Schlesinger v. Ballard - Significance

Schlesinger v. Ballard touched peripherally on the volatile subjects of women in combat and of the principle behind affirmative action--that is, the application of differing sets of rules to different groups of people in order to attain a level playing field. The Court's decision in Schlesinger, to uphold statutes which provided different rules of tenure for men and women, signaled a willingness on the Court's part to accept certain types of discrimination inasmuch as the intent was to establish greater fairness. It was difficult, from a feminist perspective, to agree on the ultimate meaning of Schlesinger. On the one hand, the ruling helped to ensure greater opportunities for women; on the other, to some it seemed based on an underlying view of women as "the weaker sex."