Law and Gender Commons^™

Sexy Dressing Revisited: Does Target Dress Play A Part In Sexual Harassment Cases?, Theresa M. Beiner

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

“Actions As Words, Words As Actions: Sexual Harassment Law, The First Amendment And Verbal Acts, John F. Wirenius

ExpressO

The article examines the tension between the hostile work environment under the civil rights laws and the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, even when such speech is offensive and even discriminatory. After discussing the tension and its limits, the author examines other rationales proposed to resolve this tension, and rejecting them as unsatisfactory. Noting that hostile work environment doctrine, as a variable standard, employs a less “bright-line” approach than is typical of the First Amendment’s rule, the author nonetheless finds that the “open texture” of all rules, and the requirement that a hostile work environment be systematically pervasive or …

Federal Employment Law: Current Problems And A Call For Reform, Joseph Prud'homme

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Finding The Sex In Sexual Harassment: How Title Vii And Tort Schemes Miss The Point Of Same-Sex Hostile Environment Harassment, Yvonne Zylan

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

It has been nearly a quarter century since the United States Supreme Court first recognized the cause of action for a sexually hostile work environment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the Court essentially adopted the view offered by legal academician Catharine MacKinnon that harassment taking the form of a sexually hostile work environment is a manifestation of gender-based power. In so doing, the Court created a remedy for many aggrieved employees, permitting redress in the federal courts for a problem that makes many workplaces unbearable. At the same …

Strategies For Combating Sexual Harassment: The Role Of Labor Unions, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

This article will discuss the role that unions do play and the role that they can play in eliminating workplace harassment. First, the article will discuss the problem of harassment in the workplace, documenting its frequency and analyzing its forms. Section II will include an examination of harassment in the unionized workplace. Section III will propose a number of reasons that unions should take the lead in addressing workplace harassment, some focused on workers' rights and others on union selfinterest. Finally, in Section IV, the article will recommend several approaches for unions that desire to be in the vanguard of …

Overruling The Jury: Duncan V. Gmc And Appellate Treatment Of Hostile Work Environment Judgments, Dara Purvis

Faculty Scholarship

In 2002, the Eighth Circuit reversed a one million dollar jury award to the plaintiff in a sexual harassment suit against General Motors Corporation. This reversal demonstrates the danger of appellate review of such verdicts, limiting sexual harassment verdicts to the lowest common denominator in that circuit.

Sexual Harassment: Limiting The Affirmative Defense In The Digital Workplace, Donald P. Harris, Daniel B. Garrie, Matthew J. Armstrong

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Digital communications sexual harassment is on the rise. Such harassment occurs through sexually offensive and unwarranted e-mails, placing harassing messages on electronic bulletin boards, and other forms of harassment that occur through the Internet. To date, courts have remained silent on the issue of sexual harassment by digital communications. Should this type of harassment be treated any differently than harassment that occurs in the physical space? The somewhat surprising answer is yes.

This Article advocates applying a new judicial framework for addressing digital communications sexual harassment. This new framework accounts for the real-world technology in the digital workplace and the …

An Implied Warranty Of Freedom From Sexual Harassment: The Solution For Harassed Tenants Where The Fair Housing Act Has Failed, Theresa Keeley

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Although sexual harassment in the workplace is recognized as a problem, sexual harassment in housing has largely been ignored. When confronting sexual harassment in housing, courts have borrowed standards for sexual harassment in the workplace. Criticism of this practice exists; however this Article examines the real source of the problem: bringing sexual harassment claims under the Fair Housing Act. Specifically, this Article shows how and why the Fair Housing Act fails to address the problem of sexual harassment in housing. To remedy this failure, this Article proposes an "implied warranty of freedom from sexual harassment" that both restores the tenant's …

How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (Cases): Gender Stereotypes And Sexual Harassment Since The Passage Of Title Vii, Miriam A. Cherry

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Last year I was invited to an undergraduate revival of the musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," a comedy about the workplace, which I thought, as a teacher of employment law, I would enjoy. Written in the early 1960s and made into a 1967 movie, "How to Succeed" follows the adventures of J. Pierrepont Finch, a window washer who, with the aid of a sarcastic self-help book, schemes his way up the corporate ladder. Although ostensibly a humorous look at the corporate world of the late 1950s and early '60s, I found myself cringing throughout the …

Critical Race Feminism Empirical Research Project: Sexual Harassment & (And) The Internal Complaints Black Box, A Defining The Voices Of Critical Race Feminism, Tanya K. Hernandez

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I present a Critial Race Feminism (CRF) empirical sexual harassment project I recently conducted as a case study of how empirical research can be valuable to the future of CRF. Part I introduces the sexual harassment study and discusses the empirical questions it sought to explore. Part II then presents the empirical research design and the general trends that the data provided. Part III analyzes the key findings of the study and how it contributes to an understanding of how the application of sexual harassment law implicates race. The statistical analysis of survey responses from a group …

Sexual Harassment: An International Human Rights Perspective., Christine M. Chinkin

Book Chapters

This chapter considers sexual harassment in the workplace from the perspective of international human rights law. Adopting a human rights approach locates sexual harassment in the context of women’s economic and social rights and more broadly in the wider frame of international imperatives such as the maintenance of international peace and security and global economic development. Sexual harassment has come onto the international agenda comparatively recently, and the story comprises both the inclusion of prohibitions within legal instruments and significant silences, especially where breaking the silence requires intrusion into state policies relating to militarism, trade and investment liberalization, and the …

Midcourse Corrections: Women In Legal Education, Deborah L. Rhode

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Litigation Narratives: Why Jensen V. Ellerth Didn't Change Sexual Harassment Law, But Still Has A Story Worth Telling, Melissa Hart

Publications

No abstract provided.

After Ellerth: The Tangible Employment Action In Sexual Harassment Analysis, Susan Grover

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this Article, Professor Grover argues that courts too readily allow employers to avoid vicarious liability for supervisors' unlawful sexual harassment of subordinates. The Article explores the breadth of the affirmative defense first introduced in the Supreme Court's 1998 cases of Faragher v. Boca Raton and Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth. That defense clears an employer of liability for a supervisor's unlawful sexual harassment if (a) the employer exercised reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly any sexually harassing behavior, and (b) the plaintiff employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the …

The Customer Is Always Right… Not! Employer Liability For Third Party Sexual Harassment, Lea B. Vaughn

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This article will ask a series of questions. What is third party sexual harassment? Under what conditions does it occur? Does it differ in any significant respects from traditional notions of sexual harassment? Should those differences, if any, make a difference in the way that the legal system addresses third party harassment? And indeed, should the problem be addressed solely through the legal system? What might an employer do to alleviate sexual harassment of this type?

Let The Jury Decide: The Gap Between What Judges And Reasonable People Believe Is Sexually Harassing, Theresa M. Beiner

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Title Vii Quid Pro Quo And Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment Claims: Changing The Legal Framework Courts Use To Determine Whether Challenged Conduct Is Unwelcome, Elsie Mata

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In examining the nature of sexual harassment claims, the author challenges the use of the "unwelcomeness" element to distinguish actionable conduct from nonactionable conduct. The author contends that the "unwelcomeness" element demeans women in two ways: (1) it assumes the male perspective and presumes that the plaintiff appreciated the challenged conduct unless she proves otherwise; and (2) it allows the defense to engage in intrusive, irrelevant, and damaging inquiries as it attempts to refute the plaintiff's allegation that the challenged conduct was unwelcome.

The author argues for three reforms. First, courts should shift the burden of proving that the challenged …

Law As A Tool For A Sexual Revolution: Israel's Prevention Of Sexual Harassment Law- 1998, Tzili Mor

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Discussion of the newly enacted law will outline the theoretical underpinnings and their effect on the resultant version (Part III), followed by the legislative history, including the Knesset and the public debate surrounding the bill (Part IV), and the impact of that debate on the final outcome of the law (Part V). Part VI will pay particular attention to the innovative approach of the law as a whole and some of the revolutionary specific provisions within. In particular, the legislative framework will be considered in the context of a nation founded and conducted on traditional religious tenets of Judaism. Finally, …

Next Challenge In Sexual Harassment Reform: Racial Disparity, The Panel One: Gender, Race, And Sexuality: Historical Themes And Emerging Issues In Women's Rights Law, Tanya K. Hernandez

Faculty Scholarship

In order to do my homework in discussing both a tribute to women's lawyering and activism and also discuss emerging issues, I am going to focus on sexual harassment.

"There's No Crying In Baseball": Sports And The Legal And Social Construction Of Gender, Rhonda Reaves

Journal Publications

This Article analyzes the view that to be taken seriously as an athlete, women must replicate the behaviors prevalent in male-dominated sports. The Article focuses on sports in the educational context as an important opportunity for legal intervention. Because the law involves the allocation of resources and the policing of behavior by the government, this discussion prompts us to ask how resources should be allocated and what kinds of behavior should be encouraged and discouraged in promoting gender equity. In particular, the analysis of sports within educational programs offers an opportunity for a critical examination of current models of athletic …

Theorizing Yes: An Essay On Feminism, Law, And Desire, Katherine M. Franke

Faculty Scholarship

In this Essay, Professor Franke observes that, unlike feminists from other disciplines, feminist legal theorists have neglected to formulate a positive theory of female sexuality. Instead, discussions of female sexuality have been framed as either a matter of dependency or danger. Professor Franke begins her challenge to this scheme by asking why legal feminism has accepted unquestionably the fact that most women reproduce in their lifetimes. Why have not social forces that incentivize motherhood – a dynamic she terms repronormativity – been exposed to as exacting a feminist critique as have heteronormative forces that normalize heterosexuality? Furthermore, she continues by …

Legal Limbo Of The Student Intern: The Responsibility Of Colleges And Universities To Protect Student Interns Against Sexual Harassment, Cynthia Grant Bowman, Marybeth Lipp

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sexual Harassment And Racial Disparity: The Mutual Construction Of Gender And Race, Tanya K. Hernandez

Faculty Scholarship

For a number of years, commentators have proffered anecdotal evidence to suggest that women of color figure prominently as sexual harassment plaintiffs. Until recently, a systematic statistical analysis of women's experiences of sexual harassment by race was largely unavailable. For the first time, this Article comprehensively analyzes Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sexual harassment charge statistics, by looking at data from the last seven years along with Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw electronic reports of sexual harassment complaints for the last twenty years. What immediately becomes apparent in this statistical analysis of sexual harassment charges in the United States is the overrepresentation …

The Glass Ceiling In Law Firms: A Form Of Sex-Based Discrimination, Rebecca Korzec

All Faculty Scholarship

At a certain level, women lawyers collide with a "glass ceiling," an invisible, artificial barrier which prevents women from being promoted to management and leadership positions within a business or firm. The glass ceiling 'represents a subtle form of sex discrimination - unwritten, generally unspoken, but very pervasive.' Its presence is reflected in trends and statistics which consistently reveal women's underrepresentation in executive and management positions.

This article focuses on whether the glass ceiling formed as a result of sex discrimination, blatant or subtle, or whether it formed as a result of women lawyers' differing qualifications or career choices. It …

Ending Male Privilege: Beyond The Reasonable Woman, Stephanie M. Wildman

Michigan Law Review

A Law of Her Own: The Reasonable Woman as a Measure of Man by Caroline A. Forell and Donna M. Matthews aspires to provide a solution for an enigmatic jurisprudential problem - the systemic failure of the legal order to recognize and to redress the injuries that women experience. Feminist scholars have agreed that, for women, the legal separation of public and private spheres often insulates from legal review behavior that harms women. But even in the so-called public sphere, women suffer harms that remain invisible and unnamed. The authors identify four legal arenas in which the "spectrum of violence …

Sexual Harassment In The Virginia Dental Hygiene Profession, Anne Pennington

Dental Hygiene Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Silence Broken: Gebser's New Standard Of School Liability For Title Ix Sexual Harassment, Callie R. Owen

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sexual Harassment In The Military: Time For A Change Of Forum , Michael I. Spak, Jonathan P. Tomes

Cleveland State Law Review

This article will review the current status of sexual harassment in the military, discuss why courts-martial are ineffective in punishing and deterring sexual harassment, and suggest that permitting sexual harassment claims in a forum other than the military justice system would help deter future sexual harassment in the military at no greater cost to military discipline and preparedness than is inherent in the current system.

Some Of Them Still Don't Get It: Hostile Work Environment Litigation In The Lower Courts, Eric Schnapper

Articles

This Article describes how the courts of appeals have decided sexual harassment cases in the five years since Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc., 510 US 17 (1993). In some circuits, events have unfolded largely as Justice Scalia anticipated: the trier of fact—ordinarily a jury—applies the hostile work environment standard announced in Meritor and elaborated upon in Harris.

From Office Ladies To Women Warriors?: The Effect Of The Eeol On Japanese Women, Jennifer S. Fan

Articles

In this Article, Jennifer Fan argues that existing laws in Japan do not adequately protect working women from sex discrimination. Specifically, Fan examines the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL), a law designed to prevent discrimination against women in the workplace, and concludes that the EEOL is little more than a paper tiger that preserves the status quo. After briefly discussing the legal sources of protection for working women in Japan before the passage of the EEOL, Fan examines the creation of the EEOL, its substantive provisions, and its legal impact. Through her analysis of recent sexual harassment cases in light …