Authors

Mary Elizabeth Powell

Article Title

The Claims of Women of Color Under Title VII: the Interaction of Race and Gender

Abstract

This comment will focus on how a single characteristic construction of Title VII has distorted and marginalized the claims of women of color. Part One illustrates how the courts initially refused to recognize the claim of interactive discrimination. Part Two explains the limited way in which courts began to recognize the interactive claims brought by women of color. Instead of seeing the plaintiffs as alleging the single entity of interactive discrimination, courts have bisected the claim into "sex plus race." Part Three focuses on the issue of women of color as adequately representing a class in a class action suit. Since a Black women may experience discrimination in several ways, the courts have grappled with both the scope of her claim and who she may represent. Part Four analyzes the recent Ninth Circuit case of Lam v. University of Hawaii and sets forth a proposed framework for analyzing discrimination claims brought by women of color.

Recommended Citation

Mary Elizabeth Powell, The Claims of Women of Color Under Title VII: the Interaction of Race and Gender, 26 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. (1996).
https://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/ggulrev/vol26/iss2/6