Parenting Title VII: Rethinking the History of the Sex Discrimination Prohibition

Abstract

It is a pillar of employment discrimination law that Title ViI's prohibition of "sex" discrimination lacks prior legislative history.. When interpreting the meaning of sex discrimination protection under Title VII, courts have stated that it is impossible to fathom what Congress intended when it included "sex" in the Act. After all, the sex provision was added at the last minute by the Southern archconservative congressman Howard "Judge" Smith in an attempt to frustrate the Civil Rights Act's passage. Courts have often interpreted the sex provision's passage as a "fluke" that has left us bereft of prior legislative history that might guide judicial interpretation. It is not surprising, then, that Title VII's sex discrimination prohibition has been rather narrowly construed.