Legal Issues

Has Title IX, now 40 years old, harmed male athletics?

Teaser:

Valerie Strauss addresses the myths around Title IX and men's athletics.

Editorial:

Critics of Title IX often say that it has harmed male athletics in its insistence on increasing opportunities for females in school sports. Here, from the report (with footnotes removed), are some myths about how the law has affected school athletics:

What the Law Says

Title IX requires that schools treat both sexes equally with regard to three distinct aspects of athletics: participation opportunities, athleticscholarships, and treatment of male and female teams.

Myth 1: Title IX requires quotas.

Title IX does not require quotas; it simply requires that schools allocate participation opportunities in a nondiscriminatory way. The three-part test is lenient and flexible, allowing schools to comply even if they do not satisfy the first part. The federal courts have consistently rejected arguments that Title IX imposes quotas.

[...]

Source:

The Washington Post

URL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/has-title-ix-now-40-years-old-harmed-male-athletics/2012/06/14/gJQArSCqdV_blog.html

Date:

June 15, 2012

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Desiring Change

Submitted by asklar on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 9:32am

Desire and gender are brought alive through the ways lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and intersexed people use their bodies; desire and gender are made poignant and meaningful by the ways we construct or deny our erotic passions and gendered identities in the course of daily life. People will take risks—facing marginalization, isolation, and even violence—to identify and act upon their desires. And they will live out their unique understanding of gender—no matter how dangerous or costly the results. This report represents the integration of joint efforts by the Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW) and Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ), beginning with activist and academic convenings that took place from 2005-07 under the name “Desiring Change,” and culminating in a daylong gathering in 2007 with 21 social justice organizations.

URL:

http://bcrw.barnard.edu/publications/nfs7/report/

Member Organization:

Barnard Center for Research on Women

The Depressing Gender Gap at the Nation’s Top 71 Venture Capital Firms [SLIDESHOW]

Teaser:

Betabeat calculates the FEM, or Female Equality Metric, for the nation's largest venture capital firms.

Editorial:

From Betabeat:

Click through the slideshow for a firm-by-firm breakdown of the numbers.

[...]

The FEM Study: METHODOLOGY

All the data for assets under management comes from the National Venture Capital Association, which sent us their latest list from Thomson Reuters, current as of Q1 2012. The list included private equity firms that also do venture capital investing, which we attempted to identify and omit. However, some may still be included in the final list of 71 firms.*

Next, we went to each firm’s website and tallied up the number of partners and managing directors, noting how many were women. Obviously, the structure is different at different firms. For consistency, and to give firms the greatest benefit of the doubt, we counted anyone as a partner who had “partner” in his or her title, including venture partners, founding partners, administrative partners and other variations. We also included managing directors, who are senior partners. We did not include vice presidents, principals or associates. When partner titles were unlisted or ambiguous, we called and asked for the numbers.

We then calculated, for each firm on the list, the percentage of partners who are female. Rather than call it POPWAF, we decided to call this number the Female Equality Metric, or FEM. (At first we called it the Kleiner number, but decided to reserve that term for “number of discrimination lawsuits filed.”)

A firm with all male partners has a FEM of zero. A firm with all female partners (LOL, JK) would have a FEM of 100. If you think gender diversity is important, a low FEM is bad and a high FEM is good. If you think women should stay at the receptionist’s desk and out of the corner offices, a low FEM is good and a high FEM is bad. And if you think Silicon Valley is a meritocracy, as does Greg McAdoo of Sequoia Capital, which coincidentally has zero women partners, then you’ll probably dismiss these numbers as meaningless.

But page through this list of venture capital’s heavyweights, and it’s striking to see how few women have made it to the upper ranks. Also striking was the perfect 100 POFR, or percentage of female receptionists, at the 26 VC firms we called. We paged through team page after team page—the staff at a venture capital firm is almost universally called the “team”—where men’s faces lined the top rows and women’s faces appeared further down, if anywhere. “We have female administrative assistants,” explained one woman who picked up the phone, when asked whether any of the partners and managing directors were women.

[...]

Source:

Betabeat

URL:

http://betabeat.com/2012/05/female-partners-venture-capital-firms-fem-kleiner-perkins/

Date:

June 7, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Women Kill the Buzz for Guys Who Hire, Fire Them

Teaser:

Susan Antila looks at several decades of sexual harassment in the financial industry.

Editorial:

From Bloomberg:

We’ve seen this movie before and the ending still stinks.

The sex-discrimination lawsuit by Ellen Pao against the Silicon Valley venture-capital firmKleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers may be the gender and workplace story of the moment. But let’s get one thing straight: This doesn’t describe anything that’s new. It seems to happen routinely. Just yesterday, at a hearing in London, a lawyer for Latifa Bouabdillah, a former Deutsche Bank AG director, said the woman’s male colleagues were paid bonuses “double or triple that of the claimant” for the same work.

Swap out Pao for Pamela Martens, who led the class-action “Boom-Boom Room” lawsuit against Smith Barney in the 1990s, or Allison Schieffelin, who sued Morgan Stanley in 2001, or Carla Ingraham, who sued UBS AG in 2009, and you wind up with some combination of the same old complaints: coworker come-ons, power meetings for guys only, higher pay for men and retaliation against the uppity women who have the nerve to complain.

In the venture-capital world, where you get more than the usual share of people who are prone to thinking their every experience is novel, there is shock over news that a highly qualified woman has filed a suit against a celebrity firm. But sex discrimination isn’t the iPad, folks. It’s more like the electric typewriter.

[...]

Source:

Bloomberg

URL:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-06/women-kill-the-buzz-for-guys-who-hire-fire-them.html

Date:

June 7, 2012

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Federal court strikes down key part of federal law banning same-sex marriage

Teaser:

The 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Editorial:

From CNN:

A key part of the law banning federal recognition of same-sex marriage was struck down as unconstitutional by a U.S. appeals court Thursday.

The Defense of Marriage Act -- known as DOMA -- defines marriage for federal purposes as unions exclusively between a man and woman.

At issue is whether the federal government can deny tax, health and pension benefits to same-sex couples in states where they can legally marry. The ruling is a boost for gay rights advocates and the Obama administration, which in a rare move, has refused to defend a federal law in court.

"If we are right in thinking that disparate impact on minority interests and federalism concerns both require somewhat more in this case than almost automatic deference to Congress' will, this statute fails that test," said the three judge panel.

[...]

Source:

CNN

URL:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/31/us/massachusetts-same-sex-marriage/index.html

Date:

June 1, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Plans for women's quotas on company boards dropped

Teaser:

The Telegraph reports that plans to force British companies to appoint a set proportion of women to their boards are being scrapped.

Editorial:

From The Telegraph:

The move to drop the “golden skirt” policy is a sign of ministers’ commitment to strip red tape from companies to get the economy moving.

Ministers said they were “standing up for British business” and were opposing the plans to impose more “burdensome regulation” on companies.

The European Commission launched a consultation in March proposing forcing companies by law to bring in the quotas.

The suggestion for quotas was praised by Prime Minister David Cameron at a summit in Stockholm in March.

However ministers will say the Government is not going to implement the quotas, and instead will merely encourage firms to hire more women in executive positions.

Figures show that nearly 16 per cent of senior positions are now held by women, up from 12.5 per cent last year. If the momentum continues, the number of women on boards will exceed 25 per cent by 2015.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary and Women’s minister, said: “We are encouraging firms to use women’s talents by helping them see the business benefits. But we must allow them to get on with their job.

“Our voluntary approach is reaping rewards. The past year has seen the biggest ever jump in the number of women on boards, and some of the UK's leading companies are now reporting on gender diversity, which will help more women rise to the top.”

[...]

Source:

The Telegraph

URL:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9293618/Plans-for-womens-quotas-on-company-boards-dropped.html

Date:

May 29, 2012

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Associated Issues & Expertise:

Mont. Regents OK new policy for sexual assaults

Teaser:

The Montana University System issued new policies for handling sexual assault claims.

Editorial:

From Sports Illustrated / The AP:

The policy calls for prompt investigation and written conclusion of all complaints. And key members of the Montana Board of Regents, hoping to ensure that all the state's campuses comply with federal and state gender equity laws, made it clear that their analysis of the university administration's handling of the situation isn't over.

The U.S. Justice Department earlier this month opened its investigation into the way the university and the city responded to sexual assault and harassment reports, which prompted a second investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

The university has come under fire for mishandling rapes over the past two years, particularly in the cases involving football team members. The football coach and athletic director were fired in March, mostly without explanation, but a cloud still hangs over the program.

[...]

Source:

Sports Illustrated

URL:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/more/wires/05/25/2080.ap.us.university.sexual.assault.5th.ld.writethru.0855/index.html

Date:

May 29, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Single Women Voters Focus of Democrats’ Equal-Pay Appeal

Teaser:

Bloomberg explains how the current legislative push for paycheck fairness is designed to appeal to single women voters.

Editorial:

From Bloomberg Business Week:

Unmarried women were among Barack Obama’s most loyal supporters in 2008, turning out in droves and delivering 70 percent of their votes to him. When many of them stayed home in the 2010 midterm election, Democrats lost the House and had their Senate majority trimmed.

Now, determined to get single women back, Senate leaders are reshaping their legislative agenda, advancing a bill to bolster workers’ ability to win pay discrimination lawsuits. A similar measure was blocked by Republicans two years ago, and proponents expect it to be rejected again, setting up a contrast between the parties over an issue that especially touches unmarried women.

It will be the third time this year that Senate Democrats will push for votes on policies affecting women, with the other measures focused on insurance coverage for contraceptives and programs for domestic violence victims.

They are aiming to fire up the 55 million single, divorced, separated or widowed U.S. women eligible to vote this year. While 60 percent of all unmarried women cast ballots in 2008, just 38 percent turned out in 2010, said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. Democratic strategists see these voters as critical to helping return Obama to the White House and to retain Senate seats in Ohio, Virginia and other states.

“What is really at issue is their turnout rate,” Lake said in an interview. “Unmarried younger women plummeted in the turnout in 2010, and they came into this election cycle not very interested in the election.”

[...]

Source:

Bloomberg Business Week

URL:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-25/single-women-voters-focus-of-democrats-equal-pay-appeal

Date:

May 25, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Let Me Not Die Before My Time: Domestic Violence In West Africa

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 11:42pm

A report from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) finds that in countries recovering from war in West Africa, domestic violence is the biggest threat to women's safety.

The report, called "Let Me Not Die Before My Time: Domestic Violence In West Africa," reveals that "across Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone, years after the official end of these countries' brutal wars, women are being intimidated, threatened and beaten with shocking frequency."

Though domestic violence is a global issue affecting about one in three women worldwide, IRC chose to focus on these three West African countries to show how the problem can become more severe in post-conflict environments.

The report is based on 10 years of research and direct interaction with women and government leaders in Liberia, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone. All three countries were embroiled in violent civil wars a decade ago, and those tensions remain.

URL:

http://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/resource-file/IRC_Report_DomVioWAfrica.pdf

Report on a 2020 Perspective for Women in Turkey (2011/2066(INI))

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 11:19pm

The European Parliament this week adopted a report urging Turkey to follow up on its recent work toward securing gender equality and women's rights.

The report, written by Socialists & Democrats Member of European Parliament Emine Bozkurt, lays out a series of goals for Ankara to accomplish by 2020 in raising the status of women to fully equal members of Turkish society as Brussels and Ankara seek to breathe life into the country's stalled EU accession bid.

The Dutch lawmaker's report was accepted unanimously by the legislative body's Women's Rights and Gender Equality Commission in March, and Tuesday was approved by the entire EP meeting in a plenary session, with 590 votes in favor, 28 against and 53 abstentions, the Italian news agency ANSAmed reported.

(From UPI)

URL:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A7-2012-0138+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

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NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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