Year: 2014

Working mothers are rejoicing in light of a new study which shows that over the course of a career they are more productive than their childless (female) peers. After crunching the numbers on the career trajectories of academic economists, researchers working for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis concluded that mothers outperformed women without children over a three-decade span. Nonetheless, for working women…

I took three weeks of paid paternity leave to be home with my wife and my second son when he was born 17 months ago.  The law firm I work for offered me more paid time off, but I did not take it because I thought doing so would make my attempt to balance family and career look too much…

“I want us all to fulfill our greatest potential.  To find our calling, and summon the courage to live it.” Oprah. When most people think of Oprah, they think of her as an African-American talk show host, actress, producer, billionaire, and philanthropist.  What people don’t know is that she was born in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mom; she…

Kelly Sue DeConnick has been garnering attention for her work as the writer of the series Captain Marvel, which now features Carol Danvers as the protagonist of the series.  Air Force Major Carol Danvers first appeared in Marvel comics in 1968.  In her non-powered form, Danvers was an accomplished spy, a pilot, and skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as marksmanship.…

On Saturday, The New York Times broke a story about sexual harassment at the prestigious Yale School of Medicine.  The information brought to light by NYT is shocking and troubling on two fronts. First is the nature of the allegations.  According to NYT, the former Head of Cardiology at YSOM inappropriately pursued a junior researcher and later tried to retaliate against her boyfriend, who was…

As one of my colleagues wrote earlier this fall, a woman should not have to choose between having a job and having a baby.  Laura Brown agrees.  With Keira McNett, Laura founded First Shift Justice Project earlier this year to protect workers in their “first shift”—their paid employment—so they can work the “second shift”—providing unpaid care for family members.  As a lawyer who represents several women…

Most women—no, all women—have had the experience of receiving unsolicited feedback on their physical appearance. Such commentary comes in many forms, from lewd remarks or demands for a “smile” on the street, to irksome discussions with well-meaning relatives about how much “prettier” one might look with a different hairstyle. Women have long fought against these fleeting indignities, including a recent…