Law

October 21, 2015

The Wage Gap According to J Law

Larisa Klebe

Film star Jennifer Lawrence took to the blogosphere last week to ask one simple question: “Why do I make less than my male co-stars?” The internet didn’t break like it did when Ellen posted that selfie from last year’s Academy Awards on Twitter, or like when Rebecca Black’s “Friday” hit YouTube, but Lawrence’s post in Lena Dunham’s newsletter, Lenny, has received a great deal of attention on the web.

Topics: Feminism, Law

Miriam Waltzer

Miriam Waltzer, a retired judge who had spent her career working to improve the lives of others, found it difficult to be on the receiving end as a refugee in need of aid.

Lis Kahn

A Danish immigrant, Lis Kahn lost many of her keepsakes from her first life in the storm.

Lis Kahn

Rebuilding her life time and again after great upheaval gave Lis Kahn unique insight as she helped the Jewish community of New Orleans heal after Hurricane Katrina.

Shirley Siegel

The only woman in the Yale Law School class of 1941, Shirley Adelson Siegel became a trailblazer as head of the New York State Attorney’s first Civil Rights Bureau in 1959.

Anne Heyman

Inspired by the youth villages that allowed Israel to welcome staggering numbers of orphans after the Holocaust, Anne Heyman created the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village to shelter orphans of the Rwandan genocide.

Beate Sirota Gordon

Through diplomacy and ingenuity, twenty-two-year-old Beate Sirota Gordon wrote unprecedented rights for women into Japan’s post-war constitution.

Justine Wise Polier gives passionate speech on justice at Christ Church.

October 14, 1952

"I saw the vast chasms between our rhetoric of freedom, equality and charity, and what we were doing to, or not doing for poor people, especially children.” - Justine Wise Polier

Stephanie Pollack Named MA’s First Female Secretary of Transportation

January 13, 2015

"I saw the law as one tool that could be used to improve the world, what we Jews call tikkun olam." - Stephanie Pollack

Lani Guinier

Lani Guinier’s groundbreaking work in law and civil rights theory led to her becoming the first woman of color granted tenure at Harvard Law School.

Sada Jacobson

Sada Jacobson won the bronze medal for sabre fencing at the 2004 Olympics (the first Olympics where women were allowed to compete in sabre), then did one better in 2008, bringing home both a silver and another bronze medal.

December 31, 2014

Top Ten Moments For Jewish Women In 2014

Judith Rosenbaum

I’ve already expressed my feelings on the whole “year of the Jewish woman” thing, but that’s not to say we shouldn’t celebrate the many great moments for Jewish women in 2014. Here, in no particular order, are a few of our favorites at JWA.

Topics: Feminism, Radio, Television, Holocaust, Law, Publishing

Lisa Batya Feld on Beate Sirota Gordon Thumbnail

Birth of Beate Sirota Gordon, who wrote equality into the postwar Japanese constitution

October 25, 1923

"Colonel Kades said, 'Miss Sirota has her heart set on the women's rights clause, so why don't we pass it?'"

Birth of Harriet Fleischl Pilpel, Pioneer for the Right to Privacy and Free Speech

December 2, 1911

Lawyer Harriet Fleischl Pilpel provides the historical link between birth control activist Margaret Sanger and feminist Betty Friedan.

Martine Rothblatt

CEO Martine Rothblatt’s fascination with interconnectivity led her to found both GeoStar and Sirius Radio, but it was her drive to save her daughter’s life that led her to create biotech company United Therapeutics Corporation.

Harriet Lowenstein

Harriet Lowenstein gave the Joint Distribution Committee its name and led many of the organization’s efforts to aid those trapped in Europe during both World Wars.