All articles by Tools for Change

In the February 2013 issue of Cosmopolitan, “Morning Joe” cohost Mika Brzezinski had a message for the magazine’s young readers. She recounted a conversation she once had with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who told her that as a Harvard Law School professor, there were too many years she had ended up “holding the mop” for her
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Title IX and Pregnancy Discrimination: Who Knew?

Established by Congress in the peak years of the women’s rights movement, Title IX promised to overturn years of bias by banning sex discrimination in federally funded schools, colleges, and universities (“recipients”). Now, more than 40 years after its passage, Title IX has fulfilled part of its promise, providing access to sports for millions of
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How to Level the Playing Field for Women in Science

The ‘baby penalty’ in academe could be eased with four key reforms The good news: Many more women than ever before are completing Ph.D.’s in the sciences. Back in 2000, when I was appointed the first female dean of the graduate division at the University of California at Berkeley, I was delighted to learn that
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Equitable Solutions for Retaining a Robust STEM Workforce: Beyond Best Practices

Equitable Solutions for Retaining a Robust STEM Workforce: Beyond Best Practices by Donna Joyce Dean, Janet Bandows Koster www.awis.org “Equitable Solutions for Retaining a Robust STEM Workforce: Beyond Best Practices,” a new book from the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) that addresses work/life integration and satisfaction issues faced by those in STEM careers, will
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Women, work and the art of gender judo

The Call for Help: Instead of criticizing employees and asking them to change their behavior, try saying: “I’d like to do this, and I could use your help. What do you think?” (Illustrations by Natalie K. Nelson for The Washington Post) When asked at a September fundraiser in San Francisco how she manages as a woman
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What Works for Women at Work

What Works for Women at Work by Joan C. Williams and Rachel Dempsey www.newgirlsnet.com An essential resource for any working woman, What Works for Women at Work is a comprehensive and insightful guide for mastering office politics as a woman. Authored by Joan C. Williams, one of the nation’s most-cited experts on women and work,
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Do Babies Matter? Gender and Family in the Ivory Tower

Do Babies Matter? Gender and Family in the Ivory Tower by Mary Ann Mason, Nicholas H. Wolfinger, and Marc Goulden www.dobabiesmatter.com The new generation of scholars differs in many ways from its predecessor of just a few decades ago. Academia once consisted largely of men in traditional single-earner families. Today, men and women fill the
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