Women’s Rights as Human Rights: Raising the Floor & Shattering the Ceiling

Melissa Murray

Professor of Law, Co-Faculty Director, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network, NYU School of Law; Moderator
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Dina Bakst,

Co-Founder and Co-President, A Better Balance
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Michele Goodwin

Chancellor’s Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine School of Law
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Debra Katz

Founding Partner, Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP
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Carol Robles-Román

General Counsel and Dean of Faculty, Hunter College
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Inez Feltscher Stepman

Senior Policy Analyst, Independent Women’s Forum
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It has been 10 years since President Barack Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and more than 20 since the Beijing World Conference on Women pledged to remove all economic, social, cultural, and political obstacles to women’s participation in public and private life. In the last year, we’ve seen American women win more seats in the House of Representatives and in state and local government than ever before, and the Equal Rights Amendment has now been ratified by 37 states. Yet, many women continue to face serious obstacles in the workplace, from gender and pregnancy discrimination, to sexual harassment; and the United States remains the only country in the developed world that does not mandate paid leave for new mothers. The threat to women’s reproductive rights and health is also back in earnest with a conservative shift in the courts. And all these issues disproportionately impact women of color and low-income women. What legal strategies can be employed to improve gender equality—for all women—and what are the likely obstacles from the courts, the Trump administration, and state and local governments?

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