The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes.

Abzug’s line argues that employment decisions should be based on competence and performance rather than immutable biological traits. By reducing discrimination to “the arrangement of your chromosomes,” she targets sex-based bias (and, by extension, other forms of biological essentialism) as irrational and unjust. The quote reflects a core feminist and civil-rights principle: equal opportunity requires that institutions judge individuals on relevant qualifications, not on categories like male/female that have historically been used to exclude women from jobs, advancement, and pay equity. It also underscores a broader democratic ideal in Abzug’s politics—workplace rights as a matter of fairness and citizenship, not biology.