Pregnancy Discrimination Act Passed

In 1978, Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The law amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and was enacted in direct response to a Supreme Court decision, General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, which had held that excluding pregnancy from an employer's disability benefits did not constitute sex discrimination.

Under the act, employers were required to treat pregnant workers the same as other employees with comparable abilities or limitations, barring practices such as firing or refusing to hire women because of pregnancy. The law marked an important advance in protecting women's economic security and their ability to remain in the workforce during and after pregnancy, addressing a form of discrimination that had previously kept many women from full participation in employment.