Earlier this month, Jeremy Heisler brought attention to recent publications examining the experiences of women in law school today. Jeremy’s post prompts important questions about women and legal education: Is the experience of women in law school worthy of study? What does the latest research tell us about that experience? And how can we ensure that legal education meets the needs of…
As reported by The Washington Post, Christin Munsch, a sociology professor at Furman University, recently presented a study demonstrating that men who request flexible work arrangements are viewed more favorably than women who do the same: In a survey of nearly 700 people between the ages of 18 and 65, Munsch found that people rated men who ask to work either…
In the early 1900s, a U.S. industrialist named Henry Kaiser was making money left and right and amassing an incredible amount of success and wealth while also securing a reputation as being relatively friendly to workers and labor interests. One quote attributed to him is the comment, “when you’re work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.” It’s true that interrupting isn’t polite…
Last month, President Obama signed an Executive Order barring federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The Order simply adds sexual orientation and gender identity to a list of characteristics—race, color, religion, sex, and national origin—already protected under an Executive Order signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and enforcement is to be handled…
Most people would probably agree that an employee who requests “light duty” while eight months pregnant should be entitled to that slight accommodation. “Light-duty” generally refers to work that is physically less demanding than the employee’s normal job duties; for example, “light duty” could mean not pushing or lifting over 20 pounds during a certain period. Unfortunately, until recently, it wasn’t clear…
As a man, my spouse didn’t have the option of trying to get pregnant. I was the one with options. For me, among those options, pregnancy felt like the least complicated, even the second time, when I feared but didn’t know for sure that I might face the unremitting sickness yet again. By contrast, we were both fortunate enough to…
Slowly, quietly, the Navy’s silent service is becoming a gender-equal community. During the week of June 14, 2014, the Navy submitted to Congress its plan to integrate enlisted women into the submarine force – often referred to as the “silent service.” The plan represents the next important step in a long-overdue transition, and it will open pathways to success historically…
The fall season represents new beginnings. For many graduate students, the fall season also marks the time when “on campus recruiting” or other events force a focus on what job the student is going to go to after graduation. These events require eager students to identify the specific type of work they want to do, the location were they want…
A few hours ago, the staff at Jezebel – a site that self-describes as being “a general interest women’s website” – banded together and posted an essay entitled “We have a rape gif problem and Gawker Media won’t do anything about it.” As the essay explains: for months, an individual or individuals has been using anonymous, untraceable burner accounts to…
In “Is there a legal case for work-life balance?” published last week in Fortune, Caroline Fairchild raises the theory that federal anti-discrimination laws may mandate that workplaces have work-life balance. As she correctly notes, U.S. employment laws prohibit company policies that disproportionately affect one group unless the policies have a “business necessity.” For example, an employer could not make passing a test…