Gender Bias Learning Project

A zany brainy look at a serious subject

A project of the Center for WorkLife Law UC Hastings College of the Law

About Us

The Gender Bias Learning Project is housed within the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law.

Please also visit the Center for WorkLife Law’s website on gender bias in academia.

These pages include:

  • the business case for addressing gender bias on an institutional level,
  • examples of promising practices to retain women in academia,
  • a risk management legal brief for colleges and universities,
  • and an opportunity to share your thoughts and experiences with us.

Joan C. Williams

Joan C. Williams is a Distinguished Professor of Law, 1066 Foundation Chair, founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and Co-Director of the Project on Attorney Retention (PAR). She is a prize-winning author and expert on work/family issues. Her book, Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do About It (Oxford University Press, 2000), won the 2000 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award. She has authored or co-authored five books and over sixty law review articles. Referred to as having “something approaching rock star status” in her field by The New York Times Magazine, her article “Beyond the Maternal Wall: Relief for Family Caregivers Who are Discriminated against on the Job,” 26 Harvard Women’s Law Review 77 (2003) (co-authored with Nancy Segal), was prominently cited in Back v. Hastings on Hudson Union Free School District, 2004 U.S. App. Lexis 6684 (2d Cir. April 7, 2004). Professor Williams has played a central role in organizing social scientists to document maternal wall bias, notably in a special issue of the Journal of Social Issues (2004), co-edited with Monica Biernat and Faye Crosby, which was awarded the Distinguished Publication Award by the Association for Women in Psychology. In 2006, she received the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Award for Women Lawyers of Achievement. In 2008, she delivered the Massey Lectures in American Civilization at Harvard University.

Donna Norton

Donna Norton, Esq., has 20 years of experience in national and international advocacy and public education on issues of women and girls at the Center for WorkLife Law, MomsRising, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Ms. Norton is particularly interested in issues of women of color and immigrants, as her mother immigrated to the U.S. from China. She has a law degree from University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree in public policy from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. in international relations from Stanford University. Despite these accomplishments, she cannot get her children to eat a vegetable. Ms. Norton loves working with the Center for WorkLife Law because most of her colleagues work from home, and she can usually hear a child asking for something during conference calls, which makes everyone happy.

Jeremy Hessler

Jeremy Hessler is a law student at University of California, Hastings College of the Law and is interested in a range of legal topics, including employment, environmental, and constitutional law. After a short stint in the Army, he earned a B.A. in English from U.C. Riverside and an M.A. in Irish Literature and Drama from University College of Dublin. Mr. Hessler reports that working at the Center for WorkLife Law has been a great opportunity for him to explore an exciting area of law and policy, as well as work with great people.

Mary Rauner

Mary Rauner, Ph.D., has dedicated her career to working on gender issues in educational and workplace settings both domestically and internationally. Dr. Rauner has experience in a wide range of organizational settings including Stanford University, MentorNet, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and numerous social science and educational research organizations. Dr. Rauner received her B.A. from Creighton University and her doctorate and masters degrees from Stanford University. Her work with the Center for WorkLife Law has been particularly fulfilling because it combines social science research with training to support women in the workplace, particularly those in academia. She appreciates that the culture of WorkLife Law supports the radical idea that non-traditional employees are legitimate professionals.

Molly Wilkens

Molly Wilkens is currently a law student at University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She received two S.B.’s from MIT in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Writing and Humanistic Studies. She enjoyed her work with the Center for WorkLife Law because it allowed her to combine all of her academic interests – cognitive science, writing and the law – with her personal interests in people in academia. The person in academia she is most interested in is her husband, who by now knows almost as much about this project as she does.

BayCreative, Inc.

The WorkLife Law Gender Bias Training Website was designed and developed by BayCreative, Inc., a full-service marketing agency located in San Francisco. BayCreative is a nimble, results-oriented firm that brings more than 45 years of marketing experience in enterprise, B2B software, professional services, eBusiness integration, SaaS, consumer, higher education and channel/partner marketing programs to the table. The marketing firm’s value proposition is its expert ability to enhance the experience of specific target audiences so its clients have a higher success of achieving the outcome they need. That experience could motivate a prospective client to “buy now”, or a sales rep to “change their selling style/behavior” or a business partner to “push the client’s solutions before its competitor’s. For over 12 years, companies like Oracle, Cisco, Macworld, Adobe, VISA, CNET Networks, TriNet, Rosenbaum Financial, Hummer Winblat and >225 more have selected BayCreative to develop and implement innovative marketing strategies. For more information, visit www.baycreative.com or call 415-434-4344.

Please Also Visit

The Center for WorkLife Law’s website on gender bias in academia.

Biographical Sketches of Interviewed Gender Bias Experts

Bibliography on Cognitive Bias and Gender Stereotypes