'Today most American working women would probably be surprised to know that they have an unrepentantly racist, male octogenarian to thank for outlawing sex bias on the job.'
Adding "sex" into the protected categories of the Civil Right Act of 1964 was the idea of Rep. Howard Smith (D-Virginia), apparently as a joke (and to much laughter).
But once some of the few women serving in Congress at the time pointed out that, without that word, white women would arguably have fewer rights than black women, the amendment passed, 168 to 133, "with the most votes in favor cast by Republicans and Southern Democrats," meaning that women were protected from job discrimination under federal law.
Women Were Included in the Civil Rights Act as a Joke
And a racist joke, at that. But working women and black civil rights lawyers had the last laugh when they brought women’s workplace rights to the courts and won.
