Last weekend, a group of determined NYU undergrads staged a 30-hour occupation of NYU’s Kimmel Center for University Life. The students, members of the Incarceration to Education Coalition (IEC), presented a simple demand: Ban the Box! Like many universities, NYU still asks applicants questions about their criminal and educational disciplinary histories. Literally, such questions appear next to […]

Most often I’d tuck it up the sleeve of my cardigan, turning my wrist in so it wouldn’t slip out.  If I needed free hands, I’d hide it in my waistband.  Dresses posed more of a problem. With no pockets and no long sleeves, I’d have to get creative.  Worst case, it meant taking my whole, […]

The National Employment Lawyers Association, or NELA, does a ton of great work advocating for workplace rights.  One of my first interviews for this blog was with Roberta Steele, Program Director at the organization, about how forced arbitration prevents American workers from enforcing their rights.  As the Legislative & Public Policy Director for NELA, Laura […]

The District of Columbia is on the brink of becoming the most generous place in the country to become new parents.  If the Universal Paid Leave Act of 2015 becomes law, D.C. workers will be entitled to 16 weeks of paid leave for the birth of a child or other qualifying family or medical event. […]

Last night’s GOP debate focused on economics, and I was watching to see if a single Republican candidate – really, anyone – would have anything to say about the challenges facing working women. Marco Rubio stood out as the only one. When asked whether his plan to expand child tax credits was just “another expensive […]

There’s been a recent push to expand public access to pre-K programs, and it’s widely acknowledged that these programs bring benefits to working parents, especially working mothers.   In these discussions though, it’s often assumed that parents’ childcare problems are solved once their kids go off to kindergarten.  The reality, though, is that many school […]

It is a British superstition to repeat the word “rabbit” on the first day of each month when you awake in the morning.  Repeating this phrase brings the promise of good luck for the month.  I would like to say “rabbit rabbit” to October in the hopes that it will bring good luck and progress […]

Last Mother’s Day, John Oliver noted the inconsistency between companies that market to customers based on the holiday but fail to offer their employees paid maternity leave. While continued efforts are needed to require companies to offer paid maternity leave, more attention needs to be paid to the leave policies of American cities. Many city […]

In the realm of American politics and culture, California is known for leading the way on a host of issues, from the environment to the tech boom. Now the Golden State is poised to launch one of the nation’s boldest attempts to fix pay inequality between men and women. The state’s proposed Fair Pay Act, which […]

July 2015 marked a new era in Maternity Leave Policies for women in the Navy.  Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that, effective immediately, women who serve in the Navy and Marine Corps will have eighteen weeks of maternity leave available to use during the first year of their child’s life.  The purpose of […]