Feminist Law Prof Susan Sturm (Columbia Law School) has posted to ssrn her article, “The Architecture of Inclusiveness: Advancing Workplace Equity in Higher Education,” 29 Harv. J. L. & Gender (2006). Here is a portion of the abstract:
This Article develops a paradigm for advancing workplace equality when the problems causing racial and gender under-participation are structural, and the legal environment surrounding diversity initiatives is uncertain. It first analyzes three key dilemmas that have limited the efficacy of prior diversity initiatives: limited capacity to institutionalize change, a legal minefield, and ineffective public accountability. It then offers three related ideas in service of advancing workplace equity through institutional transformation. Although its focus is on higher education, the Article develops an approach with more general applicability. . . . Second, the Article identifies a pivotal institutional role, called an”organizational catalysts,”as a mechanism of change toward institutional citizenship . . . . Finally, the Article illustrates the role of institutional intermediaries in sustaining and providing accountability for this institutional change process. Institutional intermediaries are public or quasi-public organizations that leverage their position within preexisting communities of practice to foster change and provide meaningful accountability. Instead of relying on the direct threat of judicial sanctions, institutional intermediaries use their ongoing capacity-building role within a particular occupational sector to build knowledge (through establishing common metrics, information pooling, and networking), introduce incentives (such as competition, institutional improvement, and potential impact on funding), and provide accountability (including grass roots participation and self-, peer- and external evaluation).
Read the full abstract and download the article here.
– Posted by Bridget Crawford
I haven’t read the article yet, but I just had to mention that Susan Sturm was one of my very favorite law school professors! She’s terrific, and so is all her scholarship that I am familar with.