In 1976, I was 8.75 months pregnant during my final exams in grad school. One male professor had a fit when I sat down to take the exam ... he made a big deal of moving me to the front of the room, right by the front door, so the "ambulance attendants" wouldn't have to disturb too much of the class if I went into labor during the exam.
Then, in 1979, my manager at work told me that the reason I didn't get paid the same as the two males in exactly the same position as mine was because they had families to support and wives who stayed home. There were witnesses in the room when he said this ... ha!
I went to the EEOC after the 1979 incident, and end up getting quite a bit of back pay, plus many of the women in the company got a raise as a result. (The company's main revenue came from Federal government contracts!)
I’m glad to hear you fought back and won. The people who fired my mom probably thought the same about her pregnancy-That she would get hurt on the job or be unable to do her duties. She worked in a furniture store. One reason my parents had to forego a bigger house and property was because they didn’t, or wouldn’t, count my mother’s salary in considering a mortgage. My Dad still complains bitterly about this to this day.
In 1964, at 7 months pregnant, I was asked to take leave because they didn’t have insurance to cover pregnant women. I _could_ have had my job back. I didn’t want it. I was paid as much as the men with the same position and many of them resented that.
There was no EEOC.
I also recall that I could not get credit on my own, even though I was working. Even a store credit card depended on a co-signature from my husband and was based on his income.
I was young and we all just accepted that this was the way things were.