HON303/WMS303: WOMEN & LAW
	Topics, Notes, Assignments II (go to Part I)

Employment and Workplace Issues

March 23–28: Occupational Segregation

• March 23—Required Readings: Nancy E. Dowd, “Work and Family: The Gender Paradox and the Limitations of Discrimination Analysis in Restructuring the Workplace,” Weisberg, 549-570; Case: EEOC v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. (Appellate Opinion). Excerpts from Harlington Wood, Jr., Circuit Judge, and Cudahy, Circuit Judge. Weisberg, 585-593.
• March 28—Required Readings: Joan C. Williams, “Deconstructing Gender,” Weisberg, 624-635; Vicki Schultz, “Telling Stories about Women and Work: Judicial Interpretations of Sex Segregation in the Workplace in Title VII Cases Raising the Lack of Interest Argument,” Weisberg, 636-663.
• Recommended Links:
  • Law about Employment Discrimination: An Overview (Cornell LII)
  • Burden of Proof in Title VII Discrimination Cases; this is a useful one-page outline of the two types of cases. For more information about each, see EEO: Disparate Treatment and EEO: Disparate Impact, both from HR_Guide.Com
  • Women's Earnings as Percent of Men's, 1979 - 1996 (US Department of Labor)
  • 20 Leading Occupations of Employed Women (US Department of Labor)
  • 20 Facts on Women Workers (US Department of Labor)
  • Report on 1999 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners; see also Catalyst's series of research reports
  • 1998 Statistics on the Wage Gap from the National Committee on Pay Equity
  • The Glass Ceiling Legal Resources, a page of links from Shatter the Glass Ceiling, a working woman's magazine.
  • “The Glass Ceiling: Findings and Recommendations of the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission,” by René Redwood (In Motion Magazine)
  • “The Three Levels of the Glass Ceiling: Sorcerer's Apprentice to Through the Looking Glass,” The Glass Ceiling Dataline 1.8 (September 1991).
  • “Pro & Con: The Glass Ceiling Hurts Business Too,” by Susan Bianchi-Sand, IntellectualCapital.com 5.11 (January 23, 1997 ).
  • “Pro & Con: The Myth of the Glass Ceiling,” by Diana Furchtgott-Roth, IntellectualCapital.com 5.11 (January 23, 1997 ).
  • Information about Pregnancy Discrimination
  • The Career Track vs. The Parent Track (More Than Just the Mommy Track)

Questions for Written Assignment, due March 28

NB: As a substitute for the March 28 written assignment, students may attend the Thursday March 23 program “Listening to Our Children: Who Protects Their Rights?, ” a panel co-sponsored by the Women's Studies Program and the Social Work Department, 2:00-5:00 pm, Romita Auditorium. If this option is chosen, 1) write a summary of the program, describing its main points and content; 2) explain your response to this program: Did you enjoy it? What were the main things you learned? 3) explain how the program's content relates to at least one aspect of the legal theory that we have been studying. Hand in this response on March 28.

March 30–April 4: Comparable Worth

• March 30—Required Readings: Mary E. Becker, “Barriers Facing Women in the Wage-Labor Market and the Need for Additional Remedies: A Reply to Fischel and Lazear,” Weisberg, 697-709; Deborah Walker, “Value and Opportunity: The Issue of Comparable Pay for Comparable Worth” (an online article written by a Research Fellow at George Mason University for the Cato Institute's Policy Analysis series).
• April 4—Required Readings: Julianne Malveaux, “Comparable Worth and Its Impact on Black Women,” Weisberg, 683-696; Richard A. Posner. “Conservative Feminism.” Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations. Ed. D. Kelly Weisberg. Temple University Press, 1993. 99-117.
• Recommended Links:
  • “Comparable Worth,” Issues in Ethics (v.3, n.2), published by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (a short article summarizing arguments on both sides of the issue)
  • Pay Equity / Comparable Worth Home Page, an explanation by the State of Minnesota's Department of Employee Relations about how pay equity is calculated in the state.
  • “Comparable Worth or Incomparably Worthless?” by Lawrence W. Reed, Viewpoint on Public Issues (No 94-22 · September 6, 1994), published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (an attack)
  • “What Every Man Should Know About Feminist Issues: Comparable Worth,” by Rod Van Mechelen (a popularizing attack)

Questions for Written Assignment, due April 4

April 6–11: Sexual Harassment

• April 6—Required Readings: Martha Chamallas, “Feminist Constructions of Objectivity: Multiple Perspectives on Sexual and Racial Harassment Litigation,” Weisberg, 808-825; two cases: Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986), excerpts from Justice Rehnquist, Opinion of the Court, and concurrence by Justices Marshall, Brennan, Blackmun, and Stevens, Weisberg, 740-748; Ellison v. Brady (1991), excerpts from Circuit Judge Beezer, Opinion of the Court, and District Judge Stephens, dissenting, Weisberg, 749-754.
• April 11—Required Readings: Susan Estrich, “Sex at Work,” Weisberg, 755-778; Jeffrey Toobin, “The Trouble with Sex,” New Yorker, 9 February 1998: 48-55.
• Recommended Links: Cases
  • Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth (1998), Cornell LII
  • Faragher v. City of Boca Raton (1998), Cornell LII
  • Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education (1999), Cornell LII
  • Harris v. Forklift Systems (1993), Cornell LII
  • Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986), Cornell LII—edited decision
• Recommended Links: Employment
  • HR Guide to the Internet: EEO: Harassment
  • “What's a Reasonable Woman to Do? The Judicial Rhetoric of Sexual Harassment,” by Frances J. Ranney. NWSA Journal 9.2 (1997)
  • “Behaving Badly: Lessons learned the hard way at the Veterans Affairs Department could teach other agencies about preventing sexual harassment,” by Susannah Zak Figura (GovExec.com, July 1999)
  • “Men Behaving Badly: The incoherence of sexual-harassment law,” by Jeffrey Rosen (The New Republic, 29 December 1997)
  • “Supreme Court Expands the Application of Vicarious Liability in Sexual Harassment Cases,” by David Joffee (Employer's Counsel, summer 1998)
  • Freedom of Speech vs. Workplace Harassment Law—A Growing Conflict. This site, created by Prof. Eugene Volokh, UCLA Law School, contains many articles and discussion of First Amendment issues raised by sexual harassment cases; see especially his article “What Speech Does ‘Hostile Work Environment’ Harassment Law Restrict?”
  • Free Speech and Sexual Harassment (Hyperscribes, Northwestern University). This site includes several hypothetical cases which are then discussed from feminist and free-speech perspectives.
  • Sexual Harrassment and How Women Cope (HRZone)
  • Sexual Harassment Links (About.com)
  • Information about Sexual Harassment. This interactive training site created by Nancy Wyatt, Penn State University, contains some hypothetical cases in an academic setting.
  • Sexual Harassment (annotated links compiled by students)
  • “Sexual Harassment: Fact vs. Myth,” by Cris Brown (plain language explanation of the “hostile working environment” standard)
  • Sexual Harassment Pretest for Management Personnel (explanation of answers available)
  • Justice, a brief piece by Harvard lawyer Alan Dershowitz criticizing sexual harassment laws
  • Exchange on Heterophobia. Christine Littleton reviews a book by Daphne Patai criticizing the “Sexual Harassment Industry” and Patai responds.
  • “Rites of the Workplace.” by Bob Kolasky (Intellectual Capital.com, 12 March, 1998)
  • Full Disclosure: Sex, Power and Office Politics at Microsoft by Rod Van Mechelen , an online book by a man who was fired by a female supervisor at Microsoft for allegedly harassing a female co-worker.
• Recommended Links: Schools
  • Sexual Harassment: It's Not Academic (a government pamphlet on sexual harassment in schools)
  • “Lago Vista: The Last Warning,” by Ann Clarke Snell
  • “Running the Gauntlet No More: Using Title IX to End Student-to-Student Sexual Harassment,” by Verna Williams (Human Rights 23.4, 1996)
  • “Forbidden Love: Student-Professor Romances,” by Barry M. Dank and Joseph S. Fulda (Sexuality & Culture 1, 1997). This article argues against attempt to ban student-professor sex.

Questions for Written Assignment, due April 11

NB: As a substitute for the April 11 written assignment, students may attend one or both days of the Ain’t I a Woman?! National Conference April 8-9 at Washington Irving High School in New York City, sponsored by the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops. Consult the web site for information about conference topics and registration; fee for college students is $10 (although the registration deadline is stated as March 24, this is apparently flexible. Amy Wu of CNR Campus Ministry is attending on April 8, so you way want to speak to her if you are interested in going. If this option is chosen, 1) write a summary of the program, describing its main points and content; 2) explain your response to this program: Did you enjoy it? What were the main things you learned? 3) explain how the program's content relates to at least one aspect of the legal theory that we have been studying. Hand in this response on April 11.

April 13: First Draft of paper due to your mentor

Violence Against Women

April 13-18: Rape

• April 13—Required Readings: Susan Estrich, “Introduction: Rape,” Weisberg, 431-454; Mark Hansel, “Substantive Law on Rape” and “Procedural Law of Rape Is Unique.”
• April 18—Required Readings: Christina Hoff Sommers, “Researching the ‘Rape Culture’ of America: An Investigation of Feminist Claims about Rape,” The Real Issue, 1995. (published by Christian Leadership Ministries); Frances Olsen, “Statutory Rape: A Feminist Critique of Rights Analysis,” Weisberg, 460-470; Case: Michael M. v. Superior Court, excerpts from Justice Rehnquist, Opinion of the Court, and Justice Brennan, dissenting, Weisberg, 455-459.
• Recommended Links:
  • Role of Mens Rea and Consent in Criminal Law (Emmanual Criminal Law Capsule Summary)
  • On the Sociology of Sexual Assault, by Mark Hansel (Moorhead State University)
  • Violence Against Women Office Home Page
  • The Violence Against Women Act of 1994: Introduction, Background, Legislative Intent (The Urban Institute). The first chapter of this report deals with facts about sexual assault (rape) and domestic violence and the history of efforts to reform the law, including basic information on the concept of consent.
  • Rape (law), Encarta Encyclopedia
  • Sexual Assault: Acquaintence Rape (page of links)
  • National Coalition Against Sexual Assault
  • “Court to Hear Case on Violence Law,” by Joan Biskupic (Washington Post, 29 September 1999); see also the various briefs filed for this case.
  • “With Justice for Whom? The Presumption of Moral Innocence in Rape Trials,” by Stacey Pastel Dougan. Review of George P. Fletcher, With Justice for Some: Victims' Rights in Criminal Trials, particularly his view of rape law and the issue of consent.
  • “ Spousal Rape Debate Renewed: Appeal Seeks Lighter Penalty,” by Susie Steckner and Jodie Snyder (The Arizona Republic 8 August 1999)
  • “Don't Shield Juries from the Truth in Sex Cases,” by Cathy Young (The Wall Street Journal, 20 April 1998). On New York's “rape shield” law in connection with the Oliver Jovanovic case; note that Jovanovic's appeal against the exclusion of the victim's email messages succeeded.
  • Sexual Assault & Rape (information for students from San Diego State University)
  • “I Want a Twenty-Four Hour-Truce During Which There Is No Rape,” originally published under the title “Talking to Men About Rape,” by Andrea Dworkin (1984)
  • Review of The Morning After: Sex, Fear and Feminism on Campus by Katie Roiphe, Katha Pollitt (New Yorker 4 October, 1993)
  • False Rape Reports from Adults, links compiled by David R. Throop for his “Men's Issues Page”

Questions for Written Assignment, due April 18

April 20–25: Domestic Violence

• April 20—Required Readings: Elizabeth M. Schneider, “Describing and Changing: Women's Self-Defense Work and the Problem of Expert Testimony on Battering,” Weisberg, 311-326; Elizabeth M. Schneider, “The Violence of Privacy,” Weisberg, 388-404; Case: State v. Wanrow (1977), excerpts from Associate Justice Utter, Opinion of the Court, Weisberg, 306-310.
• April 25—Required Readings: Martha R. Mahoney, “Legal Images of Battered Women: Redefining the Issue of Separation,” Weisberg, 341-362; Kimberle Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color,” Weisberg, 363-377.
• Recommended Links:
  • State v.Thomas (Ohio Supreme Court, 1997). This appeals case involves the battered woman syndrome defense, instructions to the jury, and whether or not one has a duty to retreat from one's home when threatened by a co-habitant.
  • “Critique of the ‘Battered Woman Syndrome’ Model,” by Mary Ann Dutton
  • “Family Violence: Fifty Obstacles to Leaving, a.k.a., Why Abuse Victims Stay,” by Sarah M. Buel (The Colorado Lawyer 28.10, 1999)
  • “Safety and Accountability: The Underpinings of a Just Justice System,” by Barbara J. Hart
  • Domestic Violence (extensive, annotated links from the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse)
  • Discussion of Major Domestic Violence Terms (Center on Crime, Communities & Culture)
  • Criminal Justice: Law Enforcement, Prosecution & Probation (Violence against Women Online Resources), annotated links
  • Institute for Law and Justice: Domestic Violence
  • “The Criminalization of Domestic Violence: Promises and Limits,” a report to the National Institute of Justice written by Jeffrey Fagan (January 1996)
  • “Domestic Violence Legislation Affecting Police and Prosecutor Responsibilities: A 50 State Review,” a report by Neal Miller, Esq., for the Institute for Law and Justice (1997)
  • 1999 Violence Against Women Legislation
  • Violence Against Women and Sexual Harassment, a page of links on the Feminist.com website
  • The American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence
  • Battered Women and Their Children. This web site is devoted to a professional and scholarly examination of the connections between domestic violence (woman abuse) and child maltreatment (child abuse and neglect).
  • “Shattered Love, Broken Lives: Domestic Violence” (series of articles produced by the Standard-Times, New Bedford, MA)
  • Men and Domestic Violence Index, compiled by David R. Throop for his “Men's Issues Page”
  • “Self-defense No Defense for Men: Defending himself against a violent woman got eastern Washington man 31 months in the state pen,” by John Sample (Backlash.com March 1996)
  • What Every Man Should Know About Feminist Issues: Domestic Violence, by Rod Van Mechelen

Questions for Written Assignment, due April 25

April 27: Final Version of paper due

April 27–May 2: Pornography

• April 27—Required Readings: D. Kelly Weisberg. “Pornography: Introduction,” Weisberg, 5-27; Case: American Booksellers Association, Inc. v. Hudnut (1986), excerpts from Circuit Judge Easterbrook, Opinion of the Court, Weisberg, 104-109; Nan D. Hunter and Sylvia A. Law, “Brief Amici Curiae of Feminist Anti-Censorship Taskforce et al., in American Booksellers Association, Inc. v. Hudnut,” Weisberg, 118-130.
• May 2—Required Readings: Andrea Dworkin, “Against the Male Flood: Censorship, Pornography, and Equality,” Weisberg, 28-36; Thomas I. Emerson, “Pornography and the First Amendment: A Reply to Professor MacKinnon,” Weisberg, 80-86.
• Recommended Links:
  • “Feminism and Pornography: A Dialogical Perspective,” by Robert Cavalier (Carnegie Mellon University)
  • “Ethical Dimensions: Ethical Considerations of Pornography,” by Reid D. Albee. This student paper provides an interesting summary of the legal and ethical arguments relating to pronography, although it is marred by numerous spelling errors.
  • Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine, special issue on Pornography and the Internet ( 3.1 (January 1996)
  • “Pornography Happens to Women,” by Andrea Dworkin. Andrea Dworkin delivered this speech at a conference entitled “Speech, Equality and Harm: Feminist Legal Perspectives on Pornography and Hate Propaganda” at the University of Chicago Law School on March 6, 1993. Other articles on the topic can be found at the Andrea Dworkin Online Library.
  • “What we learned from Ted Bundy,” by Leilani Corpus (1989). This article describes a taped interview in which convicted mass murder/rapist Ted Bundy explains the effect that consumption of pornography had on his violent crimes.
  • Querying Censorship. This page from the Jurist website includes an essay by David Lowenthal, “Why the Mass Media Must Be Censored,” and a review of the book Censorship and Silencing: Practices of Cultural Regulation, edited by Robert C. Post, by Collins and Skover.
  • The Cyberporn Debate (Project 2000)
  • Pornography & Obscenity: Choices and Consequences. This series of web pages relating especially to legal sanctions against child pornography was posted by the siteowner because he “wishes he had the benefit of the information contained on these pages, before he downloaded kiddie porn pictures. . . I am now facing some period of time in a federal prison and likely the loss of my job. The impact on my family has been devastating both in financial and emotional terms. In my case, there was never an intent to act, just a curiosity.”
  • “ Censored Truth,” by Ann J. Simonton ( antipornography article posted by MediaWatch Online)

Questions for Written Assignment, due May 2

Part III: Women in the Legal Profession

May 4–11: Women in Law School and the Legal Profession NB: Attendance at the panel on May 8 is required; thus there will be no class on Tuesday, May 9.

• May 4—Required Readings: Emily Bernstein, “Law School Women Question Their Teaching,” New York Times (5 June 1996); “Letters,” New York Times (12 June 1996); “Facing the Grail: Confronting the Cost of Work-Family Imbalance,” Report of the Boston Bar Association Task Force on Professional Challenges and Family Needs (June 1999).
• May 11—Required Readings: Lucinda M. Finley, “A Break in the Silence: Including Women's Issues in a Torts Course, ” Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 1.1 (1989): 41-57, 65-73; Carrie Menkel-Mendow, “Portia in a Different Voice: Speculations on a Women's Lawyering Process,” Before the Law, ed. Bosignore, Katsh, d'Errico, et al, 4th ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 1989), 323-330.

Panel Discussion on Women in the Law
May 8, 7:00 pm, Fishbowl
Judge Rice and Terri Boyle consider a point made by Eileen Songer; lawyers relax after the panel; Dan McCarthy and panelists
The Honorable Gail Rice	partner, Rice & Rice, New Rochelle	City Court Judge, New Rochelle
Terri Eberle Boyle, Esq.	George Washington University Law School	Director of Grants, College of New Rochelle
Eileen Songer McCarthy, Esq.	CNR ’91, Columbia Law School	Muldoon, Horgan & Loughman, New Rochelle

• Recommended Links:
  • National Women Law Students' Association (their newsletter lists top and bottom 10 law firms for women and top 35 law schools for women)
  • National Association of Women Lawyers; see their 1996 survey results, “Gender Bias Demonstrated by Clients of Female Attorneys: No Real Barrier to Advancement”
  • American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession
  • Women's Legal History Biography Project: Articles (Stanford Law School); includes some articles about the contemporary situation and many about early women lawyers
  • “First Female Law School Graduate Blazed Trails for Today's Students,” by Ann Nicholson
  • “ Where Are All The Women Partners? Pat Schroeder Leads Program on the Glass Ceiling and the Maternal Wall In Law Firms,” by Linda Bray Chanow
  • “Women in the Law,” DataLine (1991)
  • “For Lawyers, the Barriers Drop,” by Tom Mooney (The Providence Journal, 3/7/96)
  • “Trials of Socrates: The Way We Teach Law Is Worse than Sexist. It's Idiotic, ” by David Franklin (Slate, 30 July 1997)
  • “Despite Strides, Women Still Lag in Professional Degrees,” by Jeff Mangum (USA Today 10 June 1999)
  • “Find Satisfaction In the Law: Taking Control over Your Career and Your Life,” by Mark L. Byers and Ronald W. Fox (Center for Professional Development in the Law); see the guest columns by Terri Eberle Boyle — “A Lawyer . . . and a Person: Inroduction,” and “Belva Lockwood,” “There Isn't Just One Answer,” “Richard D. Kahlenberg,” and “Anoja Bala Madison”
  • “Alumnae Share Legal Experiences,” by Elspeth Healey, The Brown Daily Herald (13 March 1997)

May 11: Conclusions