by WomenLawyersOnGuard | Feb 23, 2021 | Issues
Finally. Some good news for women in this country after four rotten years. The Biden-Harris administration will soon constitute a Gender Policy Council, with one full-time Co-Chair and additional staff, and with the elevated status of a White House initiative. It will collaborate with every agency, and every cabinet member will participate, working on a “government-wide approach to gender equity and equality.” See today’s New York Times article, HERE.
Also, we are pleased to announce the second in WLG’s Work/Life Imbalance program series: “Hitting the COVID Wall: Women, Families and Surviving a Pandemic”. We have a diverse panel bringing diverse perspectives, practical advice and tips:
Philip Reynolds and Jennifer Reynolds: therapists talking about mental health and coping issues for adults;
Cheree Price, school psychologist, discussing children’s educational challenges and their mental health;
Lisa Horowitz, career coach, bringing us advice about overcoming the devastating consequences to women’s careers from the pandemic; and
Congresswomen Abigail Spanberger has been invited to discuss legislative solutions to issues that are disproportionately affecting women, particularly women in the workplace.
Stay tuned for a date and a final panel.
In the meantime, we soldier on.
by WomenLawyersOnGuard | Sep 22, 2020 | Issues
In connection with Justice Ginsburg’s passing, the Washington Post published two letters written by WLG directors Cory Amron and Lorelie Masters, available here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/letters-to-the-editor/notorious–and-courageous-ruth-bader-ginsburg/2020/09/20/f6a1b534-fa87-11ea-85f7-5941188a98cd_story.html
by WomenLawyersOnGuard | Sep 22, 2020 | Issues
Although she stood only 5’1″, we lost a giant. Strategic and skilled in advocacy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a stalwart advocate for gender equality and women’s rights, for instance in her work founding the Women’s Right Project at the ACLU and as only the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court (in 1993). She had an outsized impact on the law, on society and on women’s lives.
Through our tears for her passing, we rejoice in the knowledge that a new generation has taken up her banner, and that she reveled in the moniker they gave her, “The Notorious RBG”.
She famously once said “When will there be enough women on the court. My answer is: ‘When there are nine’ People are shocked. But there’s been nine men and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” Not likely that we will see nine women on the Supreme Court soon, but we can still work toward it as she would have. And we should never take for granted the rights that she won for us.
Notorious RBG, rest in peace.
by WomenLawyersOnGuard | Aug 14, 2020 | Issues
Women Lawyers on Guard Action Network,
Did you know that women law firm partners in the Am Law 200 make 53% less than male partners? Major Lindsey & Africa (MLA) surveys Am Law partners every other year (63,000+ partners were surveyed in 2018). In 2018 they began to look at the differences between male and female compensation in their study and found this significant gender gap.
MLA’s 2020 survey has been sent out. If you are an equity or non-equity partner in an Am Law 200 law firm you should have received a link to the survey. It is extremely important that you compete this survey so that the facts on the gender pay gap can be revealed -hopefully leading to more transparency and action.
WLGAN is working on the issue of gender pay equity. For example, in an effort led by the National Women’s Law Center, we successfully lobbied the State of Maryland to pass a bill prohibiting employers from asking prospective employees about their prior salary. (Asking prior salary perpetuates the gender pay gap when employers hire men and women of equivalent status and experience but whose prior compensation were not equivalent, and pay them the same or incrementally more than their respective previous salaries.) Much more work needs to be done on this issue.
Thank you for you attention to this important survey by MLA.
by WomenLawyersOnGuard | Dec 10, 2019 | Amicus Briefs, Issues, Women's Rights
WLG signed onto an amicus brief that has just been filed in the Supreme Court in the case of June Medical Services LLC v. Gee. This is an exceedingly important reproductive rights case about a restrictive Louisiana anti-abortion law. It follows just three years on the heels of an identical Texas law already considered by the Supreme Court, and struck down as unconstitutional in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The only difference? The composition of the Court, an extremely dangerous precedent (or should we say un-precedent) to set.
You can read the amicus brief, filed by the National Women’s Law Center, HERE<https://womenlawyersonguard.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c2312611909237616b06efbcf&id=5fb6f7b4f1&e=99020be48c>.
You should also take a look at the “story” brief filed by 368 “legal professionals who have exercised their constitutional right to an abortion.” It is exceptionally powerful, turning what is usually dry, legal arguments into vivid and compelling narratives. This brief is HERE <https://womenlawyersonguard.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c2312611909237616b06efbcf&id=f5b78e9bfd&e=99020be48c>.
