‘Herculean Obstacles and Intrepid Complainants’: The Sex Discrimination Complaint at Osgoode Hall Law School, 1987–1994
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2021
Source Publication
“‘Herculean Obstacles and Intrepid Complainants”: The Sex Discrimination Complaint at Osgoode Hall Law School, 1987-1994" in Ulrike Schultz, ed, Gender and Careers in the Legal Academy (Oxford and Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2021)
Abstract
This chapter assesses a human rights complaint of systemic sex discrimination filed by a group of more than 100 women lawyers, law students and law academics in 1987, after Osgoode Hall Law School failed to appoint a qualified woman as dean. The chapter examines the gender context at the Law School, and the strategies and processes involved in the complaint over several years to explore the challenges and limits of such legal actions. Invoking Judith Bennett’s historical explanation for both ‘change’ and ‘continuity’ in women’s status, the chapter identifies the challenges for ‘Outsiders’ (including women) in the context of norms of collegiality and the ‘invisible’ gendered traditions in the legal academy.
Repository Citation
Mossman, Mary Jane, "‘Herculean Obstacles and Intrepid Complainants’: The Sex Discrimination Complaint at Osgoode Hall Law School, 1987–1994" (2021). Articles & Book Chapters. 3232.
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/3232
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Catalogue Record
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