The Center for WorkLife Law
(WorkLife Law or WLL) is a nonprofit research and advocacy group devoted to women's
advancement and to improving work/life balance for everyone--men as well as women.
WorkLife Law has a unique "six
stakeholder" model that reflects our belief that many different stakeholders are
ready, willing, and able to play a role in sparking social and organizational change.
We work with employers, employees, plaintiffs' and management-side employment lawyers,
unions, and public policymakers. Our model of social change includes cutting-edge
academic research with a strategic horizon of two to five years. At any given time,
we conduct a few key projects designed to take advantage of strategic opportunities
to create concrete, measurable change.
This model yields results. Some
highlights:
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Media coverage: Our 2006 report, "Opt Out or Pushed Out?," helped change the
way influential newspapers cover the impact of motherhood on women's careers.
More on
Opting Out of the "Opt Out" Narrative >>
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Social science: Our 2001-2003 Working Group jumpstarted the research that now
documents that motherhood triggers the strongest form of gender bias in today's
workplace.
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Public policy: Our research on discrimination against caregivers led to the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's 2007 Guidance on Caregiver Discrimination.
More on EEOC Guidance: Unlawful
Disparate Treatment of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities and
Joan Williams' 2007 testimony to EEOC.
Our studies of the work-family conflicts faced by hourly workers have influenced
public policy in both the Bush and Obama administrations. Proposed legislation prohibiting
caregiver discrimination has been introduced in states across the country.
More on Public Policy >>
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Employers: Our best-practice policies on flexible work arrangements and performance
evaluations have been widely influential in the legal profession.
More on Best Practices >>
Our work on issues affecting women in STEM (science, math and engineering) has been
influential in the U.S. and abroad.
More on Women in Science and Engineering
>>
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Diversity practice: Our "Diversity Beyond the Body Count" initiative mobilizes
the latest in social science to give employers concrete guidance on how evaluation,
work allocation, and compensation systems need to be changed in order to reverse
the effects of implicit bias.
More on
Diversity Best Practices >>
WorkLife Law is housed at the
University of California, Hastings College of the Law. WLL's work has been made
possible through generous support from the National Science Foundation, the Alfred
P. Sloan Foundation, the Rockefeller Family Fund, the Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation,
the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Women's Bar Association of D.C. Foundation, Abigail
Disney, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Meet the WLL
Advisory Board
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