Women Leaders in Law and Business: Trailblazers, Innovators, and Disrupters in the Law

2019 Women Leaders in Law and Business: Trailblazers, Innovators, and Disrupters in the Law - Women, Law & Leadership Seminar and Ideas Lab Cover by Women, Law & Leadership Seminar Students Women Trailblazers in Law and Business: Profiles in Leadership This database on profiles on transformative leadership is the first of its kind on women's leadership stories developed in the law school classroom. Penn Law's Women, Law & Leadership seminar examined the underrepresentation of women in leadership in law and business and the policy and strategic imperatives that could equalize the playing field for all women and reconceptualize the workplace for both women and men. The research on the barriers to leadership were conducted through interviews with women leaders who have helped to dismantle structural barriers and blazed a trail for other women in law, business and public life. Through this research on the lived experiences of women in law and business, the seminar advanced a transformative theory of leadership based on a model of gender equality, fairness, and macroeconomics. The narratives of women's leadership can serve as a powerful charge to the next generation of leaders, transform the political economy of our time and create a new theory of justice. Seminar taught by: Dr. Rangita de Silva de Alwis Seminar Students: May Alajlan Kunal Kanodia Trinny Terrazas Lauren Altus Kimberly Kelly Paola Valderrama Ortiz Saba Bajwa Damini Kunwar Molly Wolfe Emily Brody-Bizar Eduarda Lague Amy Woodward Farah Chalisa Astrid Lindfelt Shiyuan Yin Elysa Desa Michael Machado Meghan Downey Raisa Masud Alexandra Eaton Ghaida Meaigel Chukwufumnanya Ekhator Emi Mitani Kathryn Gardner Michelle Mlacker Sophia Gaulkin Agnese Nadalini Sharon George Chrissy Pak Katherine Godar Marie-Sophie Revault Ravina Gogna Samuel Romm Allie Gottlieb Claire Samuelson Sarah Heberlig Jessie Sarkis Lindsay Holcomb Katherine Schroeder Brendan Holman Amal Sethi Heng-Jui Hsing Sara Shayanian Amanda Jonas Jessica Shieh DEDICATION This work is dedicated to: Martha Minow 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University and Deborah Rhode Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law Stanford Law School Two of the greatest legal scholars of our time, but more importantly, two of the great moral voices on equality in the 21st century. Introduction “Even when the path is nominally open –where there is nothing to prevent women from becoming a doctor, a lawyer, a civil servant – there are many phantoms and obstacles as I believe looming in her way…To discuss and define them is I think of great value and importance. For only then can the laborbe shared, and difficulties solved.” -Virginia Woolf “Cessanterationelegis, cessat ipsa lex. If the reason for a law ceases,the law itselfmust cease. I hope the women in your class will seek out laws and unwritten rules that no longer serve a purpose and help lead us to new rules that will better serve everyone.” -Amy Weaver, General Counsel, Salesforce Western civilization’s vision of a leader grew out of heroic epics: The Iliad and The Odyssey- a brave warrior leading by example in the Trojan War. The warrior-leader model is still part of our public conscience, but the idea that leadership is a divine or masculine trait has long been debunked. At a time of global public reckoning, more must be done to develop a woman lawyer-statesman vision of leadership, to elevate the study of women's leadership to a higher intellectual plane, and help shape a more inclusive research agenda for the next generation of leaders, leadership scholars, and practitioners. “Despite the primary focus on women’s leadership in law and business, we explored gender as only one axis of difference and expanded our analysis to cover the shape-shifting nature of leadership across political economies and across different periods of socio-economic change.” These interviews by the members of the class on Women, Law, and Leadership offer analysis and insights into some of the most significant changes in leadership from a gender perspective. Despite the primary focus on women’s leadership in law and business, we explored gender as only one axis of difference and expanded our analysis to cover the shape-shifting nature of leadership across political economies and across different periods of socio-economic change. Nonetheless, the overarching theme remains that global and transnational transformations impact women’s work in law and business in the US. By interviewing women from different generations both in terms of age and political shifts, the narratives attempt to capture the richness of different gender perspectives across geography, race, ethnicity, religious, cultural, and political diversity in women’s leadership, its underlying tensions, intersectionalities, and commonalities. The generational themes are mined further in interviews that are conducted between mother and daughter and in an especially poignant interview between student Emily Brody-Bizar and her grandmother, Judge Anita Brody. There is an emerging visibility of a new generation of leaders who are advancing a diversity of thought and policies that showcase that women’s rights are a signifier of social and economic progress. We examine the macroeconomics of women’s leadership in the model “Diversity Index on Gender and Business” that we helped develop for the Saudi Kingdom under its Vision 2030. We also raise many new questions about employment practice through a gender perspective in our “Ideas Lab.” These questions brought up in the “Ideas Lab” are further explored through interviews and women’s narratives. How can economic and demographic changes propel new intersectional policies and laws? What difference do changes in traditional and stereotypical caregiving roles add to new lawmaking? What difference does women’s mobilization in the workplace make to women’s rights reforms at work and in public life? “There is an emerging visibility of a new generation of leaders who are advancing a diversity of thought and policies that showcase that women’s rights are a signifier of social and economic progress.” These women’s narratives on leadership help document the dramatic transformations in a changing demographics of work. What is the bigger story about overall changes in the global women’s movements and their political impact on laws and policies in the workplace? In our attempt to identify general patterns and trends, we recognize that sometimes this comes at the cost of overlooking important particularities such as various individual and political demands that women face. However, a central claim that we can make is that one of the most important determinants of new gender-based policies adopted in the recent past in the workplace are due to women’s own desire to see change. These narratives add to the small but growing literature in the subject that focuses on changes in the future of work. “These women’s narratives on leadership help document the dramatic transformations in a changing demographics of work. What is the bigger story about overall changes in the global women’s movements and their political impact on laws and policies in the workplace?” It is a personal privilege to thank a few leaders who were important to this enterprise. Dorothy Roberts, Regina Austin, Radhika Coomaraswamy, and Deborah Rhode are featured in this compendium and played a defining role in shaping my own feminist legal consciousness in the early 1990s. It was a special honor to re-read with my students, Deborah Rhode’s works, Women and Leadership (2017) and Character (2019). The depth of her influence on my class can be measured by the way many students reference her work in their interviews. Cary Coglianese’s insights on leadership theory, and enthusiasm for this class and its outcomes, encouraged and sustained me, all the while reinforcing how critical male leaders can be in their support of women’s empowerment, its theory, and its practice. I am grateful to Dean Theodore Ruger for letting me teach this class in the Fall of 2019. Finally, a thank you to the women leaders and friends who joined by Zoom meeting from Sweden to Zimbabwe, well past midnight, to speak to the class. “[Students] are looking at feminist legal theory from different lenses, including, post-colonial theory and hybridity. For them, as students who are multi-cultural, these are not only important theories but relevant applications to their lives as scholars and leaders.” Students Sharon George, Chukfumnanya Ekhator, Eduarda Lague, Farah Chalisa, Charlotte Yin, and Michael Machado are examining feminist legal theory from different lenses, including, post-colonial theory and hybridity. For them, as multi-cultural students, these are not only important theories but relevant to their lives as scholars and leaders. Their work as leaders becomes more complicated as they interrogate gender inequality. They have asked me questions about my own ideas in these areas and my own personal awakenings in these fields. Their questions probe deeply personal stories. Every morning from ages five to 15, my grandfather walked me to school. Although trained in the British legal system, he represented some of the ancient Buddhist and Hindu temples in his country which had lost their lands and priceless religious artifacts to colonizers. In those long walks, he instilled in me a love of looking at law through multiple lenses, and the importance of making new rules when none exist, or where they are unequal. My much-admired friend, Amy Weaver, General Counsel of Salesforce,

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