Sex discrimination law and women in the workplace: A feminist analysis of legal ideology

My study of sex discrimination law utilizes a feminist perspective to critique legal rhetoric and policy, although it also recognizes the positive role that the law can and does play in moving women towards equality in the workplace. I also propose alternative approaches to legal issues currently before the federal courts.;This dissertation constructs a feminist ideological model of what the law should look like. I then translate legal rhetoric (contained in court opinions) into legal ideology and compare my ideal model with the empirical model. I also analyze the legal arguments forwarded in legal briefs (including amicus curiae briefs) as well as dissenting and concurring opinions. My emphasis is on exploring the limits of the law as a catalyst for progressive change in the status of women in the workplace.;My analysis of sex discrimination law includes the following parameters: First, I focus on federal sex discrimination jurisprudence emanating from both the Supreme Court and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Second, I restrict myself to legal doctrine dealing with sexual harassment and sex discrimination in promotion practices. Finally, the court cases cover the years 1977 to 1989.;The normative impulse that drives my work is rooted in democratic theory, and consists of the proposition that political science should be concerned, at least in part, with a vigorous critique of a dominant societal ideology that does not always recognize the perspective of vulnerable groups. I also believe in an emphasis on the active construction of alternative ideals towards which we can strive in the present as well as future.