Nobel winner says US women won on rights, but benefits lag | Cornell Chronicle

""Not that long ago, women were fired for getting married, being pregnant, having children, even being capable of having children," said Goldin, a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, professor at Harvard University and the first individual woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics, in 2023. "They have non-credited mortgages. They use their husband's name on credit cards.""

""Goldin gave a rundown of a heightened period of progress for U.S. women in the 1960s and 70s: In 1964, the word "sex" was added - famously, at the last second - to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited employment discrimination. A slew of milestones followed: The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) passed in 1972 and was ratified in 30 states; Title IX, prohibiting discriminat"

U.S. women faced pervasive legal and economic discrimination: being fired for marriage, penalized for pregnancy and childbearing, denied independent credit, restricted in occupations, and excluded from juries. Public recognition of gender discrimination lagged behind awareness of racial discrimination in the early 1960s. The civil rights and anti-war movements prompted women to organize, leverage voting power, and push for policy change. Major legal milestones in the 1960s–70s included adding "sex" to Title VII in 1964, passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972 (ratified by 30 states), and enactment of Title IX prohibiting sex discrimination in education, expanding protections and opportunities.

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