Acting chair of the US EEOC Andrea Lucas has taken steps to comply with an executive order on “gender ideology” through removal of gender-inclusive language on commission forms, among other measures.
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The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has begun its implementation of US President Donald Trump’s executive order, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, Lucas said in a press release on 28 January 2025. Lucas identified recent and future actions meant to return the EEOC “to its mission of protecting women from sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination in the workplace.”
Among other things, the executive order provides that the Trump administration will only recognise biological sex and instructs federal agencies to rescind any guidance inconsistent with that recognition.
Lucas, whom Trump designated as acting chair on 21 January 2025, said that one of her priorities is to “defend the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single-sex spaces at work.” The agency has already taken steps to comply with the executive order, including:
- eliminating the “X” gender marker option formerly provided to individuals filing a discrimination charge during the intake process;
- reviewing the agency’s “Know Your Rights” poster, which all covered employers are legally required to post in their workplaces; and
- removing content related to gender identification on the agency’s website.
Trump’s executive order specifically calls for the rescission of the EEOC’s Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace. The guidance cites the US Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v Clayton in recognising harassment based on gender identity as sex-based discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964. The guidance currently has a callout explaining its continued presence on the EEOC website.
Lucas voted against the guidance in 2024. She remains strongly opposed to portions of the guidance recognising the denial of access to sex-segregated spaces accordant with one’s gender identity as harassment under Title VII. In the press release, Lucas reiterated her stance that “each sex has its own, unique privacy interests, and women have additional safety interests, that warrant certain single-sex facilities at work and other spaces outside the home.” She also asserted that it is not harassment to recognise the “binary” and “immutable” nature of sex.
The EEOC chair cannot unilaterally remove or modify policies, despite Trump’s order to do so. The five-member agency is currently without a quorum after Trump’s unprecedented decision to fire two of the three Democratic commissioners on 27 January 2025. The removal of Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows leaves only two commissioners, Lucas and Kalpana Kotagal, one less than needed for the agency to rescind the harassment guidance or issue any further decisions.
The EEOC’s failure to rescind the enforcement guidance in a timely manner may prompt legal challenges. Tennessee and 17 other states filed a complaint challenging the guidance in 2024, but oral arguments were cancelled last week because of the executive order. The district court invited the plaintiffs to refile briefs on a motion for a preliminary injunction, which, if granted, could temporarily relieve the executive pressure on the EEOC to rescind.