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Notes from Fox Leadership Series Talk, October 22, 2001 Marcia D. Greenberger Founder and Co-President, National Women’s Law Center

Biography	Advice		Skills for Successful Leadership
Question and Answer

Biography

The creation of the Center almost 30 years ago established Ms. Greenberger as the first full-time women’s rights legal advocate in Washington, D.C. She has participated in the development of key legislative initiatives and litigation protecting women’s rights, and has led successful initiatives for the passage of legislation protecting women against sexual harassment and pay discrimination. Ms. Greenberger has also been successful in championing educational, health, and childcare legislative initiatives for women. During her career, Ms. Greenberger has participated in international conferences and forums, published numerous articles, and received extensive recognition for her work. Her honors include the Woman of Distinction Award from Soroptomist International of the Americas in 2000, the Woman Lawyer of the Year Award by the DC Women’s Bar Association in 1996, honored for the Center for Law and Social Policy in 1995, and given the William J. Brennan, Jr. Award by the District of Columbia Bar in 1994. She received the Alumni Award of Merit from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2001.

Ms. Greenberger graduated from the University of Pennsylvania College for Women, BA, with honors, in 1967, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, cum laude, in 1970

When Ms. Greenberger started the National Women’s Law Center in 1972, there was little sense of what it meant to work on women’s rights. Roe Vs. Wade had not been decided, and many laws requiring equal rights had not yet been signed.

At the time of her undergraduate education, women students attended the University of Pennsylvania College for Women. Only about ten women started in her class of over 200 students in the University of Pennsylvania Law School class of 1970. An enormous amount of progress has been made in the last 30 years, but there is still a lot that needs to be done.

Advice

On Leadership: Leadership comes in many forms and in ways that may assert itself at different points of leaders’ lives, both in the private and public spheres. Ms.Greenberger never thought of herself as a leader as an undergraduate.

Leadership brings with it enormous joys and heartaches, responsibilities and privileges. Leadership can be a burden and bring with it a set of pressures. Taking breaks and having other priorities is often healthy.

Leadership has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time and being open to possibilities.

On a Liberal Arts Degree: A liberal arts degree gives an understanding of cyclical changes and a broad context in which to operate and relate to other people. It is an enormous strength when working with all types of people, as it can be very valuable to be exposed to a range of topics and issues.
Ms. Greenberger took teaching classes at the Penn to fall back on. It was what was expected for woman of that generation. A liberal arts education made it possible for Ms. Greenberger to take advantage of opportunities as they came along, such as law school.

Mentors: Have a number of mentors and role models, not just one. When looking for a role model, recognize appealing aspects in different individuals, and then piece them together into something that makes sense for you. Ms. Greenberger had no female professors, either during her undergraduate or graduate career, so she looked for different qualities that she could emulate from a range of people. .

Ms. Greenberger’s Career Path: She started in a tax firm in DC and had a once in a lifetime opportunity to work with a lawyer named Arthur Goldberg. Goldberg became a member of the US Supreme Court, and served until Lynden B. Johnson asked him to step down and help bring peace to the Middle East as ambassador to the UN. He then became the chair of the Center for Law and Social Policy, one of the first public interest law firms in the country. It was started by four young male lawyers, with women working as administrative assistants. The women revolted, and asked for more women lawyers and work for women’s rights. Ms. Greenberger heard of this opportunity through Justice Goldberg. It was both an opportunity and a risk for her to begin her work at the center.

Ms. Greenberger started the National Women’s Law Center in 1972. It is not a hierarchal place to this day. Greenberger has always looked to hire co-workers who are strong and skilled, and she has had a co-president since 1979. A strength of this model is shared responsibility and consensus building.

Skills for Successful Leadership

1. The motivation to really want to accomplish something, and to be able to demonstrate this to co-workers
2. The ability to effectively communicate what should be achieved
3. The understanding that it is necessary to make people believe that they should be working hard. It’s not the smartest or most savvy, it’s the most committedthat succeed.
4. The recognition of your limitations. All leaders need people to fill holes in the leader’s knowledge or abilities. Recognize others’ contributions.
5. The belief in co-workers’ capabilities
6. A stake in workers’ success. It this way, you will not be threatened by it.
7. The ability to make decisions, but also to recognize when a decision should be put off to a later time
8. Optimism. One should ultimately believe that things will work out well.

Question and Answer

Q1. How was the National Women’s Law Center established?

A1. It was started as a public interest law firm. Ms. Greenberger built a base in order to determine what women face and how their problems should be addressed. They first identified a strategy in order to determine that nature of the laws that were needed, and identified those who knew the problem that women faced. She spoke with now Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader, Ginsburg and others with expertise. They identified four main issues facing women:

1. Health
2. Employment
3. Education
4. Family economic security You need a way to identify problems and ways to move an agenda forward. Title 9, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools, was passed in 1972, but Ms. Greenberger and her organization had to identify what that law meant. They realized that the Department of Education wouldn’t enforce it without interpretation. The National Women’s Law Center brought a lawsuit against the agency to get strong interpretation and enforcement that lasted for 15 years before it was won.

Q2. What are your thoughts on the present time being “Passed the Hey Day” of women’s rights?

A2. Even though a lot has changed, many problems remain. It is not acceptable to openly discriminate against women anymore, but stereotyped notions about women’s capabilities are hard to erase. 1972 to today is a drop in the bucket over the space of history. It’s surprising how much there is still to do. There’s been little progress on the income wage gap, and the leadership in colleges, foreign policy, and corporations are primarily men. We have not yet seen strong public policies to help combining family and work responsibilities. Law is a killer profession in many respects for women with families, but all institutions can change. The US Military has one of the best childcare systems in the US.

Q3. Can you address the law pertaining to children?

A3. The National Women’s Law Center works with children’s groups concerning childcare. Women are the primary caretakers. Because of this they need societal support, yet societal support is too often not available. One problem--women on welfare are cut off after a five-year period regardless of whether there are any jobs available. Another issue concerns low-income fathers. Often, their child support payments will reimburse the state for welfare rather than going to the family.

There has been a lot of work around education. For example, in New York City, there is a difference in which type of programs male and female students are enrolled. Aviator and Auto Mechanic high school programs are nearly all men, while women are in Cosmetology programs, even though the resulting pay is much lower. Ms. Greenberger’s organization has addressed this issue within the New York school system.

Additional information concerning the National Women’s Law Center can be found at www.nwlc.org.