The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified after the Civil War. Yet the first Supreme Court equal protection ruling related to gender was not made until the 1970's in Reed v Reed.
Which of the following is a reason for the disparity between the promises and protections of the Constitution and the reality of women's experiences?
Societal norms persisted despite legal protections

affirmative action refers to the policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in order to promote equal opportunity.

employers subject to title vii are prohibited from taking race or sex into account in any employment decisions. aa is a penalty for having any job group substantially statistically "underutilized" in any race or either sex. the employer must take steps to eliminate the underutilization, then stop, ending its aa efforts