[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 4]
[Revised as of July 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1604.4]

[Page 195-196]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
          CHAPTER XIV--EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
 
PART 1604_GUIDELINES ON DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF SEX--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1604.4  Discrimination against married women.

    (a) The Commission has determined that an employer's rule which 
forbids or restricts the employment of married women and which is not 
applicable to married men is a discrimination based on sex prohibited by 
title VII of the Civil Rights Act. It does not seem to us relevant that 
the rule is not directed against all females, but only against married 
females, for so long as sex is a factor in the application of the rule, 
such application involves a discrimination based on sex.
    (b) It may be that under certain circumstances, such a rule could be 
justified within the meaning of section 703(e)(1) of title VII. We 
express no opinion on this question at this time

[[Page 196]]

except to point out that sex as a bona fide occupational qualification 
must be justified in terms of the peculiar requirements of the 
particular job and not on the basis of a general principle such as the 
desirability of spreading work.