ABSTRACT
Family policy and issues of reproduction and fertility pose the greatest challenges to feminists when choosing a path toward equality. Gender neutrality in family law or in policies related to pregnancy often obscures the ways in which women are disadvantaged. For example, a law that prevents firefighters from breast-feeding their babies between calls affects only women, although it presumably applies to all firefighters. In General Electric v. Gilbert (1976), the Supreme Court ruled that a policy that distinguishes between pregnant and nonpregnant persons does not constitute sex discrimination against women, though this was later overturned by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. 1 A legal equality doctrine is difficult to adopt in family and fertility policies because in many cases women’s biological differences are paramount and are magnified by socially constructed gender roles. Yet laws that apply only to women and are based on their reproductive functions are often discriminatory in their application and can disadvantage women.
