Law and Gender Commons^™

Pay Equity--The Minnesota Experience, Nina Rothchild

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The concept of comparable worth is simple: jobs should be paid according to their value, whether the jobs are performed by men or by women. It says that pay should be based on the level of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions required to do the job. It is hard to believe that such a common sense idea could generate such an emotional reaction.

In this essay I will describe Minnesota's experience with pay equity at the state and local levels. Our experience leads us to believe that the arguments of the opposition are pure conjecture and that the scare …

Women's Pension Reform: Congress Inches Toward Equity, Anne Moss

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In the workplace and in the home, women suffer economic injustices. The inequities of our private and governmental pension systems compound their financial problems, leading to inadequate retirement income for many older women. For example, only ten percent of women age sixty-five and over received private pensions or annuities in 1982, as compared to twenty-nine percent of men age sixty-five and over. Women receiving pensions likewise get much less than men, averaging $1,520 in 1982. The average for men in 1982 was $2,980.

Gradually, policymakers are recognizing the shortcomings of pension systems. In the past few years, federal legislation has …

Inequality In Marital Liabilities: The Need For Equal Protection When Modifying The Necessaries Doctrine, Debra S. Betteridge

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note contends that the "primary/secondary" modification is unconstitutional because it ignores the husband's equal protection rights while unlawfully stigmatizing women as dependent. Part I discusses how the growing independence of women has led courts to modify the common law doctrine. Part II develops the test that the Supreme Court would apply in judging the constitutionality of any modification of the doctrine. Part III applies this test to the "primary/secondary" modification and concludes that the modification is unconstitutional and, therefore, not a legitimate reformation of the common law necessaries doctrine.

A Proposed Analysis For Gender-Based Practices And State Public Accommodations Laws, Alan J. Hoff

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note argues that the proper test of gender-preferential practices in public accommodations proceeds from the principle of "equal treatment:'' separate standards are tolerable only where reasonable and applied evenhandedly. Part I sets out a typical public accommodations statute and criticizes the principle tests used to evaluate this type of legislation. Part II applies traditional methods of statutory construction which trigger an equal treatment analysis. Extrapolating from this analysis, Part III advocates a two-part test for examining gender-based practices in public accommodations.

Wage Discrimination And The "Comparable Worth" Theory In Perspective, Bruce A. Nelson, Edward M. Opton Jr., Thomas E. Wilson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Our article focuses primarily on one legal question: Does the wage discrimination theory, as sketched by Professor Blumrosen, fall within the remedial ambit of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act? Wage Discrimination's factual contentions as to the existence and universality of wage discrimination deserve equally detailed analysis, but we leave that task to scholars of the pertinent disciplines, sociology and economics. We will deal with the factual contentions of Wage Discrimination only so far as necessary to challenge its central factual conclusion: that a demonstration of job separation should lead to a judicial inference of wage discrimination. This …

An Empirical Analysis Of The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, James A. Burns Jr.

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will first examine the legislative history of the ECOA to discover (1) the impetus for its enactment; (2) the views of proponents and opponents of the legislation concerning the presence of credit discrimination, its proper cure, and the proposed provisions of the bills introduced to deal with the problem; and (3) the congressional intent as to the use of various credit-granting factors described by the Act. Regulation B will then be similarly examined to find out how the broad mandates of the ECOA have been made concrete for the use of creditors. Finally, the article will focus on …

The Michigan Abortion Refusal Act, G. Michael White

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Since the United States Supreme Court handed down the landmark decisions of Roe v. Wade andDoe v. Bolton, which placed constitutional limitations, on state regulation of abortions, efforts have been made on the federal and state levels to blunt the effect of those cases. One prevalent reaction has been the enactment of state "conscience clause" legislation, such as the Michigan Abortion Refusal Act, which seeks to extend to all hospitals the right to refuse admission of abortion patients. This legislative note will consider whether the Michigan conscience clause is legally necessary to ensure the right it seeks to …

Presumption Of Dependence In Workers' Compensation Death Benefits As A Denial Of Equal Protection, A. Russell Localio

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This note will examine the sex bias prevalent in many workers' compensation statutes and the constitutionality of these statutes in light of recent Supreme Court decisions on sex discrimination. After this examination, alternative methods for effecting reform of the sex-biased death benefit provisions will be analyzed.

The Right Of Married Women To Assert Their Own Surnames, Roslyn Goodman Daum

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article, then, will attempt to frame the issues involved in the name change controversy and to suggest not only ways to implement reforms, but also the consequences attending these measures. Massachusetts has been chosen as the setting for an in-depth analysis of each problem, and examples of legislative, judicial, and administrative action in that state will be interspersed throughout. The results of the efforts in Massachusetts may be politically and legally instructive for people with similar interests in other jurisdictions.

Legislative Note: Michigan's Criminal Sexual Assault Law, Kenneth A. Cobb, Nancy R. Schauer

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Under increasing pressure from women's rights groups and other reform organizations, the Michigan legislature has re-evaluated its centenarian rape statute, found it inadequate for the realities of the mid-twentieth century, and enacted a new sexual assault act. While people may refer to the act as "the new rape law," it should be noted at the outset that the statute is intended to prohibit a variety of sexual acts which involve criminal assault. Michigan's new criminal sexual assault law was formulated to distinguish among degrees of violence as motivated by hostility rather than passion; rape, like other crimes, is more heinous …

Divorce Law Reform In Michigan, B. H. Lee

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Few social questions touch the individual so intimately and foster such widely divergent views as the question of divorce. From those who regard marriage as a perpetual and indissoluble bond instituted by God to those who consider it a terminable contract between a man and a woman, every shade of opinion can be found. The subject of marital breakdown is neither new nor peculiar to our age. As one author has said: "The breakdown of marriage with provisions for divorce and remarriage is a phenomenon widely recognized in Babylonian, Hebrew, Greek and Roman law." Nevertheless, ever since Christianity established a …

Self Defense For Women Lawyers: Enforcement Of Employment Rights, Giovanna M. Longo

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Employment and a concomitant opportunity to compete on the basis of individual merit for the rewards of achievement, whether they be money, power, prestige, personal satisfaction in a job well done, or the fulfillment of broad social aims, contribute to the assertion of legitimate human needs for independence and self-respect, and contribute to the expression and realization of individual potential. Women professionals and professional employers need to understand the applicable law regarding the proof of sex discrimination, what exceptions there are to prohibited sex discrimination, the procedures for enforcing that law and the benefits or detriments to be expected from …

California Family Law Act, Meredith A. Nelson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

California's Family Law Act has been heralded as the first major change in the State's divorce provisions in one hundred years. The Act is an attempt to remedy two major criticisms of current divorce practice both in California and throughout the United States. First, those advocating reform believe that laws controlling the granting of divorces are in conflict with modem concepts of marriage and divorce. Many divorce laws impose punitive sanctions in an attempt to deter those who would otherwise seek a divorce. Second, notwithstanding their intent, divorce laws have not, in fact, reduced the frequency of divorce. The inability …

Constitutional Reflections On Abortion Reform, Patrick L. Baude

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

United States abortion law is evolving comparably. Even eight years ago, public opinion was deeply divided when a Phoenix housewife sought to avoid giving birth after taking Thalidomide. The Model Penal Code, promulgated that year, authorized abortion in cases of felonious intercourse, to avoid deformity, and to protect the physical or mental health of the mother; these faintly daring innovations are now in danger of being declared unconstitutional because they are too limited. In the last year, three courts have invalidated moderate abortion statutes and the New York legislature has permitted abortion at will in early pregnancy. The purpose of …