Executive Order 11375 was the 1967 order that added sex to the list of protected categories under the federal contractor equal employment program, and it is no longer in effect. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it on October 13, 1967, and it operated as an amendment to Executive Order 11246 until January 21, 2025, when President Trump revoked EO 11246 in its entirety. Because EO 11375 lived inside EO 11246 rather than standing on its own, the revocation ended the framework it had built.1The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
What the Order Did in 1967
Before EO 11375, the federal government’s equal employment rules for contractors covered race, creed, color, and national origin. Sex was not on the list. That meant a federal contractor could refuse to promote women, pay them less than male peers, or exclude them from training programs without violating the order.
EO 11375 closed that gap by inserting “sex” into every relevant provision of EO 11246.2The American Presidency Project. Executive Order 11375 – Amending Executive Order No. 11246, Relating to Equal Employment Opportunity It also replaced “creed” with “religion” throughout the order, aligning the language with other federal civil rights laws.3U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Executive Order No. 11246 The prohibition reached across the full employment relationship: recruiting, hiring, training, promotions, pay, demotions, and termination. Covered contractors also had to extend their affirmative action obligations to women, meaning active steps to ensure equal opportunity rather than passive nondiscrimination.
How It Fit Within Executive Order 11246
Johnson had signed EO 11246 on September 24, 1965, setting two core duties for companies holding federal contracts: no discrimination in employment, and affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity.3U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Executive Order No. 11246 EO 11246 also built the enforcement architecture: a nondiscrimination clause required in every government contract, investigatory authority for the Secretary of Labor, and sanctions running from contract cancellation to debarment.
EO 11375 did not create anything new procedurally. It simply added sex to the categories the existing machinery already policed. When the amendment took effect for contractors in October 1968, all of the audit, complaint, and sanction mechanisms that already applied to race and national origin discrimination automatically reached gender discrimination as well.
What Contractors Had to Do While It Was in Force
The obligations fell on private companies doing business with the federal government. Every government contract had to include an equal opportunity clause committing the contractor to nondiscrimination, requiring notices for employees, and flowing the same requirements down to subcontractors and vendors.3U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Executive Order No. 11246
A nonconstruction contractor or subcontractor with 50 or more employees and a contract worth at least $50,000 had to develop a written Affirmative Action Program for each establishment.4eCFR. 41 CFR Part 60-2 – Affirmative Action Programs The program required analyzing the workforce to identify where women and minorities were underrepresented compared to their availability in the relevant labor market, setting placement goals to close those gaps, and maintaining internal auditing and reporting systems that tracked applicant flow, hires, promotions, and compensation by demographic group.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, within the Department of Labor, enforced these rules through scheduled audits and complaint investigations.5Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs When it found a violation, it typically pursued a conciliation agreement, often including back pay. Contract cancellation and debarment sat at the far end of the enforcement scale.
Why It No Longer Applies
On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” which revoked EO 11246 in its entirety.1The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Because EO 11375 existed only as an amendment to EO 11246, the revocation eliminated the sex discrimination protections it had added along with the rest of the framework.
EO 14173 included a 90-day transition period during which contractors could continue to comply with the old regulatory scheme. That window closed on April 21, 2025. The Department of Labor directed OFCCP to immediately halt investigative and enforcement activity under EO 11246, including pending cases, active investigations, and existing conciliation agreements. In July 2025, DOL published a proposed rulemaking to formally rescind the implementing regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1, 60-2, and related provisions.6Federal Register. Rescission of Executive Order 11246 Implementing Regulations
The new order replaces the old affirmative action requirements with a different kind of contract term. Federal agencies must now include provisions requiring contractors to certify that they do not operate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that violate federal anti-discrimination laws, and to agree that their compliance with anti-discrimination laws is material to government payment decisions under the False Claims Act.1The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity That False Claims Act hook is a substantial shift, because a contractor that falsely certifies compliance can face liability well beyond anything OFCCP previously imposed.
What Protection Against Sex Discrimination Remains
The end of EO 11375 does not leave federal contractor employees without recourse. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 continues to prohibit employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, and it applies to any employer with 15 or more employees, including federal contractors.7U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title VII is a statute, not an executive order, so a president cannot revoke it.
What changed is the enforcement path and the affirmative obligations. Under the old EO 11246 framework, contractors had to analyze their workforce, set placement goals, and open themselves to OFCCP audits. Title VII is reactive: it prohibits discriminatory conduct but does not require workforce demographic analysis or affirmative action plans. Enforcement runs through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the federal courts.
If you believe a federal contractor discriminated against you because of your sex, the complaint now goes to the EEOC, not to OFCCP. The EEOC generally requires a charge within 180 days of the discriminatory act, extended to 300 days if a state or local agency also enforces the same type of claim. Complaints filed under the old OFCCP process are no longer moving forward, so anyone with a live claim should contact the EEOC to preserve it under Title VII.