Before my friend Katie Lamm was a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice, we worked in adjoining offices at Sanford Heisler Kimpel. I miss working with her and was excited to learn more about her current work. Katie works in the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices in the Civil Rights Division. […]

The most remarkable thing about the make-up of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet is the attention its gender equity has garnered. Trudeau’s appointment of women to 15 of 30 seats is blowing up my social media. His response as to why he did it has practically positioned him the new Feminist Ryan Gosling. But—as […]

Much has been written about the revealing nature of women’s Halloween costumes. In fact, some would argue that there really is just one costume choice these days: “Sexy _____” (fill in the blank). Sexy Nurse, Sexy Cat, Sexy Pumpkin. Here at Shattering the Ceiling, we would like to offer our readers an alternative to the skimpy. […]

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Month’s purpose, according to a recent Presidential Proclamation, is to refocus the public on “forg[ing] an America where no one suffers the hurt and hardship that domestic violence causes.” Prompted in part by this message, the public has once again turned its attention to the most publicized corporate […]

It’s a bit after 9pm on Thursday, October 22, 2015.  I’m still at work.  I’m exhausted.  I’ve been working since about 10 this morning, and I’m feeling the weight of the day.  Even more, I’m marveling that Hillary’s eleven hour ordeal with the Benghazi and the tedious-email-eyeroll-blah Investigation just wrapped up moments ago.  I’m googling […]

Last week, I stumbled upon Rebecca Traister’s excellent piece for Elle magazine “I’m A Hot Mess For Hillary.”  Like nearly 12,000 others, I immediately shared it – and then watched many of my female friends in turn share it on their own social media.  The article is compellingly grounded by Rebecca’s unique view as a […]

On September 1, a federal judge certified a class action brought by three Uber drivers who asserted that they are employees and not, as the company had argued, independent contractors.   If the court’s decision it holds, it could be a big deal.  This employee vs. contractor determination may sound like arcane law speak, but […]

Japan is not a country that has often been lauded for its gender rights records. Just nine years ago, the Japanese Minister of Health, Hakuo Yanagisawa, famously referred to women as “birth giving machines” in a statement about the country’s shrinking population. Yet despite the prevalence of such harmful opinions about gender roles, Japan recently […]

This summer I was on a panel about gender pay equity at a conference held by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  I talked about the range of ways that my clients have suffered discrimination in compensation, and Serena Fong, Vice President, Government Affairs for Catalyst, gave great insights on what companies can do to achieve […]

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 […]