Some women love them, some hate them, and some choose to bear with them. But beyond personal preference, heels have become a common and often an expected part of a woman’s professional attire. This was not necessarily true even 30 years ago. Stilettos have a complicated history, and women have grappled with making sense of these shoes. Once a symbol…
A new study from the University of Colorado-Boulder found that women and minority corporate executives who hired and promoted other women and minorities received lower performance ratings than their white male colleagues. This penalization perpetuates the glass ceiling that women and minorities struggle to shatter. The study provides one explanation for the observation that women and minority executives are reluctant to hire…
Films in the past have overwhelmingly perpetuated two paradoxical perceptions of women: the Charlie’s Angels-style seductive and naïve-yet-smart female; or the infamous Miranda Priestly’s vicious bulldog persona (from The Devil Wears Prada). Sarah Palin underscored the pervasiveness of these two stereotypes when she married them, offering the public her own self-designed portrait as a “pitbull with lipstick.” Hilary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren, both highly influential and…
This summer, an estimated 130,000 visitors descended upon an abandoned, soon-to-be-demolished sugar factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to take in the latest exhibit by renowned artist-slash-provocateur Kara Walker. Housed in the historic Domino Sugar Refinery, the exhibit was titled “A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby: an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to…
Recently, there has been a surge of “feminist” videos and lyrics in pop culture. This effort to incorporate messages surrounding the role of women in society into mass media has been received by an audience far broader than the traditional women’s studies set. These videos can also be viewed as a commentary on women’s lives and development – and a…
Google’s 2013 public release of the wearable technology Google Glass has added another dimension to the way we, as humans, use and integrate technology into our everyday lives. “The Glass” is part of a new line of immersive technologies that seamlessly integrates with its wearers’ experiences of the world. For example, instead of having to open up a computer to access the…
Although gender and pregnancy discrimination cases are a central part of my legal practice, Pregnant Lawyers’ July 11, 2014 post “Lawyering While Pregnant” was an alarming reminder to me of how far removed my experiences as a male professional are from the experiences of my female colleagues and clients, particularly those who are going through pregnancies. While I don’t pretend…
If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. I’m talking about a clip from American Ninja Warrior. And this clip matters, not just to those of us who might treat shows like this as a guilty pleasure. Because of Kacy Catanzaro, and the incredible physical feat she accomplishes, matters. She’s tiny. Physically tiny. Five feet tall. 100 pounds. I can’t…
Last week, a federal judge in New York ordered that notice of a lawsuit under the federal Equal Pay Act be sent to at least 7,000 female employees at KPMG—one of the nation’s “Big 4” tax, audit and accounting firms. The lawsuit details how KPMG illegally paid female professionals less than it paid men for the same work (in addition to other discriminatory acts).…
A performance review. An unexpected meeting called by Human Resources. A conversation where you’ll be requesting a raise or a promotion. A discussion where you report a colleague who has been saying inappropriate things. It’s understandable why a smart employee – particularly in our technologically-dependent world – would think it was a great idea to make a recording of any…