Working Mothers and Sexual Discrimination

Despite women’s recent advances in nontraditional areas and professional occupations, certain sexual stereotypes persist. One of those stereotypes is that working mothers are unable to manage their work and family responsibilities and thus, are less committed to their job. While Title VII prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sex, it does not specifically provide protection against workplace bias relating to their role as a working mother. In a case recently decided by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court addressed whether stereotyping about the qualities of mothers is a form of gender discrimination. Back v. Hastings on the Hudson Union Free School District, 365 F. 3d 107 (2d Cir. 2004). The Court described this question as "one that strikes at the persistent fault line between work and family – precisely where sex based overgeneralization has been and remains strongest." The Second Circuit held that stereotyping about a working mother’s inability