At last a practical and thorough sourcebook for anyone faced with the ordeal of sexual harassment. Until two years ago, we were two ordinary working women with career goals and bright futures...Then suddenly everything changed. We encountered a situation we never thought would happen to us--we became victims of sexual harassment. While sexual harassment is increasingly in the headlines, it remains a confusing, isolating ordeal for the individuals whose lives it affects. In addition to the feelings of powerlessness, anger, and fear it often instills, a woman (or man) who is being sexually harassed is faced with a maze of professional, legal, and personal decisions. This book, written by two women who conducted intensive research in order to find their way through the maze, offers a lifeline of information and a safety net of support. With a balanced point of view and generous checklists, examples, and personal narratives, the book covers: Legal and practical definitions of what sexual harassment is--and not Whether and how to file a formal complaint Whether to hire a lawyer and what to expect from the legal process What retaliation is and how to fight it How to deal with the emotional stress, invasion of privacy, and career changes that often result from being sexually harassed This indispensable book sheds light on a difficult and little-understood problem.
div When it was published twenty-five years ago, Catharine MacKinnon’s pathbreaking work Sexual Harassment of Working Women had a major impact on the development of sexual harassment law. The U.S. Supreme Court accepted her theory of sexual harassment in 1986. Here MacKinnon collaborates with eminent authorities to appraise what has been accomplished in the field and what still needs to be done. An introductory essay by Reva Siegel considers how sexual harassment came to be regulated as sex discrimination. Contributors discuss how law can best address sexual harassment; the importance and definition of consent and unwelcomeness; issues of same-sex harassment; questions of institutional responsibility for sexual harassment in both employment and education settings; considerations of freedom of speech; effects of sexual harassment doctrine on gender and racial justice; and transnational approaches to the problem. An afterword by MacKinnon assesses the changes wrought by sexual harassment law in the past quarter century. /DIV
Examining the relationship between law and social change in the context of employees' everyday problems with sexual harassment, this volume elaborates a framework for studying the role of law in everyday acts of resistance - what the author calls the legal consciousness of injustice. The framework situates the analysis in the context of a specific social problem and its related legal domain. It de-centres the law by accounting for the way that social movements, counter-movements, policy makers and powerful institutions frame the debate surrounding the social problem. Drawing on frame analysis developed in social movement studies, this aspect of the approach specifically incorporates other schema and shows how law supports both oppositional and dominant interpretations of experience. Following the stages of a dispute, the framework then examines the way that people use frames to make sense of their experiences.
Over the last few decades, research, activity, and funding has been devoted to improving the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine. In recent years the diversity of those participating in these fields, particularly the participation of women, has improved and there are significantly more women entering careers and studying science, engineering, and medicine than ever before. However, as women increasingly enter these fields they face biases and barriers and it is not surprising that sexual harassment is one of these barriers. Over thirty years the incidence of sexual harassment in different industries has held steady, yet now more women are in the workforce and in academia, and in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine (as students and faculty) and so more women are experiencing sexual harassment as they work and learn. Over the last several years, revelations of the sexual harassment experienced by women in the workplace and in academic settings have raised urgent questions about the specific impact of this discriminatory behavior on women and the extent to which it is limiting their careers. Sexual Harassment of Women explores the influence of sexual harassment in academia on the career advancement of women in the scientific, technical, and medical workforce. This report reviews the research on the extent to which women in the fields of science, engineering, and medicine are victimized by sexual harassment and examines the existing information on the extent to which sexual harassment in academia negatively impacts the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women pursuing scientific, engineering, technical, and medical careers. It also identifies and analyzes the policies, strategies and practices that have been the most successful in preventing and addressing sexual harassment in these settings.
Harassment claims based on sex, not just sexual conduct or language, continue to increase. At the same time, these cases are becoming more complex and difficult to litigate. With the in-depth contributions of seasoned employment law practitioners from across the country, this important book provides a best practices guide for attorneys who litigate cases on behalf of plaintiff/employees and defendants/employers. Focusing on gender harassment and retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the book begins by providing a platform for which the practitioner can assess and handle gender harassment and retaliation case. The book supplies guidance for performing a thorough analysis of the elements which must be proven and should be considered throughout the litigation of a claim, including planning and defending depositions.
Here is a valuable guide that saves researchers investigating sexual harassment in the workplace enormous amounts of time and money. Focusing on the hostile environment claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Women and Sexual Harassment is a complete resource tool. In one easy-to-use volume, it provides a detailed background and history of the hostile environment claim as well as an extensive guide on how to use and where to find the best resources available on this topic. Unlike some legal books, Chan’s book does not require cover-to-cover reading to access pertinent information. Anyone, whether they are interested in the specifics of the hostile environment claim or sexual harassment in general, will be able to locate the information they’re looking for with the help of this handy guide. It saves enormous amounts of time, effort, and money for researchers by providing extensive listings and evaluations of statutes, cases, agency decisions, law review articles, annotations, and books containing information on this subject. Readers can use the book to get a better understanding of the hostile environment claim or use it like a dictionary to pinpoint the specific resources that will be most useful to their area of research. Women and Sexual Harassment is logically divided into five complete parts to make it easy to use: Part 1: Clearly explains how to best use the book to access specific information. Part 2: Describes the history and present state of the hostile environment claim in a manner that is to the point, yet is more thorough than descriptions of the claim found in articles, cases, or other sources. Part 3: Research guide--Directs researchers to the best sources for information, categorized by type and area. Includes tips that will save hours in the library and will help researchers find the most up-to-the-minute articles and cases. Part 4: Bibliography of primary legal sources--Covers statutes, regulations, and case law on the hostile environment claim and sexual harassment. Part 5: Bibliography of secondary sources--Includes books, articles, surveys, and legislative history. The annotated bibliography, broken down by type of source and type of information, not only points researchers in the right direction but also steers them away from sources that seem valuable from their title, but are in fact not worthwhile. The insightful written analysis of the hostile environment claim alone provides researchers unfamiliar with the subject with a clearly written history and definition of the claim, its key elements, employer liability, statute of limitations, remedies, considerations of discovery and evidence, and related claims. Women and Sexual Harassment is an invaluable guide for all types of researchers including victims of sexual harassment considering filing a hostile environment claim, scholars interested in women’s issues, attorneys unfamiliar with this area, employers interested in limiting their liability by taking steps to prevent sexual harassment in their workplaces, and law students in any level of courses related to sex discrimination or sexual harassment.
A comprehensive legal theory is needed to prevent the persistence of sexual harassment. Although requiring sexual favors as a quid pro quo for job retention or advancement clearly is unjust, the task of translating that obvious statement into legal theory is difficult. To do so, one must define sexual harassment and decide what the law's role in addressing harassment claims should be. In Sexual Harassment of Working Women,' Catharine Mac-Kinnon attempts all of this and more. In making a strong case that sexual harassment is sex discrimination and that a legal remedy should be available for it, the book proposes a new standard for evaluating all practices claimed to be discriminatory on the basis of sex. Although MacKinnon's "inequality" theory is flawed and its implications are not considered sufficiently, her formulation of it makes the book a significant contribution to the literature of sex discrimination. MacKinnon calls upon the law to eliminate not only sex dis- crimination but also most instances of sexism from society. She uses traditional theories in an admittedly strident manner, and relies upon both traditional and radical-feminist sources. The results of her effort are mixed. The book is at times fresh and challenging, at times needlessly provocative. -- https://www.jstor.org (Sep. 30, 2016).
"This is much more than a story of a single case. It provides a panoramic overview of the role of work in women's lives, a succinct history of employment discrimination law, and a penetrating analysis of the evolution of our views of sexual harassment in the workplace."--Karen O'Connor, author of Women, Politics, and American Society"After Vinson, nothing was the same. Cochran does a masterful job of setting the case in its historical context and exploring its legal impact."--Judith A. Baer, author of Our Lives before the Law: Constructing a Feminist Jurisprudence "Cochran is an exceptional raconteur and his book is comprehensive, thorough, and wonderfully forward-looking."--Nancy Levit, author of The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law.
The true story of Lois Jenson, a petite single mother, who was among the first women hired by a northern Minnesota iron mine in 1975. In this brutal workplace, female miners were relentlessly threatened with pornographic graffiti, denigrating language, stalking, and physical assaults. Terrified of losing their jobs, the women kept their problems largely to themselves—until Lois, devastated by the abuse, found the courage to file a complaint against the company in 1984. Despite all of the obstacles the legal system threw at them, Lois and her fellow plaintiffs enlisted the aid of a dedicated team of lawyers and ultimately prevailed. Weaving personal stories with legal drama, Class Action shows how these terrifically brave women made history, although not without enormous personal cost. Told at a thriller’s pace, this is the story of how one woman pioneered and won the first sexual harassment class action suit in the United States, a legal milestone that immeasurably improved working conditions for American women.
