I am a huge “Daily Show” fan (and cried myself to sleep when “The Colbert Report” went off the air).  Last night, Jessica Williams had an AMAZING segment on a new Alabama law authorizing judges to appoint attorneys for fetuses still in utero.  Yes, that’s right: Alabama won’t appoint an attorney to help a woman […]

Often employers seek to portray the employee who files a discrimination claim as self- interested, pursuing the claim out of spite or greed.  We, who do this work, know that righting discrimination is a socially-valuable undertaking because a more diverse workplace benefits employees, clients, consumers, and the business itself.  But remedying employment discrimination also has […]

Transgender issues have been front and center this past week. At Sunday’s Golden Globes awards ceremony, the innovative online show Transparent took home two awards, one for Best TV Series – Musical or Comedy and one for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. Both acceptance speeches were personal and moving, with the show’s creator, Jill […]

I work at a law firm that did something extraordinary last month: it added a woman’s name to the door. When the firm announced this name change, I immediately recognized its significance for the female name partner.  This distinction would raise her profile and signal to those outside the firm what those of us inside […]

I read Sabrina Erdely’s article, “A Rape on Campus,” the day Rolling Stone published it online.  The account details allegations by “Jackie,” a UVA undergraduate, that a group of UVA fraternity brothers sexually assaulted her at a fraternity party.  Like most readers, I admired the author, I felt deep-seated anger at the university, and I […]

I attended the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on Young v. UPS earlier this month and was very excited to talk with Plaintiff Peggy Young’s lawyer, Sharon Gustafson, about the case.  Sharon will be among the speakers at an upcoming panel I am hosting, sponsored by the Women’s Bar Association and Sanford Heisler Kimpel. Kate: For the […]

With the holiday season fast approaching, employees everywhere are gathering for the bizarre ritual of the office holiday party.  Cue the obligatory ugly sweaters, sickeningly sweet punch, and alcoholic excess.  More than a few websites discuss the legal hazards of this latter:  Alcohol enables harmful behavior from sexual harassment to intoxicated driving. But beyond these […]

Like many children of the 1980s, I grew up on The Cosby Show. Amid the jokes and physical comedy, the show painted a legendarily wholesome portrait not only of an admirable and loving African-American family, but also of Cosby himself as a male obstetrician who loyally supported and was adored by his female patients and […]

Last month, my colleague David Tracey discussed some of the benefits of President Obama’s recent executive action on immigration.  He explored how the executive action might help address the challenges confronted by undocumented farmworkers.  As David explained, undocumented female farmworkers are vulnerable to discrimination, harassment, and violence at the hands of male supervisors who count […]

During the last week of October, a video about street harassment made the rounds on the Internet.  If you haven’t seen it yet, you can find Hollaback’s two-minute clip of a woman hiking across New York City in Maya’s post from the same week.  Although the video’s female protagonist remained silent throughout ten hours of […]