The Trouble with Bitch : Rethinking the Seventh Circuit\u27s Approach to Causation in Sexist Harassment Cases

Does calling a female employee bitch constitute harassment actionable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? In 1996, in Galloway v. General Motors Service Parts, the Seventh Circuit concluded that it does not. More recently, in Passananti v. Cook County, the court held that such conduct may indeed violate Title VII. A plaintiff who brings a Title VII claim is required to prove that she was harassed because of sex. In both of the above cases, the Seventh Circuit interpreted this causation requirement to mean that the harasser must be subjectively motivated by the plaintiff\u27s sex. In Galloway, the court concluded that the harasser harbored a personal animus toward the plaintiff and thus did not act on the basis of sex. In Passananti, the court found that because there was no evidence of personal animus, the harasser was probably motivated by the plaintiff\u27s sex. This Note argues that Title VII does not mandate an inquiry into the harasser\u27s subjective mental state to establish the causation element in harassment cases. The subjective motivation standard adopted by the Seventh Circuit erroneously borrows an intent-based causation requirement from discrimination cases involving adverse employment decisions. This approach is too deferential to employers because harassment, unlike a personnel decision, does not entail a presumptively valid exercise of business judgment. Furthermore, the assumption that actionable harassment must be driven by conscious hostility toward women ignores the reality that discrimination today is more likely to result from unconscious bias. This Note develops an alternative to the subjective motivation standard. It proposes that courts analyze causation from the victim\u27s point of view

The Trouble with Bitch : Rethinking the Seventh Circuit\u27s Approach to Causation in Sexist Harassment Cases

Does calling a female employee bitch constitute harassment actionable under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? In 1996, in Galloway v. General Motors Service Parts, the Seventh Circuit concluded that it does not. More recently, in Passananti v. Cook County, the court held that such conduct may indeed violate Title VII. A plaintiff who brings a Title VII claim is required to prove that she was harassed because of sex. In both of the above cases, the Seventh Circuit interpreted this causation requirement to mean that the harasser must be subjectively motivated by the plaintiff\u27s sex. In Galloway, the court concluded that the harasser harbored a personal animus toward the plaintiff and thus did not act on the basis of sex. In Passananti, the court found that because there was no evidence of personal animus, the harasser was probably motivated by the plaintiff\u27s sex. This Note argues that Title VII does not mandate an inquiry into the harasser\u27s subjective mental state to establish the causation element in harassment cases. The subjective motivation standard adopted by the Seventh Circuit erroneously borrows an intent-based causation requirement from discrimination cases involving adverse employment decisions. This approach is too deferential to employers because harassment, unlike a personnel decision, does not entail a presumptively valid exercise of business judgment. Furthermore, the assumption that actionable harassment must be driven by conscious hostility toward women ignores the reality that discrimination today is more likely to result from unconscious bias. This Note develops an alternative to the subjective motivation standard. It proposes that courts analyze causation from the victim\u27s point of view

Kababayan of Care: Growing Our Own Connectedness, Consciousness, and Collective Story

Despite being the second largest Asian American group, Filipino Americans remain underrepresented in 4-year, post-secondary institutions, even where the Filipino American population is concentrated. The purpose of this dissertation is to look at the impact that culturally relevant and responsive instruction and program design has on Filipino American students over the past 15 years in the Kababayan Learning Community (KLC), a transfer and community support program at Skyline College. Through focus groups, the findings revealed three major themes that defined KLC: “academic success,” sense of self, and sense of belonging. From these themes, three implications emerged about why KLC students succeed: they negotiate their “hyphenated” identities, their cultural capital is valued, and they create community in the classroom and beyond. This qualitative self-study examined how culturally relevant/responsive/sustaining pedagogy practiced in classrooms build cultural capital and community for Filipino American students in a Bay Area community college learning community where I am employed as a professor. This learning community has been in existence since 2003, and the study captures the voices and shares the experiences of select students spanning the past 15 years

Halfway Through the Circle: The Lives of 8 Filipino Survivors of Prostitution and Sex Trafficking

These stories speak to the youth. students. researchers and political activists alike. They reach out to all readers who care to listen and to learn from women in the grassroots. Second edition