are granted separate economy, control over their earnings, and trade licenses.^[4]

1877

• Connecticut: Married women are granted control over their earnings and trade licenses.^[4]
• Dakota: Married women are granted separate economy, control over their earnings, and trade licenses.^[4]
• Wisconsin: On March 22, state legislature enacts a law that prohibited courts from denying admission to the bar on the basis of sex. The bill was drafted by Lavinia Goodell and she worked with Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly John B. Cassoday for it to pass.^[34][35]

1878

• Virginia: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]

1879

• Indiana: Married women are granted separate economy and control over their earnings.^[4]
• California: "A person may not be disqualified from entering or pursuing a business, profession, vocation, or employment because of sex, race, creed, color, or national or ethnic origin."^{[36][non-primary source needed]}
• A law was enacted allowing qualified female attorneys to practice in any federal court in the United States.^[37]

1880

• The case Miles v. United States establishes that a second wife may testify as to her husband's bigamy because their marriage is not de jure.^[38]
• Oregon: Married women were granted trade licenses and control over their earnings.^[4]

1881

• Vermont: Married women were granted separate economy and trade licenses.^[4]
• Nebraska: Married women granted separate economy, trade licenses, and control over their earnings.^[4]
• Florida: Married women were given the right to own and manage property in their own name during the incapacity of their spouse.^[4]

1882

• Lindon v. First National Bank is one of the earliest precedent-setting US federal court cases involving common law name change.^[39]

1883

• Washington Territory: Women are granted jury service rights.^[40][41]

1887

• Washington Territory: Women's jury service rights are rescinded due to a change in the territory's Supreme Court.^[40][41]
• Idaho: Married women are granted separate economy and trade licenses.^[4]
• The Edmunds–Tucker Act disincorporates both the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the Perpetual Emigration Fund on the grounds that they foster polygamy. It prohibits the practice of polygamy and punishes it with a fine of from $500 to $800 and imprisonment of up to five years. It dissolved the corporation of the church and directed the confiscation by the federal government of all church properties valued over a limit of $50,000. The act was enforced by the U.S. Marshal and a host of deputies. The act:
  • Disincorporated the LDS Church and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, with assets to be used for public schools in the Territory.^[42]
  • Required an anti-polygamy oath for prospective voters, jurors and public officials.
  • Annulled territorial laws allowing illegitimate children to inherit.
  • Required civil marriage licenses (to aid in the prosecution of polygamy).
  • Abrogated the common law spousal privilege for polygamists, thus requiring wives to testify against their husbands.^[43]
  • Disenfranchised women (who had been enfranchised by the Territorial legislature in 1870).^[44]
  • Replaced local judges (including the previously powerful Probate Court judges) with federally appointed judges.
  • Abolished the office of Territorial superintendent of district schools, granting the supreme court of the Territory of Utah the right to appoint a commissioner of schools. Also called for the prohibition of the use of sectarian books and for the collection of statistics of the number of so-called gentiles and Mormons attending and teaching in the schools.
    ^[45] In 1890 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the seizure of Church property under the Edmunds–Tucker Act in Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States. The act was repealed in 1978.^[46][47]

1889

• State of Washington: Married women are granted separate economy, control over their earnings, and trade licenses.^[4]

1890

• The case Bassett v. United States, had a ruling that polygamous wives can be required to testify as they are not legally wives.^[48]
• Wyoming: "In their inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all members of the human race are equal. Since equality in the enjoyment of natural and civil rights is only made sure through political equality, the laws of this state affecting the political rights and privileges of its citizens shall be without distinction of race, color, sex, or any circumstance or condition whatsoever other than the individual incompetency or unworthiness duly ascertained by a court of competent jurisdiction. The rights of citizens of the state of Wyoming to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this state shall equally enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges."^{[49][non-primary source needed]}

1894

• Louisiana: Married women are granted trade licenses.^[4]

1895

• South Carolina: Married women are granted separate economy.
• Utah: Married women are granted separate economy.^[4]
• State of Washington: Married women are granted control over their earnings and trade licenses.^[4]

1896

• Utah: "The rights of citizens of the State of Utah to vote and hold office shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female citizens of this State shall enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges."^{[50][non-primary source needed]}

1898

• Utah: State legislature grants women permission to serve on juries in 1898. Although women were able to serve on juries starting in 1898, women were able to seek exemption from jury duty and they did not regularly serve on juries until the 1930s.^[51][40]

1900–1939

1907

• Section 3 of the Expatriation Act of 1907 provides for loss of citizenship by American women who married aliens.^[52] Section 4 provided for retention of American citizenship by formerly alien women who had acquired citizenship by marriage to an American after the termination of their marriages. Women residing in the US automatically retained their American citizenship if they did not explicitly renounce; women residing abroad had the option to retain American citizenship by registration with a US consul.^[53] The aim of these provisions was to prevent cases of multiple nationalities among women.^[54]

1908

• Muller v. Oregon is a landmark decision in United States Supreme Court history that was used to justify both sex discrimination and usage of labor laws during the time period. It upheld Oregon state restrictions on the working hours of women as justified by the special state interest in protecting women's health. The ruling had important implications for protective labor legislation.^[55]
• New York City: The Sullivan Ordinance is a municipal law passed on January 21 by the board of aldermen, barring management of public buildings from allowing women to smoke within their venues.^[56][57] The mayor, George B. McClellan Jr., vetoed the ordinance in February.^[58]

1910

• The White-Slave Traffic Act, or the Mann Act, is a United States federal law passed June 25.^[59] It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois, and in its original form made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". In practice, its ambiguous language about "immorality" resulted in the criminalization of some consensual sexual behavior between adults.^[60] It was amended by Congress in 1978 and again in 1986.^[61]

1912

• On January 1, the Massachusetts government enforces a law that allowed women to work a maximum of 54 hours instead of 56. Ten days later, affected workers discover that pay had been reduced along with the cut in hours.^[62]

1915

• The Supreme Court first considers the Expatriation Act of 1907 in the 1915 case MacKenzie v. Hare. The plaintiff, suffragist Ethel MacKenzie, was living in California, but was denied voter registration by the respondent in his capacity as a commissioner of the San Francisco Board of Election due to her marriage to a Scottish man.^[54] MacKenzie contended that the Expatriation Act of 1907, "if intended to apply to her, is beyond the authority of Congress", as neither the Fourteenth Amendment nor any other part of the Constitution gave Congress the power to "denationalize a citizen without his concurrence". However, Justice Joseph McKenna, writing the majority opinion, stated that while "[i]t may be conceded that a change of citizenship cannot be arbitrarily imposed, that is, imposed without the concurrence of the citizen [...] [t]he law in controversy does not have that feature. It deals with a condition voluntarily entered into, with notice of the consequences." Justice James Clark McReynolds, in a concurring opinion, stated that the case should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.^[63]

1918

• Margaret Sanger is charged under the New York law for disseminating information about contraception. On appeal, her conviction was reversed on the grounds that contraceptive devices could legally be promoted for the cure and prevention of disease.^[64]

1921

• The Promotion of the Welfare and Hygiene of Maternity and Infancy Act, more commonly known as the Sheppard–Towner Act, is an Act of Congress that provided federal funding for maternity and childcare.^[65] It was sponsored by Senator Morris Sheppard (D) of Texas and Representative Horace Mann Towner (R) of Iowa, and signed by President Warren G. Harding on November 23.^[66] Before its passage, most of the expansion in public health programs occurred at the state and local levels. Many factors helped its passage including the environment of the Progressive Era.^[67] Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Illinois never participated in the program. Participation in the program varied depending on states. The Act was due for renewal in 1926, but was met with increased opposition.^[67] Congress allowed the act's funding to lapse in 1929 after successful opposition by the American Medical Association, which saw the act as a socialist threat to its professional autonomy,^[68] despite the Pediatric Section of the AMA House of Delegates endorsing its renewal. The rebuking of the Pediatric Section by the full House of Delegates led to the members of the Pediatric Section establishing the American Academy of Pediatrics.^[69]

1922

• The Cable Act of 1922 is a United States federal law that reverses former immigration laws regarding marriage.^{[70][full citation needed]} Previously, a woman lost her United States citizenship if she married a foreign man, since she assumed the citizenship of her husband, a law that did not apply to United States citizen men who married foreign women. The act repealed sections 3 and 4 of the Expatriation Act of 1907,^[71] but guaranteed independent female citizenship only to women who were married to an "alien eligible to naturalization".^[72] At the time of the law's passage, Asians were not considered to be racially eligible for US citizenship.^[73][74]

1931

• An amendment to the Cable Act allows females to retain their citizenship even if they married an Asian.^[75]

1932

• Michigan: A law is passed that makes abortion illegal.^[76]

1936

• A federal appeals court rules in United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries that the federal government could not interfere with doctors providing contraception to their patients.^[77]

1940–1969

1945

• Illinois: In People ex rel. Rago v. Lipsky, 63 N.E.2d 642 (Ill. 1945), the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, did not allow a married woman to stay registered to vote under her birth name, due to "the long-established custom, policy and rule of the common law among English-speaking peoples whereby a woman's name is changed by marriage and her husband's surname becomes as a matter of law her surname".^[78][79]

1946

• North Carolina: A state constitutional amendment passes, allowing women to serve on a jury.^[80]

1947

• New Jersey: The terms person, persons, and people, as well as personal pronouns, are changed to apply to both sexes.^[81]

1948

• Goesaert v. Cleary is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld a Michigan law which prohibited women from being licensed as a bartender in all cities having a population of 50,000 or more, unless their father or husband owned the establishment. The plaintiff, Valentine Goesaert, challenged the law on the ground that it infringed on the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Speaking for the majority, Justice Felix Frankfurter affirmed the judgment of the Detroit, Michigan, district court and upheld the constitutionality of the state law. The state argued that since the profession of bartending could potentially lead to moral and social problems for women, it was within the state's power to bar them from working as bartenders. Only when the owner of the bar was a sufficiently close relative to the women bartender could it be guaranteed that such immorality would not be present.^{[non-primary source needed]}
• The Women's Armed Services Integration Act (Pub.L. 80–625, 62 Stat. 356, enacted June 12, 1948) enabled women to serve as permanent, regular members of the armed forces in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and the recently formed Air Force. However, Section 502 of the act limited service of women by excluding them from aircraft and vessels of the Navy that might engage in combat.^{[non-primary source needed]}

1955

• Texas: It became legal for women to serve on juries in Texas.^[82]

1959

• California: In 1959 the Government Code Section 12947.5 (part of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, passed in California) declares in part, “It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to permit an employee to wear pants on account of the sex of the employee”, with exceptions only for “requiring an employee to wear a costume while that employee is portraying a specific character or dramatic role” and when good cause is shown.^[83] Thus, the standard California FEHA discrimination complaint form now includes an option for "denied the right to wear pants".^[84]

1961

• Hoyt v. Florida is an appeal by Gwendolyn Hoyt, who had killed her husband and received a jail sentence for second degree murder. Although she had suffered mental and physical abuse in her marriage, and showed neurotic, if not psychotic, behavior, a six-man jury deliberated for 25 minutes before finding her guilty.^[85]
• Ohio: In State ex rel. Krupa v. Green, the appellate court allows a married woman to register to vote in her birth name which she had openly and solely used, and been well-known to use, before her marriage, and held that she could use that name as a candidate for public office.^[86][78]

1963

• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a United States federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, and was aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex (see Gender pay gap). It was signed into law on June 10 by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program.^[87] In passing the bill, Congress stated that sex discrimination:^[88]
  • depresses wages and living standards for employees necessary for their health and efficiency;
  • prevents the maximum utilization of the available labor resources;
  • tends to cause labor disputes, thereby burdening, affecting, and obstructing commerce;
  • burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce; and
  • constitutes an unfair method of competition.

The law provides (in part) that:

No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section [section 206 of title 29 of the United States Code] shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs[,] the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex [...]^[88]

1964

• The decision in People of California v. Hernandez by the California Supreme Court brought into question the validity of the rule that mistake as to a female's age is not a defense to a statutory rape charge.^[89] The defendant was convicted of statutory rape, but the trial judge refused to allow the defendant to present evidence that the defendant had a good faith belief the female subject was of age as a defense to the charge. The defendant filed an appeal, with the sole issue being the question of whether defendant's intent and knowledge at the time of the commission of the crime mattered in determining criminal culpability. The California Supreme Court held that "a charge of statutory rape is defensible [where] criminal intent is lacking," overruling and disapproving prior decisional law holding to the contrary, particularly People v. Ratz (1896). The decision set off a flurry of discussion among academics on whether "the uniform rule in the United states [that] a mistake as to the age of a female is not a defense to the crime of statutory rape".^[90][91][92]
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, codified as Subchapter VI of Chapter 21 of title 42 of the United States Code, prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.^[93] Title VII applies to and covers an employer "who has fifteen (15) or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year".^[94] Title VII also prohibits discrimination against an individual because of his or her association with another individual of a particular race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, such as by an interracial marriage.^[95]

1965

• Griswold v. Connecticut is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, in which it ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction.^[96] The case involved a Connecticut "Comstock law" that prohibited any person from using "any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception". The court held that the statute was unconstitutional, and that its effect was "to deny disadvantaged citizens ... access to medical assistance and up-to-date information in respect to proper methods of birth control". By a vote of 7–2, the Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the "right to marital privacy", establishing the basis for the right to privacy with respect to intimate practices. This and other cases view the right to privacy as "protected from governmental intrusion".^[97]
• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) decides that segregated job advertising—"Help Wanted Male" and "Help Wanted Female"—was permissible because it served "the convenience of readers".^[98] Advocates for women's rights founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in June 1966 out of frustration with the enforcement of the sex bias provisions of the Civil Rights Act and Executive Order 11375.^[99]
• New York state legislature amends its abortion-related statute to allow for more therapeutic exceptions.^[8]

1966

• Pauli Murray and Dorothy Kenyon successfully argue White v. Crook, a case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that women have an equal right to serve on juries.^[100]
• Mississippi: Legislature makes abortion legal in cases of rape.^[101]

1967

• Executive Order 11375, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 13, bans discrimination on the basis of sex in hiring and employment in both the United States federal workforce and on the part of government contractors.^{[citation needed]}
• Johnson signs Public Law 90-130, lifting grade restrictions and strength limitations on women in the United States military. It amended 10 USC, eliminating the 2% maximum on enlisted women, and allowed female officers to be promoted to colonel or higher.^{[citation needed]}
• Maryland: In Erie Exchange v. Lane, 246 Md. 55 (1967) the Court of Appeals held that a married woman can lawfully adopt an assumed name, even if it is not her birth name or the name of her lawful husband, without legal proceedings.^[102]
• Section 230.3 Abortion (Tentative draft 1959, Official draft 1962) of the American Law Institute's (ALI) Model Penal Code (MPC) is used as a model for abortion law reform legislation enacted in 13 states from 1967 to 1972. It legalized abortion to preserve the health (whether physical or mental) of the mother, if the pregnancy is due to incest or rape, or if doctors agree that there is a significant risk that the child will be born with a serious mental or physical defect.^{[citation needed]}

1968

• King v. Smith is a decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) could not be withheld because of the presence of a "substitute father" who visited a family on weekends.^{[citation needed]}
• The EEOC declares age restrictions on flight attendants’ employment to be illegal sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.^[103]
• Prince Georges County: In 1967 Kathryn Kusner applied for a jockey license through the Maryland Racing Commission but was denied because she was a woman.^[104] Later, Judge Ernest A. Loveless of the Circuit Court of Prince Georges County ordered her to be granted the license,^[105] and Kusner became the first licensed female jockey in the United States.^[104]
• Texas: The Marital Property Act of 1967, which gave married women the same property rights as their husbands, goes into effect on January 1,.^[106]
• Mississippi: On June 15 a law making women eligible to serve on state court juries is signed by Governor John Bell Williams. Mississippi was the last state in America to allow this.^[107]

1969

• New Mexico: Legislature passes a law that made it a felony for anyone to provide a woman with an abortion unless it was needed to save her life, or because her pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.^[108]
• In the case Weeks v. Southern Bell (1969), Lorena Weeks claims that Southern Bell had violated her rights under the 1964 Civil Rights Act when they denied her application for promotion to a higher paying position because she was a woman. She won her case in 1969 after several appeals.^{[citation needed]}
• The California Supreme Court rules in favor of abortion rights after hearing an appeal from Dr. Leon Belous, who had been convicted of referring a woman to someone who could provide her with an illegal abortion;^[109] California's abortion law was declared unconstitutional in People v. Belous because it was vague and denied people due process.^[110]

1970–1999

1970

• In 1970, Eleanor Holmes Norton represents 60 female employees of Newsweek who had filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that Newsweek had a policy of only allowing men to be reporters.^[111] The women won, and Newsweek agreed to allow women to be reporters.^[111] The day the claim was filed, Newsweek's cover article was "Women in Revolt", covering the feminist movement; the article was written by a woman who had been hired on a freelance basis since there were no female reporters at the magazine.^[112]
• The Title X Family Planning Program, officially known as Public Law 91-572 or "Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs", is enacted under President Richard Nixon in 1970 as part of the Public Health Service Act. It is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services, and is legally designed to prioritize the needs of low-income families or uninsured people (including those who are not eligible for Medicaid) who might not otherwise have access to these health care services. These services are provided to low-income and uninsured individuals at reduced or no cost.^[113]
• Congress removes references to contraception from federal anti-obscenity laws.^[114]
• Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co. is a case heard before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. It applied the Bennett Amendment on Chapter VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and helped define the limitations of equal pay for men and women.^[115][116] In its rulings, the court determined that a job that is "substantially equal" in terms of what the job entails, although not necessarily in title or job description, is protected by the Equal Pay Act.^[117] An employer who hires a woman to do the same job as a man but gives the job a new title in order to offer it a lesser pay is discriminating under that act.^[117]
• In Sprogis v. United Air Lines, Inc., a federal trial court rules in a female flight attendant's favor on whether airline marriage bans were illegal under Title VII. The court found that neither sex nor marital status was a bona fide occupational qualification for the flight attendant occupation. The court's ruling was upheld upon appeal.^[118][119]
• Women were not allowed in New York's McSorley's Old Ale House until August 10, after National Organization for Women attorneys Faith Seidenberg and Karen DeCrow filed a discrimination case against the bar in District Court and won.^[120] The two entered McSorley's in 1969, and were refused service, which was the basis for their lawsuit for discrimination. The case decision made the front page of The New York Times on June 26, 1970.^[121] The suit, Seidenberg v. McSorleys' Old Ale House established that as a public place, the bar could not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.^[122] The bar was then forced to admit women, but it did so "kicking and screaming".^[123] With the ruling allowing women to be served, the bathroom became unisex, but a ladies' room was not installed until 1986.^[124]
• Hawaii, New York, Alaska and Washington repeal their abortion laws. Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortions on the request of the woman,^[125] New York repealed its 1830 law, and Washington held a referendum on legalizing early pregnancy abortions, becoming the first state to legalize abortion through a vote of the people.^[126]
• New York: On April 10, the New York Senate passes a law decriminalizing abortion in most cases.^[127] Republican Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller signed the bill into law the next day.^[128] It adds a consent provision requiring a physician to obtain the woman's consent before performing an abortion, permitted physician-provided elective abortion services within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy or to preserve her life and allowed a woman, when acting upon the advice of a duly licensed physician, to perform an "abortional act" on herself within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy or to preserve her life.^[129]
• South Carolina and Virginia reform their abortion laws based on the American Law Institute Model Penal Code.
• Illinois: "The equal protection of the laws shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex by the State or its units of local government and school districts."^{[130][non-primary source needed]}
• Florida: Mary R. Grizzle introduces and passes the Married Women Property Rights Act, giving married women in Florida, for the first time, the right to own property solely in their names and to transfer that property without their husbands' signatures.^[131]

1971

• Barring women from practicing law becomes prohibited.^[132]
• Pennsylvania: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania because of the sex of the individual."^{[133][non-primary source needed]}
• United States v. Vuitch was a United States Supreme Court abortion rights case, which held that the District of Columbia's abortion law banning the practice except when necessary for the health or life of the woman was not unconstitutionally vague.^{[citation needed]}
• Reed v. Reed is an Equal Protection case in the United States in which the Supreme Court ruled that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. The Supreme Court ruled for the first time in Reed v. Reed that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited differential treatment based on sex.^{[citation needed]}
• Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp. is a Supreme Court case in which the court ruled that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an employer may not, in the absence of business necessity, refuse to hire women with pre-school-age children while hiring men with such children. It was the first sex discrimination case under Title VII to reach the Court.^{[citation needed]}
• Virginia: "That no person shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that the General Assembly shall not pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts; and that the right to be free from any governmental discrimination upon the basis of religious conviction, race, color, sex, or national origin shall not be abridged, except that the mere separation of the sexes shall not be considered discrimination."^{[134][non-primary source needed]}
• Alaska repeals its statute that said inducing an abortion was a criminal offense.^[135]

1972

• Vermont: The Vermont Supreme Court makes a ruling that effectively ended abortion restrictions in the state.^[136]
• New York: The Court of Appeals rules that Bernice Gera could be a baseball umpire.^[137]
• Washington: "Equality of rights and responsibility under the law shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex."^[138]
• Alaska: "No person is to be denied the enjoyment of any civil or political right because of race, color, creed, sex or national origin. The legislature shall implement this section."^{[139][non-primary source needed]}
• Title IX is a portion of the United States Education Amendments of 1972, Public Law No. 92‑318, 86 Stat. 235 (June 23, 1972), codified at 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681–1688, co-authored and introduced by Senator Birch Bayh; it was renamed the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in 2002, after its late House co-author and sponsor.^{[citation needed]}
• Eisenstadt v. Baird was a United States Supreme Court case that established the right of unmarried people to possess contraception on the same basis as married couples. The Court struck down a Massachusetts law prohibiting the distribution of contraceptives to unmarried people for the purpose of preventing pregnancy, ruling that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.^{[citation needed]}
• The 10th Circuit case Moritz v. Commissioner successfully challenged the denial of a dependent-care deduction to a single man who was a caretaker for his sick mother; the deduction had previously been limited to women, widowers, or divorced men.^[140][141]
• Maryland: In Stuart v. Board of Elections, on the question of whether a wife could register to vote in her birth name rather than her husband's last name, the Maryland Court of Appeals decides that "a married woman's surname does not become that of her husband where, as here, she evidences a clear intent to consistently and nonfraudulently use her birth given name subsequent to her marriage".^[102]
• Florida reformed its abortion law based on the American Law Institute Model Penal Code.^{[citation needed]}
• Maryland: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged or denied because of sex."^{[142][non-primary source needed]}
• Texas: "Equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed, or national origin. This amendment is self-operative."^{[143][non-primary source needed]}

1973

• Roe v. Wade is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting women's health and protecting the potentiality of human life.^[144]
• Doe v. Bolton is a decision of the Supreme Court overturning abortion laws in Georgia.
• Frontiero v. Richardson is a landmark United States Supreme Court case^[145] that decided benefits given by the United States military to the family of service members cannot be given out differently because of sex.^{[citation needed]}
• Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations was a 1973 decision of the United States Supreme Court which upheld an ordinance enacted in Pittsburgh that forbids sex-designated classified advertising for job opportunities, against a claim by the parent company of the Pittsburgh Press that the ordinance violated its First Amendment rights.^{[citation needed]}
• From 1973 on, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has followed the Helms Amendment, banning use of U.S. government funds to provide abortion as a method of family planning anywhere in the world.^[146]
• Colorado: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the state of Colorado or any of its political subdivisions because of sex."^{[147][non-primary source needed]}
• Montana: "The dignity of the human being is inviolable. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. Neither the state nor any person, firm, corporation, or institution shall discriminate against any person in the exercise of his civil or political rights on account of race, color, sex, culture, social origin or condition, or political or religious ideas."^{[148][non-primary source needed]}
• New Mexico: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall any person be denied equal protection of the laws. Equality of rights under law shall not be denied on account of the sex of any person."^[149]
• California: In Rentzer v. Unemployment Ins. Appeals Bd., Gail Rentzer suffered from an ectopic pregnancy and was unable to work. She was denied compensation by the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board because they did not recognize pregnancy or related medical complications as a disability. The California Court of Appeals found that because Gail had not had a normal pregnancy and her emergency surgery was performed to stop bleeding and save her life, her pregnancy was deemed worthy of disability benefits. The case allowed women with medical complications during pregnancy to be granted benefits and more protections, such as disability coverage for not just pregnancy, but also the amount of time it takes for recovery from complications.^[150]

1974

• Kentucky adopts a law preventing public hospitals from performing abortion procedures except to protect the life of the mother.^[151]
• Connecticut: "No person shall be denied the equal protection of the law nor be subjected to segregation or discrimination in the exercise or enjoyment of his or her civil or political rights because of religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin or sex."^{[152][non-primary source needed]}
• Geduldig v. Aiello is an equal protection case in which the Supreme Court ruled on whether unfavorable treatment to pregnant women could count as sex discrimination. It held that the denial of insurance benefits for work loss resulting from a normal pregnancy did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. The California insurance program at issue did not exclude workers from eligibility based on sex but did exclude pregnancy from a list of compensable disabilities. The majority found that even though only women would be directly affected by the administrative decision, the classification of normal pregnancy as non-compensable was not a sex-based classification, and therefore the court would defer to the state so long as it could provide a rational basis for its categorization.^{[citation needed]}
• The Equal Credit Opportunity Act makes it unlawful for any creditor to discriminate against any applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age (provided the applicant has the capacity to contract).^[153] Failure to comply with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act's Regulation B can subject a financial institution to civil liability for actual and punitive damages in individual or class actions. Liability for punitive damages can be as much as $10,000 in individual actions and the lesser of $500,000 or 1% of the creditor's net worth in class actions.^[154]
• In Kahn v. Shevin, the Supreme Court rules that a Florida statute providing property tax exemptions only to widows does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.^[155]
• In Kaplowitz v. University of Chicago, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois rules that a law school was not required to police the discriminatory practices of employers using its placement facilities. The court found the law school an employment agency, but that employment agencies are only obligated to refer potential employees without discrimination.^[156][157]
• The Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA) is one of the several landmark laws passed by the United States Congress outlining federal protections against the gender discrimination of women in education (educational equity).^{[citation needed]}
• Sex is added as a protected characteristic to the Fair Housing Act.^{[158][159][160]}
• New Hampshire: "All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights – among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting, property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this state on account of race, creed, color, sex or national origin."^{[161][non-primary source needed]}
• In the final week of December, President Gerald Ford signs a bill that opened the Little League baseball program to girls.^[162]

1975

• In Bigelow v. Virginia, the US Supreme Court rules that state bans on abortion clinics advertising their services were unconstitutional as they violated freedom of speech and freedom of the press.^[163]
• Stanton v. Stanton, is a United States Supreme Court case that struck down Utah's definitions of adulthood as a violation of equal protection: females reached adulthood at 18; males at 21.^[164]
• Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld is a decision by the United States Supreme Court. It unanimously held that the gender-based distinction under the Social Security Act of 1935—which permitted widows but not widowers to collect special benefits while caring for minor children—violated the right to equal protection secured by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.^{[citation needed]}
• Taylor v. Louisiana is a Supreme Court case that stated women could not be excluded from a venire, or jury pool, on the basis of having to register for jury duty.^{[citation needed]}
• On February 19, the Texas Supreme Court's ruling in the case Jacobs v. Theimer makes it the first state in America to allow a woman to sue her doctor for a wrongful birth.^{[165][166][167]} The case involved Dortha Jean Jacobs (later Dortha Biggs) who caught rubella while pregnant and gave birth to Lesli, who was severely disabled.^[167][165] Dortha and her husband sued her doctor, saying he did not diagnose the rubella or warn them how it would affect the pregnancy.^[167]
• Schlesinger v. Ballard is a Supreme Court case that upheld a federal statute granting female naval officers four more years of commissioned service before mandatory discharge than male Naval officers.^[168] A federal statute granted female naval officers fourteen years of commissioned service while allowing only nine years of commissioned service for male naval officers before mandatory discharge. The Supreme Court held that the law passed intermediate scrutiny equal protection analysis because women, excluded from combat duty, had fewer opportunities for advancement in the military. The court found the statute to directly compensate for the past statutory barriers to advancement.^[169]
• Joan Little becomes the first woman in United States history to be acquitted using the defense that she used deadly force to resist sexual assault.^[170][171]
• Louisiana: "No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. No law shall discriminate against a person because of race or religious ideas, beliefs, or affiliations. No law shall arbitrarily, capriciously, or unreasonably discriminate against a person because of birth, age, sex, culture, physical condition, or political ideas or affiliations."^{[172][non-primary source needed]}
• Illinois: The 79th General Assembly enacts the Illinois Abortion Law, which included a trigger law that provided that if Roe v. Wade was overturned or repealed, "the former policy of this State to prohibit abortions unless necessary for the preservation of the mother's life shall be reinstated".^{[173][non-primary source needed]}

1976

• In General Electric v. Gilbert, the Supreme Court ruled that it was legal for employers to exclude pregnancy-related conditions from employee sickness and accident benefits plans.^[174]
• Massachusetts: "All people are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness. Equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged because of sex, race, color, creed or national origin."^{[175][non-primary source needed]}
• Bellotti v. Baird was a Supreme Court case in which it upheld a Massachusetts law requiring parental consent to a minor's abortion, which provided that "if one or both of the [minor]'s parents refuse ... consent, consent may be obtained by order of a judge ... for good cause shown."^[176] The decision was unanimous, and the opinion of the Court was written by Justice Blackmun. The law in question "permits a minor capable of giving informed consent to obtain a court order allowing abortion without parental consultation, and further permits even a minor incapable of giving informed consent to obtain an abortion order without parental consultation where it is shown that abortion would be in her best interests."^{[176][non-primary source needed]}
• Craig v. Boren was the first case in which a majority of the Supreme Court determined that statutory or administrative sex classifications were subject to intermediate scrutiny under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The court also acknowledged that parties economically affected by regulations may challenge them "by acting as advocates of the rights of third parties who seek access to their market or function." The case specifically concerned over how Oklahoma passed a statute prohibiting the sale of "nonintoxicating" 3.2% beer to males under the age of 21 but allowed females over the age of 18 to purchase it. The Court held that the gender classifications made by the Oklahoma statute were unconstitutional because the statistics relied on by the state were insufficient to show a substantial relationship between the statute and the benefits intended to stem from it.^{[citation needed]}
• Planned Parenthood v. Danforth is a Supreme Court case on abortion. The plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of a Missouri statute regulating abortion. The court upheld the right to have an abortion, declaring unconstitutional the statute's requirement of prior written consent from a parent (in the case of a minor) or a spouse (in the case of a married woman).^[177]
• The Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision barring the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortion unless the pregnancy arises from incest, rape, or to save the life of the mother.^[178][179] Legislation including the Hyde Amendment generally only restricts the use of funds allocated for the Department of Health and Human Services and primarily affects Medicaid.^[178][179]
• United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit jurisdiction: There is a United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decision indicating involuntary pregnancy discharges in the U.S. Navy violated the Fifth Amendment.^[180]

1977

• Beal v. Doe is a Supreme Court case that concerned the disbursement of federal funds in Pennsylvania, whose statute restricted federal funding to abortion clinics. The court ruled states are not required to treat abortion in the same manner as potential motherhood. The opinion of the Court left the central holding of the Roe v. Wade decision – abortion as a right – intact. The statute was upheld, with Justice Powell writing the majority opinion.^{[citation needed]}
• Califano v. Webster is a decision by the Supreme Court, which held that Section 215 of the Social Security Act does not violate due process by allowing women to calculate retirement benefits without including additional low-earning years, since it is an attempt to compensate for previous discrimination.^{[citation needed]}
• Califano v. Goldfarb is a decision by the Supreme Court, which held that the different treatment of men and women constituted invidious discrimination against female wage earners by affording them less protection for their surviving spouses than is provided to male employees, and therefore violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
• Dothard v. Rawlinson is the first Supreme Court case in which the bona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQ) defense was used. The court held that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an employer may not, in the absence of business necessity, set height and weight restrictions which have a disproportionately adverse effect on one gender. However, on the issue of whether women could fill close contact jobs in all male maximum security prisons the Court ruled 6–3 that the BFOQ defense was legitimate in this case, reasoning that female prison guards were more vulnerable to male sexual attack than male prison guards.^[181]
• Carey v. Population Services International is a Supreme Court case in which the court held that it was unconstitutional to prohibit anyone other than a licensed pharmacist to distribute nonprescription contraceptives to persons 16 years of age or over, to prohibit the distribution of nonprescription contraceptives by any adult to minors under 16 years of age, and to prohibit anyone, including licensed pharmacists, to advertise or display contraceptives.^{[citation needed]}
• The National Partnership for Women & Families wins Barnes v. Costle, a U.S. Court of Appeals decision that held that any retaliation by a boss against an employee for rejecting sexual advances violates Title VII's prohibition against sex discrimination.^[182]
• Washington: The January 7 Supreme Court ruling in State of Washington v. Wanrow is a landmark ruling. The Washington Supreme Court, sitting en banc, declared that Yvonne Wanrow was entitled to have a jury consider her actions in the light of her "perceptions of the situation, including those perceptions which were the product of our nation's long and unfortunate history of sex discrimination".^[183] The ruling was the first in America recognizing the particular legal problems of women who defend themselves or their children from male attackers, and was again affirmed by the Washington Supreme Court in denying the prosecutor's petition for rehearing in 1979.^[183][184] Before the Wanrow decision, standard jury instructions asked what a "reasonably prudent man" would have done, even if the accused was a woman; the Wanrow decision set a precedent that when a woman is tried in a criminal trial the juries should ask "what a reasonably prudent woman similarly situated would have done."^[185]
• In Coker v. Georgia, the Supreme Court determines that the death penalty for rape of an adult woman was grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment, and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.^[186]
• New York: Cathy Davis sues the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) in 1977 because she was denied a boxing license due to her being a woman, and the case was decided in her favor later that year, with the judge invalidating New York State rule number 205.15, which stated, “No woman may be licensed as a boxer or second or licensed to compete in any wrestling exhibition with men.”^[187][188] In his opinion the judge cited the precedent set by Garrett v. New York State Athletic Commission (1975), which “found the regulation invalid under the equal protection clauses of the State and Federal Constitutions”. The NYSAC filed an appeal of the ruling, but withdrew it later.^[189][187]

1978

• Hawaii: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the State on account of sex. The legislature shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this section."^{[190][non-primary source needed]}
• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is a United States federal statute. It amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to "prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy".^[191] It covers discrimination "on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions", but only applies to employers with 15 or more employees.^[192][193] Employers are exempt from providing medical coverage for elective abortions – except in the case that the mother's life is threatened – but are required to provide disability and sick leave for women who are recovering from an abortion.^[194]
• Judge John Sirica ruled the law banning Navy women from ships to be unconstitutional in the case Owens v. Brown. That same year, Congress approved a change to Title 10 USC Section 6015 to permit the Navy to assign women to fill sea duty billets on support and noncombatant ships.^[195]
• The Mann Act originally made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". In 1978, Congress updated the Mann Act's definition of "transportation" and added protections against commercial sexual exploitation for minors.^{[citation needed]}
• The federal lawsuit, Melissa Ludtke and Time, Inc., Plaintiffs, v. Bowie Kuhn, Commissioner of Baseball et al. (1978) is credited with giving equal access to Major League Baseball locker rooms to women sports reporters.^[196][197] In 1977, Ludtke sued the baseball commission on the basis that her 14th amendment rights were violated when she was denied access to the New York Yankees clubhouse while reporting on the 1977 World Series.^[198][199] She won the lawsuit;^[200][201] the District Court for the Southern District of New York stated her right was violated since the New York Yankees clubhouse was controlled by New York City. It also stated that her fundamental right to pursue a career was violated based on her sex.^[202]
• The 1887 Edmunds–Tucker Act is repealed.^[46][47]
• Akron, Ohio, passes a city ordinance that restricts abortion rights.^[101]

1979

• Bellotti v. Baird is a Supreme Court case that ruled that teenagers do not have to secure parental consent to obtain an abortion. The court elaborates on its parental consent decision in 1976. It implies that states may be able to require a pregnant, unmarried minor to obtain parental consent to an abortion so long as the state law provides an alternative procedure to parental approval, such as letting the minor seek a state judge's approval instead. This plurality opinion declined to fully extend the right to seek and obtain an abortion, granted to adult women in Roe v. Wade, to minors.^[203] The Court rejected this extension to minors by placing emphasis on the especially vulnerable nature of children, their "inability to make critical decisions in an informed and mature manner; and the importance of the parental role in child rearing".^[203][204]
• Colautti v. Franklin is a Supreme Court abortion rights case, which held part of Pennsylvania's 1974 Abortion Control Act as void for vagueness.^{[citation needed]}

• Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts v. Feeney is a case heard by the Supreme Court. Its decision upheld the constitutionality of a state law, giving hiring preference to veterans over nonveterans.^[205] The law was challenged as violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by a woman, who argued that the law discriminated on the basis of sex because so few women were veterans.^[205]
• Duren v. Missouri is a Supreme Court case in which it ruled that the exemption on request of women from jury service under Missouri law, resulting in an average of less than 15% women on jury venires in the forum county, violated the "fair-cross-section" requirement of the Sixth Amendment as made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment.^{[citation needed]}
• Cannon v. University of Chicago is a Supreme Court case which interpreted Congressional silence in the face of earlier interpretations of similar laws to determine that Title IX of the Higher Education Act provides an implied cause of action.^[206]
• A lawsuit makes California change its boxing regulations, which had limited women boxers to no more than four rounds.^[207]
• Missouri: a court found that state law dealing with women having abortions after the first trimester needing to have it performed in a hospital was unconstitutional.^[208]

1980

• Kentucky adopts a law preventing public hospitals from performing abortion procedures except to protect the life of the mother.^[151] The law was later ruled unconstitutional by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, but the state legislature passed a new version of the law in 1980.^[151]
• Shyamala Rajender v. University of Minnesota is a landmark class action lawsuit dealing with sexual discrimination at an American university.^[209] The case was filed on September 5, 1973, by Shyamala Rajender, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota. Rajender accused the university of engaging in employment discrimination on the basis of sex and national origin after she was turned down for a tenure-track position, despite being recommended for the position by several university committees.^[210] The suit was certified as a class action by the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota in 1978. After eleven weeks of trial, the suit was settled in 1980 by a consent decree. Rajender received $100,000 and Judge Miles Lord enjoined the university from discriminating against women on the basis of sex.^[211]
• Harris v. McRae is a case in which the Supreme Court held that states that participated in Medicaid were not required to fund medically necessary abortions for which federal reimbursement was unavailable as a result of the Hyde Amendment, which restricted the use of federal funds for abortion. It also held that the funding restrictions of the Hyde Amendment did not violate either the Fifth Amendment or the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.^{[212][non-primary source needed]}
• Alexander v. Yale^[213] is the first use of Title IX^[214] in charges of sexual harassment against an educational institution.^[215]

1981

• Kirchberg v. Feenstra is a Supreme Court case in which it decided that a Louisiana Head and Master law, which gave sole control of marital property to the husband, unconstitutional.^[216]
• H. L. v. Matheson is a Supreme Court abortion rights case, according to which a state may require a doctor to inform a teenaged girl's parents before performing an abortion or face criminal penalty.
• Rostker v. Goldberg is a decision of the Supreme Court proclaiming that the practice of requiring only men to register for the draft was constitutional. In a 6–3 decision, the Supreme Court held that this gender distinction was not a violation of the equal protection component of the due process clause, and that the Act would stand as passed.^{[citation needed]}
• Bundy v. Jackson is a D.C. Circuit opinion, written by J. Skelly Wright, that held that workplace sexual harassment could constitute employment discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.^{[citation needed]}
• Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County is a Supreme Court case over the issue of gender bias in statutory rape laws. The petitioner argued that the statutory rape law discriminated based on gender and was unconstitutional. The court ruled otherwise, claiming that sexual intercourse entails a higher risk for women than men, and it found the law just in targeting men as the only possible perpetrators of statutory rape.^[217]
• The version of the Hyde Amendment enforced from 1981 until 1993 prohibited the use of federal funds for abortions "except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term."^[218]
• The Supreme Court determines in County of Washington v. Gunther that the Bennett Amendment explicitly incorporated only limited defenses to unequal pay due to sex and did not otherwise bar suits based on a comparison of payment for different jobs. Nevertheless, it has continued to be used to bar comparable worth suits in lower courts.^{[citation needed]}

1982

• Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan is a case decided 5–4 by the Supreme Court, determining that the single-sex admissions policy of the Mississippi University for Women violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.^[219]
• Chrapliwy v. Uniroyal, Inc. is a US labor law decision of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals concerning the award of attorney's fees in a discrimination lawsuit. The case involved allegedly discriminatory practices in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The case settled in favor of the plaintiffs, but litigants brought the issue of reasonable attorney's fees to the district court. Chrapliwy v. Uniroyal, Inc. found that the reasonable attorney's fees are recoverable for time spent persuading the federal government to debar a defendant from its contracts when engaging in discriminatory practices.^{[citation needed]}
• New York City: After Brenda Berkman's requests for a firefighting test that was fairer for women were ignored, she filed Brenda Berkman, et al. v. The City of New York and won.^[220] A new test was created in which standards were changed so the test was job-related and Brenda with 40 other women passed to enter the fire academy in 1982.^[221]
• Pennsylvania: The Abortion Control Act is passed by the state government. It required women seeking abortions to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion, and required informed consent of parents for minor children and husbands for married women.^[222][223]

1983

• Kentucky: The 1981 unlawful abortion conviction of a Wayne County, Kentucky, man puts the issue of abortion before the Kentucky Supreme Court.^[224] In 1983, the court ruled that the seven-month-old fetus killed by the man during an attack on his wife could not be defined as a person under the Model Penal Code.^[224]
• City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health is a case in which the Supreme Court affirmed its abortion rights jurisprudence. The case, decided June 15, 1983, struck down an Ohio abortion law with several provisions.^{[225][non-primary source needed]}
• Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania: After 139 years of being an all-male public high school, Central's all-male policy is challenged by Susan Vorchheimer, who wished to be admitted to Central. On August 7, 1975, U.S. District Court Judge Clarence C. Newcomer ruled that Central must admit academically qualified girls starting in the fall term of 1975. The decision was appealed, and the Third Circuit Court ruled that Central had the right to retain its present status.^[226] The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court that, on April 19, 1977, upheld the Third Circuit Court's verdict by a 4 to 4 vote with one abstention.^[227]
• Washington removes its marital exemptions for first-degree rape and second-degree rape in 1983.^[228]

1984

• The Supreme Court's 1984 ruling Grove City College v. Bell^[229] determines that Title IX applied only to those programs receiving direct federal aid.^[230] The case reached the Supreme Court when Grove City College disagreed with the Department of Education's assertion that it was required to comply with Title IX. Grove City College was not a federally funded institution, but they accepted students who were receiving Basic Educational Opportunity Grants through a Department of Education program.^[229] The Department of Education's stance was that, because some of its students were receiving federal grants, the school was receiving federal assistance and Title IX applied to it. The court decided that since Grove City College was only receiving federal funding through the grant program, only that program had to be in compliance. The decision classified many institutions' sports programs outside Title IX's rule, reducing its scope.^[231]
• Roberts v. United States Jaycees is an opinion of the Supreme Court overturning the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit's application of a Minnesotan antidiscrimination law, which had permitted the United States Junior Chamber (Jaycees) to exclude women from full membership.^{[citation needed]}
• People v. Pointer is a criminal law case from the California Court of Appeal, First District, where the trial judge included in his sentencing a prohibition on the defendant becoming pregnant during her period of probation.^[232] The appellate court held that such a prohibition was outside the bounds of a judge's sentencing authority. The case was remanded for resentencing to undo the overly broad prohibition against conception.^{[citation needed]}
• In Tallon v. Liberty Hose Co. No. 1 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1984), a case concerning sex discrimination, it is ruled that a volunteer fire department may be held liable under section 1983 for violating a plaintiff's constitutional rights.^[233]
• In Hishon v. King & Spaulding, a case in which a woman claimed that her failure to be promoted to partner at a law firm was due to her gender, the Supreme Court rules that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans discrimination by employers in the context of any contractual employer/employee relationship, including but not limited to law partnerships.^{[234][non-primary source needed]}
• New York: In People v. Liberta, judge Sol Wachtler states that "a marriage license should not be viewed as a license for a husband to forcibly rape his wife with impunity. A married woman has the same right to control her own body as does an unmarried woman".^{[235][non-primary source needed]}

1985

• Indianapolis, Indiana: American Booksellers Ass'n, Inc. v. Hudnut is a court case that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the Antipornography Civil Rights Ordinance, as enacted in the city the previous year. Judge Frank Easterbrook, writing for the court, held that the ordinance's definition and prohibition of "pornography" was unconstitutional.^[236] The ordinance did not refer to the prurient interest, as required of obscenity statutes by the Supreme Court in Miller v. California,^[237] but defined pornography by reference to its portrayal of women, which the court held was unconstitutional, as "the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message [or] its ideas".^[238]

1986

• The 1986 Kentucky General Assembly passes legislation requiring parental consent for minors seeking abortions.^[239] The law required the consent of only the custodial parent if the parents did not live together, and also allowed the minor to petition a district or circuit court for permission.^[240]
• Connecticut: The "Thurman Law" (aka the Family Violence Prevention and Response Act) makes domestic violence an automatically arrestable offense, even if the victim did not wish to press charges.^{[241][non-primary source needed]}
• Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is a Supreme Court case involving a challenge to Pennsylvania's Abortion Control Act of 1982.^[242]
• Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson marks the Supreme Court's recognition of certain forms of sexual harassment as a violation of Civil Rights Act of 1964's Title VII, and established the standards for analyzing whether conduct was unlawful and when an employer would be liable.^{[citation needed]}
• The Mann Act originally made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". In 1978, Congress updated its definition of "transportation" and added protections against commercial sexual exploitation for minors. In 1986 it was further amended to replace the ambiguous "debauchery" and "any other immoral purpose" with the more specific "any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense" as well as to make it gender-neutral.^[243]
• In Alabama, the marital exemption from the rape law is found unconstitutional in Merton v. State.^{[244][non-primary source needed]}
• District of Columbia: Women gain the right to go topless.^[245]
• Rhode Island: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied equal protection of the laws. No otherwise qualified person shall, solely by reason of race, gender or handicap be subject to discrimination by the state, its agents or any person or entity doing business with the state. Nothing in this section shall be construed to grant or secure any right relating to abortion or the funding thereof."^{[246][non-primary source needed]}

1987

• California Federal S. & L. Assn. v. Guerra is a Supreme Court case about whether a state may require employers to provide greater pregnancy benefits than required by federal law, as well as the ability to require pregnancy benefits to women without similar benefits to men. The court held that The California Fair Employment and Housing Act in 12945(b)(2), which requires employers to provide leave and reinstatement to employees disabled by pregnancy, is consistent with federal law.^{[citation needed]}
• In 1976, the Rotary Club of Duarte in Duarte, California, admitted three women as members. After the club refused to remove the women from membership, Rotary International revoked the club's charter in 1978. The Duarte club filed suit in the California courts, claiming that Rotary Clubs are business establishments subject to regulation under California's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on race, gender, religion or ethnic origin. Rotary International then appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. On 4 May 1987, it confirmed the Californian decision supporting women, in the case Board of Directors, Rotary International v. Rotary Club of Duarte.^[247] Rotary International then removed the gender requirements from its requirements for club charters, and most clubs in most countries have opted to include women as members of Rotary Clubs.^[248][249]
• Johnson v. Transportation Agency is the only United States Supreme Court case to address a sex-based affirmative action plan in the employment context. The Court found that the plan did not violate the protection against discrimination on the basis of sex in the Civil Rights Act of 1964's Title VII.^{[250][non-primary source needed]}

1988

• Arkansas: An amendment to the state constitution says, "The policy of Arkansas is to protect the life of every unborn child from conception until birth, to the extent permitted by the Federal Constitution."^[251]
• The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 is passed, which extended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 coverage to all programs of any educational institution that receives any federal assistance, both direct and indirect.^[252]

1989

• Webster v. Reproductive Health Services is a Supreme Court decision on July 3 upholding a Missouri law that imposed restrictions on the use of state funds, facilities, and employees in performing, assisting with, or counseling on abortions. The Supreme Court in Webster allowed for states to legislate in an area that had previously been thought to be forbidden under Roe v. Wade.
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins is a case overseen by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of employer liability for sex discrimination. The decision established that gender stereotyping is actionable as sex discrimination, and that mixed-motive framework as an evidentiary framework for proving discrimination under a disparate treatment theory even when lawful reasons for the adverse employment action are also present.^[253]
• The first "Restroom Equity" Act in the United States is passed in California in 1989.^[254] It was introduced by then-Senator Arthur Torres after several long waits for his wife to return from the bathroom.^[254]

1990

• Hodgson v. Minnesota is a Supreme Court abortion rights case that dealt with whether a state law may require notification of both parents before a minor can obtain an abortion. The law in question provided a judicial alternative. The law was declared valid with the judicial bypass, but the ruling struck down the two-parent notification requirement.^{[non-primary source needed]}

1991

• Rust v. Sullivan is a Supreme Court case decided in 1991 that found restrictions on funding with regard to abortion counseling to be constitutionally permissible.^{[citation needed]}
• United Automobile Workers v. Johnson Controls, Inc. is a decision by the Supreme Court establishing that private sector policies which allow men but not women to knowingly work in potentially hazardous occupations is gender discrimination and violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. At the time the case was heard, it was considered one of the most important sex-discrimination cases since the passage of Title VII.^[255]
• In Robinson v. Jacksonville Shipyards, Inc., a Florida district court judge rules that "pictures of nude and partially nude women" placed throughout the workplace do constitute sexual harassment.^[256]

1992

• Planned Parenthood v. Casey is a case decided by the Supreme Court in which the constitutionality of several Pennsylvania statutory provisions regarding abortion were challenged. It differed from Roe v. Wade to tie an abortion's legality to the third trimester, associating the legal timeframe with fetal viability.^[257]
• In R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, the United States Supreme Court overturns a statute prohibiting speech or symbolic expression that "arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender" on the grounds that, even if the specific statute was limited to fighting words, it was unconstitutionally content-based and viewpoint-based because of the limitation to race-/religion-/sex-based fighting words. The Court, however, made it repeatedly clear that the City could have pursued "any number" of other avenues, and reaffirmed the notion that "fighting words" could be properly regulated by municipal or state governments.^{[citation needed]}
• New York State: In 1986, seven women who picnicked topless are charged in Rochester, New York with baring "that portion of the breast which is below the top of the areola".^[258] That law had originally been enacted to discourage 'topless' waitresses. The women were initially convicted, but on appeal two of the women's charges were reversed by the New York State Court of Appeals in 1992 on equal protection grounds in Santorelli's case.^{[259][260][261][245]}
• Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools is a United States Supreme Court Case in which the Court decided, in a unanimous vote, that monetary relief is available under Title IX.^[262]
• Massachusetts: On 16 April 1992, after eight years in court litigation in Massachusetts, Gail Grandchamp gained the right to become a boxer, as a state Superior Court judge deemed it was illegal to deny someone a chance to box based on gender.^[263]

1993

• Maine passed abortion-related legislation that said women have the right to "terminate a pregnancy before viability".^[264][265]
• Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. is a case in which the Supreme Court clarified the definition of a "hostile" or "abusive" work environment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the court decided that a determination about whether a work environment is hostile or abusive requires a consideration of all relevant circumstances.^[266]
• Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic is a Supreme Court case in which the court determined that 42 U.S.C. 1985(3) does not provide a federal cause of action against persons obstructing access to abortion clinics. Several abortion clinics (most known was the Alexandria Health Clinic) sued to prevent Jayne Bray and other anti-abortion protesters from voicing their freedom of speech in front of the clinics in Washington D.C.^[267] Alexandria Women's Health Clinic reported that the protesters violated 42 U.S.C. 1985(3), which prohibits protests to deprive "any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges and immunities under the laws."^[268]
• The Mexico City policy is rescinded by President Bill Clinton.^{[citation needed]}
• On October 22, Clinton signs into law the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1994.^[269] It contained a new version of the Hyde Amendment that expanded the category of abortions for which federal funds are available under Medicaid to include cases of rape and incest.^[270]  
• The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a United States federal law requiring covered employers to provide employees job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. Qualified medical and family reasons include: personal or family illness, family military leave, pregnancy, adoption, or the foster care placement of a child.^[271]
• All states had either withdrawn exemptions used to legalize marital rape, with the last states to do so being Oklahoma and North Carolina.^[272]
• Utah: In Beynon v. St. George-Dixie Lodge 1743,^[273] the Utah Supreme Court ruled that while Freedom of Association allowed the Elks to remain a men-only organization, "the Elks may not avail itself of the benefits of a liquor license and the license's concomitant state regulation" as long as it violated the Utah State Civil Rights Act. Faced with losing their liquor licenses if they did not admit women, the Elks Lodges of Utah voted to become unisex in June,^[274] which was followed by a vote at the Elks National Convention in July 1995 to remove the word male from the national membership requirements.^[275]

1994

• Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc. is a Supreme Court case where petitioners challenged the constitutionality of an injunction entered by a Florida state court which prohibits anti-abortion protesters from demonstrating in certain places and in various ways outside of a health clinic that performs abortions.^[276] Its findings partly affirmed and reversed the judgment of the Florida Supreme Court.^[277]
• The Violence Against Women Act is a United States federal law signed by Clinton on September 13. It provided $1.6 billion towards the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposes automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allows civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave un-prosecuted. The Act also establishes the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.^{[citation needed]}
• In 1994, the Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act, sponsored by congresswoman Cardiss Collins, mandates federally assisted higher education institutions to disclose information on roster sizes for men's and women's teams, as well as budgets for recruiting, scholarships, coaches' salaries, and other expenses, annually.^[278]
• J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B. is a case in which the Supreme court decided that making peremptory challenges based solely on a prospective juror's sex is unconstitutional. J.E.B. extended the court's existing precedent in Batson v. Kentucky, which found race-based peremptory challenges in criminal trials unconstitutional, and Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Company, which extended that principle to civil trials. As in Batson, the court found that sex-based challenges violate the Equal Protection Clause.^{[citation needed]}
• The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act is a United States law that was signed by Clinton in May, which included the prohibition of physical force, threat of physical force, or physical obstruction to impede or harm anyone who is obtaining or providing reproductive health services.^[279][280]

1995

• The 89th Illinois General Assembly enacts the Parental Notice of Abortion Act, which required physicians to give 48 hours' notice to the parent, grandparent or guardian of a minor seeking an abortion.^[281] However, the law was enjoined by the courts for more than two decades.^[282]
• Women in Columbus, Ohio, gain the right to go topless.^[245]
• The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act requires the United States Sentencing Commission to increase the penalties for hate crimes committed on the basis of the actual or perceived gender, race, color, religion, national origin, or ethnicity of any person. In 1995, the Sentencing Commission implemented these guidelines, which only apply to federal crimes.^[283]

1996

• Fauziya Kasinga, a 19-year-old member of the Tchamba-Kunsuntu tribe of Togo, is granted asylum in 1996 after leaving an arranged marriage to escape female genital mutilation, setting a precedent in U.S. immigration law as it was the first time the practice was accepted as a form of persecution.^[284] It was the first situation in which asylum was granted based on gender.^[285]
• United States v. Virginia was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court struck down the Virginia Military Institute's long-standing male-only admission policy in a 7–1 decision.^{[citation needed]}
• The Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act is a piece of legislation relating to the coverage of maternity by health insurance plans in the United States of America. It is signed into law on September 26 and requires plans that offer maternity coverage to pay for at least a 48-hour hospital stay following childbirth (96-hour stay in the case of a caesarean section).^{[citation needed]}
• California: "The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."^{[286][non-primary source needed]}

1997

• New Hampshire: Governor Jeanne Shaheen signs legislation that repealed most of the abortion restrictions in place in the state.^[287]
• Kansas: State legislature passed the Woman's Right to Know Act, which requires, except in the case of a medical emergency, a 24-hour period between the time that the woman is informed in writing of legally-required information and the abortion.^{[288] [non-primary source needed]}
• The Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act is enacted.^[289]
• Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western New York was a case heard before the Supreme Court related to legal protection of access to abortion. It ruled in an 8–1 decision that "floating buffer zones" preventing protesters approaching people entering or leaving abortion clinics were unconstitutional, though "fixed buffer zones" around the clinics themselves remained constitutional.^[290]
• The Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, often called "the Lautenberg Amendment",^[291][292] is an amendment to the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997, enacted by the 104th United States Congress in 1996, which bans access to firearms by people convicted of crimes of domestic violence.^{[non-primary source needed]}
• Yeaw v. Boy Scouts of America was a high-profile case filed in 1997 before the Supreme Court of California to determine whether the Boy Scouts of America is a business establishment within the meaning of the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civ. Code, § 51) and does not have the right to exclude girls from membership.^[293][294]
• Gloria Allred represented Melrose Place actress Hunter Tylo in 1997 when producer Aaron Spelling fired her because she was pregnant.^[295][296] A jury awarded Tylo $4.8 million. The case set a precedent for actors to continue work if they become pregnant.^[297]
• Montana: In 1997, the state legislature passes a law that said only physicians could perform abortions. After a lawsuit, they changed the law to allow nurse practitioners to perform abortions.^[298]

1998

• The Kentucky General Assembly passes legislation that required clinics to have an Abortion Clinic License if they wanted to operate. Part of this was a requirement for a transfer agreement between the clinic and a hospital and ambulance.^[299]
• Iowa: "All men and women are, by nature, free and equal and have certain inalienable rights—among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness."^{[300][non-primary source needed]}
• Florida: "Basic rights. All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness, to be rewarded for industry, and to acquire, possess and protect property; except that the ownership, inheritance, disposition and possession of real property by aliens ineligible for citizenship may be regulated or prohibited by law. No person shall be deprived of any right because of race, religion, national origin, or physical disability."^{[301][non-primary source needed]}
• Women in Moscow, Idaho, gained the right to go topless.^[245]
• Faragher v. City of Boca Raton was a Supreme Court case in which it identified the circumstances under which an employer may be held liable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the acts of a supervisory employee whose sexual harassment of subordinates has created a hostile work environment amounting to employment discrimination.^{[citation needed]}
• Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth is a landmark employment law case of the Supreme Court that held employers liable if supervisors create a hostile work environment for employees. The case also introduced a two-part affirmative defense allowing employers to avoid sex discrimination liability if they follow best practices.^{[citation needed]}
• Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. is the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States. It was filed on behalf of Lois Jenson and other female workers at the EVTAC mine in Eveleth, Minnesota.^{[citation needed]}
• Miller v. Albright is a Supreme Court case in which the court upheld the validity of laws relating to U.S. citizenship at birth for children born outside the United States, out of wedlock, to an American parent.^{[citation needed]}
• In Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District, the Supreme Court rules that in order for a party to recover sexual harassment damages under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, they must show that a school district official knew what was happening and was able to take measures to correct it if they wished, and that the educational establishment deliberately failed to respond properly.^{[302][non-primary source needed]}
• Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services is a case overseen by the Supreme Court. It claimed sex discrimination by a male oil-rig worker, who stated that he was repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment by his male co-workers with the acquiescence of his employer. The Court held that Title VII's protection against workplace discrimination "because of... sex" applied to harassment in the workplace between members of the same sex.^{[citation needed]}

1999

• In Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, the Supreme Court rules that a school board can be held responsible under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for student-on-student sexual harassment.^[303]