TASK FORCE ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN EMPLOYMENT
(1967)
GOALS:
A campaign for rigorous enforcement of Title VII of the CivilRights Act of 1964, which will insist that all the tools of thelaw proved effective in eliminating racial discrimination be appliedto the elimination of discrimination on the basis of sex in privateemployment.
1. Demand immediate amendment of the federal Executive Order No.11246, to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in governmentemployment, and in employment under government contract.
2. Active encouragement and assistance to women in bringing complaintsagainst sex discrimination, under federal and state equal employmentopportunity laws.
3. A campaign for enactment, in all states, of the model statecivil rights act which includes a prohibition against employmentdiscrimination based on sex. 4. Reexamination of the so-calledstate protective laws with the goal of extending to men the protectionsthat are genuinely needed; and of the abolition of those obsoleterestrictions that today operated to the economic disadvantageof women by depriving them of equal opportunity.
5. Assistance to women in any industry or profession in the organizationof conferences or demonstrations to protest policies of(or?) conditionswhich discriminate against them; to open avenues of advancementto the decision-making power structure from which they are nowbarred, whether it be from executive training courses, the mainline of promotion that leads to corporate presidencies or fullprofessorships, or the road to union leadership.
6. A campaign to open new avenues of upgrading and on-the-jobtraining for women now segregated in dead-end clerical, secretarial,and menial jobs in government, industry, hospitals, factoriesand offices – providing them training in new technological skills,equally with men, and new means of access to administrative andprofessional levels.
7. A campaign to eliminate, by federal and state law, discriminationon the basis of maternity – providing paid maternity leave asa form of social security for all working mothers, and the rightto return to her job.
8. A campaign to permit the deduction of full child care expenses in income taxes of working parents.
9. A campaign against age discrimination, which operates as a particularly serious handicap for women reentering the labor market after rearing children, and which is imbued with the denigrating image of women viewed solely as sex objects in instances such as the forcing of airline stewardesses to resign before the age of 32.
10. Urge enactment of equal pay legislation applicable to all public and private employment.
11. Drafting and enactment of a model state labor standards law to protect health and economic well being of all workers, male and female.
12. Urge prompt appointment of the full number (5) of Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission authorized by the law. Support the appointment of persons to the Commission and to its top staff, who are committed to full enforcement of the law and who are dedicated to implementing the provisions against all prohibited forms of discrimination.
13. Demand replacement of the EEOC guideline on employment advertisements, which affirmatively permit discrimination based on sex with a guideline prohibiting such discriminatory job advertisements.
14. Support federal legislation to strengthen the authority of the EEOC to effectively implement equal employment opportunity in private employment and to extend the prohibitions against discrimination to public employment.
ACTION, FOLLOW THROUGH:
Recommendations of the Equal Opportunity in Employment task force were embodied in NOW letters to the President, EEOC Chairman and Attorney General and head of civil service commission; subsequent delegations to Washington and letters in behalf of the airline stewardesses will be sought to obtain cooperation between various government agencies in implementing laws to eliminate discrimination, such as the President’s Committee on Government Contracts, EEOC, Manpower Training and Redevelopment Act, Wage & Hour Division, State Employment Commissions, etc.
Authorization given to the Legal Committee to file an amicus brief or otherwise assist the plaintiffs in the Mengelkoch case, and that the Committee also watch other sex discrimination cases with a view to entering amicus briefs where the Legal Committee deems it desirable.A Brief was filed with the EEOC urging them to reconsider and change their earlier guidelines authorizing male and female help-wanted ads.
Submitted by: Dorothy Haener, Chairman