BWM monitors federal legislation that affects workingwomen and educates its members to become involved in public policy development in their own workplaces, and at the local, state and federal government levels. Among the first of the women’s organizations to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment in 1937, BWM has been a leader in passing key legislation affecting workingwomen. Missouri members were instrumental in having the Governor establish the Commission on the Status of Women in the State of Missouri. Other important legislature includes:

1920: Women won the right to vote

Title IX of the Education Amendments
1972: Title IX prevented discrimination on the basis of gender in any federally funded education program.

The Women’s Business Ownership Act
1988: The Women’s Business Ownership Act prohibited state laws requiring a married woman to obtain her husband’s signature on any loan. [H.R. 5050]

Violence Against Women Act
1994: The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave un-prosecuted. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
2000: The Supreme Court case United States v. Morrison struck down the VAWA provision allowing women the right to sue their attackers in federal court as exceeding the federal government’s powers under the Commerce Clause.
2000 and 2005: The Act was reauthorized.
2012: The Act’s renewal was opposed by conservative Republicans, who objected to extending the Act’s protections to same-sex couples and to provisions allowing battered undocumented immigrants to claim temporary visas.
2013: VAWA was reauthorized and now required that colleges and universities receiving federal funds adhere to new requirements intended to help prevent sexual violence on campus and increase accountability for students’ safety.
2015: VAWA was reauthorized and now required that colleges and universities receiving federal funds adhere to new requirements intended to help prevent sexual violence on campus and increase accountability for students’ safety, including focus on prevention of crimes, instituting education and training programs for faculty and students, and provide students with clear information about their rights under the law. [S. 47]

The Civil Rights Act
1964: A landmark piece of civil rights legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public. [Public Law 88-352]

The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible employees are entitled to:
Twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth; the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement; to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition; a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job; any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or
Twenty-six workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).

Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a United States federal law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex. It was signed into law on June 10, 1963, by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program.

Johanna’s Law
Johanna’s Law, which was first passed in 2005, was named for Johanna Silver Gordon, a public school teacher and loving and beloved mother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend, who was diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer. Despite multiple surgeries and aggressive treatment, Johanna died only 3-1/2 years after her diagnosis. This bill was proposed by her sister, Sheryl Silver, to help raise awareness about the disease and educate women and their health care providers about its symptoms, clinical signs, and risk factors. For fact about gynecologic cancer, click here. This Act may be cited as the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act of 2005. [H.R. 1245]

The Civil Rights Tax Relief Act
The Civil Rights Tax Relief Act was enacted under the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 [H.R. 3448]. In 2004, the American Jobs Creation Act [P.L. 108-357, Section 703] enacted a provision ending double taxation of attorney’s fees in employment discrimination, civil rights, and under other workplace cases. Many still find the present tax law unfair, arbitrary and confusing. With the enactment, non-economic damages recovered in cases that do not arise from a physical injury — including employment cases brought under civil rights laws and other worker protection statues — became taxable. Non-economic damages compensate people for pain, suffering, and related health effects. As a result, current tax law penalizes workers who successfully vindicate their workplace rights under various federal, state and local laws. These laws include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, whistleblower protection statutes, and those regulating any aspect of the employment relationship. The Civil Justice Tax Fairness Act of 2015 passage would provide early and fair settlement of employment cases and helps reduce costly litigation.

The Debbie Smith Act included in Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act
The Debbie Smith Act of 2004 provides United States federal government grants to eligible states and local government to conduct DNA analyses of backlogged DNA samples collected from victims of crimes and criminal offenders. For a history of The Debbie Smith Act, click here. For an interview with Debbie Smith, a sexual assault survivor, the founder of H-E-A-R-T (Hope Exists after Rape Trauma), and a longtime advocate of the elimination of DNA testing backlogs, click here.

The Retirement Equity Act of 1984
This major piece of pension legislation amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code primarily in response to public concerns that working women are not receiving their fair share of private pension benefits. It introduced mandatory spousal rights in pension plans so the choice of the form of benefit received from a pension plan was no longer solely the participant’s choice. The legislative history of REA reflects that Congress viewed the marriage relationship as a partnership, and the retirement benefit resulting from that partnership as derived from the contributions of both partners. Prior to REA’s enactment, the spouse of a plan participant had very few rights to share in that participant’s pension benefit. [IRM 4.72.9]

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009
The Lilly Ledbetter Act is a federal statue in the United States signed into law on January 29, 2009. The Act amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The new act states that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. The law directly addressed Ledbetter v Goodyear Tire & Rubbon Co. (2007). Read more here.

The Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is the official name for the new healthcare law. Since that name is so long people usually refer to the law as the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare, or just say ACA, PPACA for short. The law makes healthcare and health insurance more affordable and more available to more Americans. It does this through new consumer protections, new rules and regulations on the healthcare industry, by creating a marketplace for subsidized insurance, and by reforming and expanding public healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act also includes measures to cut the growth in healthcare spending in the U.S. If you would like to read the full law, click here. If you are interested in the benefits, click here.