October 11, 1963
President John F. Kennedy established the President’s Commission on the Status of Women in 1961, and the Commission issued its report, American Women, on this day. The report covered a wide range of issues, with an emphasis on ending historic restrictions on opportunities for women. Perhaps most important, the Commission’s report called for lawsuits to determine if the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment covered women. The Supreme Court, in Reed v. Reed (November 22, 1971), ruled that the Equal Protection Clause did, indeed, prohibit differential treatment based on sex.
JFK established the Commission on the Status of Women in December, 1961.
