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Enactment Of The Women’S Equality Agenda: A Fitting Bicentennial Birthday Gift For Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

At the end of October, New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed into law the Women’s Equality Act (WEA), a broadbased bill he proposed more than two years ago. The bill was designed, in his words, to “break down barriers that perpetuate discrimination and inequality based on gender” and to restore New York to “its role as a progressive leader on women’s rights.”

One might point to different historical eras to make the claim that New York has been a progressive leader on women’s rights, but the clearest support for that claim is found in the year 1848. That was the …

For The Love Of Batgirl: California Passes Much-Needed Fair Pay Law, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Yvonne Craig, who played Batgirl in the 1960s television show, recently passed away. As Batgirl, she fought for truth and justice against fictional adversaries; and in a public service announcement that aired in the 1970s, she fought for equal pay for real women. ...

Craig, may she rest in peace, put her face and her beloved fictional persona behind the Equal Pay Act (EPA), the centerpiece of the federal effort to eradicate pay discrimination. This law—enacted in 1963, one year before the broader ban on employment discrimination embodied in Title VII—guarantees equal pay for equal work for men and women …

Top-Free Rights For Women: A Showdown In Manhattan, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

A battle over whether topless women with body paint who call themselves “desnudas” can solicit tips in Times Square—and whether they might be soliciting them too aggressively—might raise real legal questions; it certainly raises political hackles. In a weak moment, Mayor DiBlasio even threatened to rip up the pedestrian plaza where they have stationed themselves rather than allow them to continue appearing.