Category: Gender-based discrimination

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Civil Rights Colorblind Critical Race Theory Feminism Gender Equality Gender-based discrimination LGBTQ Rights Sex Discrimination sexual harassment Women in the Law

Books, Books, and Books: A Social Justice Reading List

Nikita Srivastava (’19)

Throughout my time working with the Center for Race, Gender and Social Justice, I’ve been exposed to amazing concepts that reflect on issues affecting our society.

I personally love researching for fun, but not everyone shares that love … or the same views I do. If you want to engage your mind, then I recommend the following books:

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Dean Verna Williams and Michelle Obama (image from Cincinnati.com)

Becoming by Michelle Obama

In her memoir, the former First Lady takes us on a journey to the White House. Mrs. Obama debunks many false rumors by sharing her life story. She elegantly describes every hurdle, obstacle, failure, mistake, and success she has encountered thus far. And, while describing her White House years, Mrs. Obama gives special thanks to our very own Interim Dean, Verna L. Williams. Check it out!

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Gender Equality Gender-based discrimination Sex Discrimination Sexual assault sexual harassment Supreme Court

Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation: The Dangerous New Narrative.

Nikita Srivastava (’19)

The_Boy_Who_Cried_Wolf_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_19994We’re all told at some point the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. A young boy would repeatedly and continuously cry wolf when no wolf was present. His village would panic and run to his rescue but found the boy with no wolf. The villagers always ran to his rescue when no wolf was present. Eventually, the villagers collectively decided that when the boy cried wolf, they would not come to the boy’s rescue. One day, the boy saw a wolf. Scared and alone, he cried wolf – no one showed up. The boy died, eaten by a wolf.

The moral of the story: don’t lie or you’ll die. Women were treated like the boy who cried wolf. When women scream “sexual assault,” they were met with disbelief.  However, after the confirmation hearing for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, that narrative changed significantly. Women are no longer met with disbelief, but rather ignorance of their experience. John Oliver said it best on his show Last Week Tonight: “it is not that women aren’t believed, [society] simply does not care.” The narrative now changed to not caring about a woman’s harassment/abuse/assault. Ultimately, this dangerous new narrative will cause more harm to women. By not caring, society will accept that women face sexual harassment, or have been assaulted, but won’t take action against it. By taking this stance, we are basically saying to women, “hey, you got harassed/assaulted/abused? Well, you’re going have to deal with that because you’re a woman. No one is going to help you. Your abuser won’t get punished or reprimanded for it.”

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#MeToo Feminism Gender-based discrimination lawyers legal profession Women in the Law

Litigating Sexual Harassment Cases

Guest Contributor: Sandra F. Sperino

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Professor Sandra Sperino. Image from UC Law’s Website.

The #metoo movement has increased the focus on sexual harassment cases and how courts analyze them. One way to increase the reach of harassment law is hidden in plain sight: the text of Title VII itself.

Title VII, the federal law that prohibits harassment based on race, sex, and other protected traits, has two main provisions.  Under Title VII’s first provision, it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to do the following:

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

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Civil Rights Constitutional Law Feminism Gender Equality Gender-based discrimination Intersectionality lawyers legal profession RGSJ Events Women in the Law

Judge Shira Scheindlin

Nikita Srivastava (’19)

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Judge Shira Scheindlin

We’re excited to host Judge Shira Scheindlin, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (ret.) as our Jugdse-in residence the week of February 26, 2018. While in law school, only 10% of Judge Schiendlin’s class were women. Judge Schiendlin was nominated for the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1994. Recently, she wrote an article about women in the legal professions. In this article, she not only shares her personal experience as a federal judge but also other women’s experiences.

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Balancing the Scales Feminism Gender Equality Gender-based discrimination Intersectionality lawyers legal profession LGBTQ Rights Race Discrimination RGSJ Events Social Justice wage gap Women in the Law work-family

Movie Review of Balancing the Scale

Balancing a Skewed Scale

Nikita Srivastava (’19)

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Women in the Profession: Balancing the Scales

In the 1980s, a young female lawyer and her lawyer husband attended a party hosted by a club only allowing male lawyers. The room was filled with young men celebrating their legal careers.  One of the guests at this party handed the woman a name tag. Instead of writing her name, she wrote “discrimantee” and proudly placed it on her chest.  “Well, it is true,” she said after getting several questions about it. (I should write “discrimantee” on all my name tags because nothing much has really changed)

Sharon Rowen’s Balancing the Scales, addresses discrimination using women’s narratives to guide the audience. Due to Ohio’s CLE requirements, Ms. Rowen had to pause the film and explain why she directed it this way. Rowen said the film is divided into 3 parts: 1) the oral history of female role models, 2) what keeps women from achieving higher positions, 3) women not making choices from a level playing field.

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death penalty entertainment Feminism Gender Equality Gender-based discrimination Intersectionality Native American Rights Native rights Personal Narrative Second Look segregation Social Justice

Second Look

 

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Nikita Srivastava (’19)

Here’s what caught our eye on the web recently:

At a time when many are asking why race remains such a potent force in our society, it’s important to explore the impact of persistent residential segregation.  Mark Treskon of the Urban Institute reports that inclusive communities are more economically prosperous. Published in 2017,  this article focuses on segregation in Chicago from 1990-2010 and trends seen in Chicago appear in other major cities as well. City actors could break down barriers to local inclusion, the entire region could benefit from the higher incomes and education levels. The Urban Institute investigates how policy can break down these barriers.  Click here to learn more.

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Gender-based discrimination Title IX

Bridging Theory and Practice: Law Students Advocate for Women Athletes

Gender and the Law is one of my favorite courses to teach, but this year’s class has set the bar exceedingly high for years to come. These students have taken what they  learned in the course and chosen to apply it to advocate for women athletes on UC’s campus.  When they found out that during renovation of Fifth Third Arena, the men’s basketball team would play at Northern Kentucky University’s comparable venue but the women would be sent to play at a local high school, they wanted to take action.  

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Gender-based discrimination LGBTQ Rights Transgender

LGBTQ Rights in Post-Trump America

By Guest Contributor Josh Langdonaaeaaqaaaaaaaahfaaaajgm3ztliyznkltgwodgtndk0ys1hymrhltmwotq1zja3ztg5zq

After eight years of historic progress and support from the Obama Administration in almost all aspects of the law, from removing barriers to marriage equality and military service, to protecting LGBTQ persons at work and in school, we confront a new President, chosen after one of the most bitter and divisive elections in modern history. Does President Trump’s ascension to the White House mean this progress will be reversed or stalled – even if America’s hearts and minds already are evolving in favor of LGBTQ equality? Hard to say, given the mixed messages first from Candidate and now President Trump.  What’s clear is that much work remains ahead.

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Gender-based discrimination Sexual assault sexual harassment

Semper Fi? Sex, Social Media, and the Marine Corps

As partisan rancor continues on the Hill, one group of lawmakers joined forces this week to speak out against harassment of women in the  Marine Corps.  Reps. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and Annie Kuster (D-NH) spearheaded a letter  to Defense Secretary James Mattis urging him to facebook-346725_960_720take action, including authorizing another investigation into current and former Marines soliciting and posting  nude photos of their female colleagues on Facebook.   Thomas James Brennan , who broke the story, reports that some of the women were followed and photographed without their knowledge.  The Facebook posts drew
thousands of comments, some urging sexual violence, such as:

“take her out back and pound her out,” as well as graphic suggestions, like penetrating women  in the “butt.  And throat. And ears. Both of them.  Video it though…for science.”

According to Brennan, the photos first appeared within a month of women being assigned to the first Marine infantry unit.  

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Gender-based discrimination Higher Education Intersectionality Race Discrimination RGSJ Events

Black Feminist Futures Ahead

Building upon the voices of millions of women who, just about a month ago, made clear their opposition President Trump’s call to misogyny, racism, and xenophobia, UC Women’s Center hosts a symposium this coming Friday, February 24 at Tangeman University Center entitled:  Creating Black Feminist Futures.  The Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice proudly co-sponsors this event. 

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