The federal workforce and government contractors were forced to end gender discrimination in hiring and employment after XO 11375. Government contractors like rubber companies and aircraft companies faced many court battles after the passage of this order.

In 1973, the male-only armed forces draft ended. Women were integrated into the military, representing all branches of the new volunteer corps. Women still faced discrimination, but became increasingly more accepted as soldiers.

Griswold v. Connecticut struck down a Connecticut Comstock law that prohibited citizens from using drugs or medical instruments for contraception. This right was later extended to unmarried couples in Eisenstadt v. Baird.

The League of Women Voters emerged as a new organization in the women’s rights movement after 1920, and set about directing the new female voting bloc. The organization remains active to this day and continue to mobilize politically minded women in the pursuit of women’s rights.

Before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, which gave women the right to vote, many Western states had already extended suffrage to their female residents, some decades previously. Wyoming, in particular, was especially forward-thinking, allowing women to vote since 1869, and had even made the preservation of women’s suffrage a condition of statehood. The successful passage of the Nineteenth Amendment was celebrated by women across the nation, but it would not prove powerful enough to unite all feminists. Indeed, the first feminist movement was quite diverse in opinions, with some women adopting a more traditional patriarchal self-conception, while others believed in the complete equality and immersion of women within society. Confounded by this lack of consensus, the women’s rights movement soon dissolved into separate factions, each pursuing different, and even sometimes conflicting, goals. Perhaps the best example of this reality was illustrated by the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was intended to prohibit gender discrimination. Surprisingly, the ERA did not enjoy popularity among most women, many of whom regarded its statements as running counter to traditional familial values. This, of course, helped ensure the ERA’s defeat, both in 1923 and in the case of its short-lived revival in 1972. While women have served in the US military since World War II, federal restrictions banned any female soldier from taking part in direct fighting – until just recently. This prohibition was lifted on January 24th, 2013, opening both combat zones and up the highest ranks of the military, including the Navy Seals and Marines, to qualified women.

Adell Sherbert was a Seventh Day Adventist who refused to work on Saturday, as it was her religion's sabbath. When her employer fired her, she sued her employer, arguing she had a constitutional right to not be fired for freely exercising her religion. After her case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, the court found in her favor, and established the so-called Sherbert test. The Sherbert test was used to determine whether someone's ability to freely exercise his or her religion was being limited by the government.

Eminent Domain has been a policy of the US Government since independence from the British Empire. It allows the Federal government to seize private property for public use. Due to the fact that it inherently violates the right of an individual to own property it has always been at least somewhat controversial. It reappears as a major public issue from time to time throughout American history.

Desegregation of the armed forces took place in 1948 and was ordered by President Harry Truman. Roosevelt had recently banned racial discrimination and segregation in government offices.

The Warren Court cited the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as justification for striking down racial segregation. Students should be able to recall critical civil rights amendments (such as the First, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments). 

De facto segregation is the name given to racial segregation that exists, but is not supported by law and may even run counter to contemporary laws. De jure segregation is segregation that is created by and supported by law. De jure segregation has proved much easier to get rid of in American society, whereas de facto segregation has proven much more resilient.