Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy

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A stirring, comprehensive look at the state of women in the workforcewhy womens progress has stalled, how our economy fosters unproductive competition, and how we can fix the system that holds women back.

In an era of supposed equality, women are falling behind in the workplace faster than before, a trend exacerbated by Covid-19. Even with more women in the workforce than in decades past, wage gaps continue to increase. It is the most educated women who have fallen the furthest from behind. Blue-collar women hold the most insecure and badly paid jobs in our economy. And even as we celebrate high-profile representationwomen on the board of Fortune 500 companies and our first female vice presidentwomen have limited recourse when they experience harassment and discrimination.

Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy explains that the system that governs our economya winner-take-all economyis the root cause of these myriad problems. The WTA self-selects aggressive, cutthroat business tactics, which creates a feedback loop that sidelines women. The authors, three legal scholars, call this feedback loop the triple bind: if women dont compete on the same terms as men, they lose; if women do compete on the same terms as men, theyre punished more harshly for their sharp elbows or actual misdeeds; and when women see that they cant win on the same terms as men, they take themselves out of the game (as if they havent been pushed out already). With odds like these stacked against them, its no wonder women feel like, no matter how hard they work, they cant get ahead.

Drawing on rich storytelling often found in legal documents, Fair Shake makes a compelling case for why existing laws fail to protect women. It not only diagnoses the problem of whats wrong with the modern economy, but shows how, with awareness and collective action, we can build a truly just economy for all.

Author Bio

Naomi Cahn is the Justice Anthony M. Kennedy distinguished professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law, as well as the codirector of the Family Law Center. Cahn is the author or editor of numerous books written for both academic and trade publishers, including Red Families v. Blue Families and Homeward Bound. In 2017, Cahn received the Harry Krause Lifetime Achievement in Family Law Award from the University of Illinois College of Law and in 2024 she was inducted into the Clayton Alumni Hall of Fame.

June Carbone is the Robina chair of law, science, and technology at the University of Minnesota Law School. Previously she has served as the Edward A. Smith/Missouri chair of law, the constitution, and society at the University of Missouri at Kansas City; and as the associate dean for professional development and presidential professor of ethics and the common good at Santa Clara University School of Law. She has written From Partners to Parents and cowritten Red Families v. Blue Families; Marriage Markets; and Family Law. She is a coeditor of the International Survey of Family Law.

Nancy Levit is the associate dean for faculty and holds a curators professorship at the University of MissouriKansas City School of Law. Professor Levit has been voted Outstanding Professor of the Year five times by students and was profiled in Dean Michael Hunter Schwartzs book, What the Best Law Teachers Do. She has received the N.T. Veatch Award for distinguished research and creative activity and the Missouri Governors Award for teaching excellence. She is the author of The Gender Line and coauthor of Feminist Legal Theory; The Happy Lawyer; The Good Lawyer; and JurisprudenceClassical and Contemporary.