What Do Women Want? Law Firms Are Clueless.

From The American Lawyer authored by Viva Chen:

“Memo to all you well-meaning law firms out there trying your darnedest to retain and promote women: You are doing it all wrong.

All those marvelous initiatives you’ve been touting—flexible work arrangements, mentoring programs, affinity groups, transition coaching for new moms and the like—are not getting women out of the rut. Worse, some of those efforts could be making it harder for women to succeed.

That’s the deflating, if hardly startling, preliminary finding of a study by Acritas and Thomson Reuters that looked at 40 firms (predominantly U.K.-based) in Europe. As initially reported by Legal Week, the study finds there’s a big fat gap between what firms perceive as the fix to the gender problem and what’s needed in reality.”

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A record number of congresswomen are mothers. Here’s a glimpse inside their first-ever caucus.

From The Washington Post authored by Caitlin Gibson:

“How are your kids doing?

It isn’t the question itself that bothers Katie Porter. The freshman Democratic congresswoman from California, a single mom of three children, is perfectly aware that inquiring about another person’s family is just polite small talk.

But there’s something about the way some people ask her, the subtle emphasis on that last word — “how are your kids doing?” — that makes her bristle.

“As if they’re suffering,” Porter said. Her colleagues surrounding her in the stately room at the Library of Congress nodded knowingly. “As if they’re not thriving and doing great.”

The nine women who had gathered for an early breakfast on a recent morning — fellow mothers and members of the House of Representatives, joined by FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel — could tell variations of this same story, about the myriad moments when they felt questioned or judged for living publicly as mothers who hold particularly high-profile jobs.”

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Women Describe Their Experience Working in Big Law, And It’s Not Pretty

From Law.com authored by Eric Hichman:

“Earlier this month it was revealed that six women are in the process of suing Jones Day over accusations of alleged gender discrimination (to catch up see here and here). The timing of the lawsuits coincides with the end of a yearlong research partnership between the American Bar Association and ALM Intelligence which looked into the experience of women working inside Big Law. Depressingly, the findings from the research project and the details of the lawsuits have much in common.

The lawsuits against Jones Day include detail on a list of alarming behavior including gender stereotyping during pay and promotion decisions and name-calling. In one instance a male summer associate received applause and high-fives after pushing a female summer associate into a pool at an event hosted at a partner’s private home. The lawsuit also describes a female’s maternity leave experience. Upon returning from her first maternity leave she was subjected to a salary freeze and negative reviews. After her second maternity leave, she was told to look for another job. Another suit filed last year claims the firm’s compensation and performance review systems purposely discriminate against females.

The details shared in both of these suits—repercussions when returning from maternity leave, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, unfair review and compensation processes and denied opportunities—unfortunately, are not one-off.

These lawsuits against Jones Day have brought to the forefront a topic that ALM Intelligence and the ABA recently partnered on: women’s experience working in Big Law. Over the course of 2018, the ABA and ALM Intelligence partnered on a research project to better understand the different experiences that women with 15 or more years of legal experience have versus their male counterparts. In addition to collecting data, female attorneys shared, in their own words, their first-hand experience working in Big Law.”

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For Women and Minorities to Get Ahead, Managers Must Assign Work Fairly

From Harvard Business Review authored by Joan C. Williams and Marina Multhaup:

“Organizations have been trying to improve diversity in the workplace for decades — with little success. The most common techniques, such as one-time sensitivity trainings, haven’t worked. The numbers of women and people of color in leadership roles are still staggeringly low across industries. Also well documented are the high rates of turnover for women, especially women of color.

We need to try some new techniques, starting with making systemic changes to the ways businesses are run. These don’t have to be big changes — in fact, even small tweaks to your basic systems (hiring, promotions, compensation) can lead to big changes. For many companies, the focus so far has been on making small adjustments to how performance evaluations are done. This is important but insufficient, because evaluations are inherently backward-looking: They can measure only the assignments someone has already gotten.

And not all assignments are equal. In every organization, in every field, there are multiple types. Some can set you up for promotion and skyrocket you to the top of your company — we call them glamour work. Other assignments are necessary but unsung. We call them office housework. Some are actual housework — getting the coffee for the morning stand-up, or cleaning up after a lunch meeting — and some are the unsung operational or administrative work that keeps the company rolling along.”

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The FDA Wants to Change Mammogram Regulations for the First Time in Two Decades

From TIME authored by Jamie Ducharme:

“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants to require mammogram providers to tell women if they have a common risk factor for breast cancer.

The proposal, released Wednesday, would be the FDA’s first update to mammography regulations in more than 20 years, according to a statement from the agency. Among other proposed changes, the policy would require mammography providers to inform patients who undergo the breast cancer screening test if they have dense breast tissue, which may both warp the results of a mammogram by obscuring signs of cancer, and increase the risk of developing breast cancer in the first place.

That information would be delivered in a post-screening summary letter, along with guidance for determining future medical care, the statement says. Providers in almost 40 states are required to give patients some information about breast density — though not necessarily about their own personal risk — but the FDA’s rule would codify such policies at a national level.”

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Giant boob balloons encourage Londoners to embrace breastfeeding in public

From Women in the World authored by WITW Staff:

“Gigantic breast-shaped balloons are appearing all over London as part of a campaign highlighting the stigma that mothers breastfeeding in public still face in the British capital.

The goal of the #FreetheFeed campaign, which first made headlines with its head-turning inflatable boobs in 2017, is to “remove the shame and sexualization around [breastfeeding],” according to the movement’s founder, Ana Balarin, the executive creative director of advertising agency Mother London.

“Breastfeeding and pumping is an inherent part of having a small baby,” Balarin told Yahoo Lifestyle. “It literally comes with the package.”

The breast balloons, the smallest of which are ten feet tall, were designed by Mother London in a range of skin tones, and have been appearing on buildings, benches, and other public spaces across London since March 26, the day the U.K. celebrates Mother’s Day. According to UNICEF, breastfeeding rates in the U.K. are among the lowest in the world. A 2019 U.K. survey of 2,000 British women found that one in three had been forced to pump their milk in a bathroom while at work. More than half of respondents said their employers showed little to no support for breastfeeding mothers.”

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‘Close your legs?’: Judge may be suspended over questions he asked an alleged rape victim

From The Washington Post authored by Michael Brice-Saddler:

“A New Jersey Superior Court judge could be suspended for three months without pay after asking an alleged sexual assault victim if she tried closing her legs to prevent the attack, according to a court advisory panel.

The panel this week released a 45-page recommendation in the case of John Russo Jr., a family court judge in Ocean County, N.J. Their investigation, which included interviews with Russo and nearly two dozen other individuals, determined that the judge may have violated the Code of Judicial Conduct numerous times in recent years.

The example cited came during his questioning of a woman seeking a restraining order against the father of her 5-year-old daughter in 2016. She told the judge the man had sexually assaulted her.

According to a transcript from the panel’s recommendation, Russo asked the woman, who also claimed the defendant had threatened her life, “do you know how to stop somebody from having intercourse with you?”

She responded by stating she could try to physically harm her assailant in addition to saying “no” and attempting to flee.

But the judge continued his questioning: “Run away, get away. Anything else?”

She responded: “I — that’s all I know.”

Russo: “Block your body parts?”

Plaintiff: “Yeah.”

Russo: ‘Close your legs? Call the police? Did you do any of those things?’”

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How the Four-Hand Condom Got Consent Wrong

From RollingStone authored by Ej Dickson:

“Earlier this week, the Argentine condom and sex toy company Tulipan came out with an ad for a “consent” condom pack. In order to use the condom, the condom package must be pressed on all four sides simultaneously, which means that it requires four hands to open.

Tulipan marketed the campaign with the hashtag, #PlacerConsentido, or “permitted pleasure.”It clearly wanted to make a creative and powerful statement about how the enthusiasm of both parties is necessary to create a positive sexual experience. It also clearly thought, as most companies do when they create such socially conscious campaigns, that it would be lauded for promoting this message. But that’s not exactly what happened.

Instead of being applauded for promoting the importance of consent, the Tulipan condom ad was excoriated on social media, for a fairly wide range of reasons. Some argued it was ableist, as it discounted the experience of amputees who would be unable to open the condom; others argued that it was discriminatory against polyamorous people, on the grounds that it assumed that only two people would be having sex. Some people even expressed concern that such condoms would be used as “evidence,” potentially in sexual assault cases, to protect those accused of sexual assault rather than the accusers, as a way to demonstrate that consent had been provided when it in fact had not.

Ultimately, these arguments were somewhat moot, as the Tulipan condom was never meant to actually be sold in stores, says Joaquin Campinas, executive creative director. “It was never intended for sale. It is a limited edition designed only to raise awareness about… consent and for that reason it can’t have commercial purposes,” Campinas said in an email to Rolling Stone.

But one argument that was legitimate — and that underlined a bigger issue with ad agencies and their recent approach to consent issues in general — was that the Tulipan ad fundamentally misunderstood the concept of consent. As one woman wrote, “putting on a condom does not equal automatic consent of all sexual activity.” The ad basically glosses over the fact that consent can be revoked midway through the act — if one partner does something that the other is uncomfortable with, for instance, or simply if one partner changes their mind for whatever reason. Agreeing to use a condom is a step in the ongoing process of obtaining sexual consent, but it is by no means the final one, and some argued that the campaign minimized the need for an ongoing and open dialogue about consent during and after sex, not just beforehand.”

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“I had 15 years of professional experience, but no one cared when I became a mom”

From Fast Company authored by Anisa Purbasari Horton:

“Rita Kakati Shah was thinking about returning to work after three and a half years of raising her two children. Armed with 15 years of experience in the financial sector and the pharmaceutical industry (including a 10-year stint at Goldman Sachs), she decided to start the process by attending a networking event. When it came to putting down her place of employment in her name tag, she wrote SAHM, which stood for “stay-at-home mom.”

She started talking to another attendee, and when that attendee discovered what SAHM stood for, she turned around and walked away. “I stood there thinking, Did that just happen?” Shah decided to tap the attendee on the shoulder and asked her, “Can I just ask why you reacted that way?” The attendee admitted that because Shah had been a stay-at-home mom rather than engaging in paid employment, she thought that Shah “couldn’t have had anything to contribute to the conversation.”

Shah was experiencing the effects of a “mommy tax”–the idea that working mothers are penalized for having children, while fathers are often rewarded. According to a 2017 report from The National Women’s Law Center, working mothers in the U.S. earn 71¢ to the dollar in comparison to working fathers. As Lydia Dishman previously reportedfor Fast Company, the motherhood bias is based on the perception that women who have children will be less ambitious and focused at work, while men will be more responsible and committed to their jobs because they will be motivated to take care of their family.

For Shah, that experience was just one of the many motherhood biases that she faced in her journey to returning to full-time employment. She faced so much hostility that she decided to start Uma–a company that helps mothers transition back to the workforce. She recently shared her experience with Fast Company. Her account has been edited for space and clarity.”

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A classmate of the woman who was killed after getting into a fake ride-hailing car is pushing Uber and Lyft for a simple safety fix

From Business Insider authored by Julie Bort:

“The recent killing of the 21-year-old University of South Carolina college student Samantha Josephson, who mistakenly got into a car she believed to be her Uber ride, has made national news — and rightly so.

It’s a terrifying outcome to a common mistake, as anyone who has ever waited for a driver and walked up to the wrong car can attest to. And it has birthed the #WhatsMyName campaign, which urges people to pay more attention to which car they’re getting into.

Ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft have added a lot of features to their apps to increase rider safety — but this person wasn’t her Uber driver, so the situation was outside their control. It seems like it would be difficult, if not impossible, to help protect people beyond what these ride-hailing companies already do: share the make, model, and color of the car, the driver’s name and photo, and the car’s license-plate number.

But there may be a solution to protect against fake drivers with criminal intent — or, for that matter, to protect the drivers against fake passengers.”

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