Law Commons^™

Maternity Leave: Taking Sex Differences Into Account, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article focuses on restructuring the workplace in the context of maternity leave. Although most women are no longer, and, indeed, generally cannot be required to take maternity leave, many are not guaranteed leave or may be provided only with inadequate leave. A minority of states have addressed this problem by enacting statutes requiring that all employers provide job-protected maternity leave. Two of the statutes, the California and Montana provisions, have been challenged as discriminatory under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, and the Supreme Court has recently …

The Metamorphosis Of Comparable Worth, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

The concept of comparable worth has as its factual predicate two typical characteristics of women's employment: occupational concentration or segregation and significantly lower wages compared to those paid to men. What continues to be most troubling about this employment pattern is its stubborn persistence, despite the increased presence of women in the workforce and the existence for over two decades of legislation prohibiting sex discrimination in employment.

The concept of comparable worth has provoked an outpouring of emotional rhetoric and scholarly analysis debating the concept’s viability and desirability. Rather than add to that debate, Professor Dowd traces the evolution of …