Rosenberg, Rosalind, 1946-

A professor of history at Barnard College, Rosalind Rosenberg was an expert witness in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's lawsuit against Sears, Roebuck and Company. The EEOC charged Sears with sex discrimination, claiming that women were underrepresented in high-paying commission sales jobs, and that there were disparate salary rates for men and women in certain managerial and administrative positions. Sears maintained that the government's statistics did not prove discrimination, and disputed the EEOC assumption that male and female applicants were equally qualified for and interested in commission sales positions. Two prominent feminist historians, Rosalind Rosenberg for Sears and Alice Kessler-Harris for EEOC, presented conflicting interpretations of women's attitudes toward work and the relative importance of workers' and employers' roles in shaping patterns of employment by sex. The case was tried in 1984 and 1985 in U.S. District Court in Chicago; early in 1986 Judge John A. Nordberg ruled in favor of Sears. A debate, which is documented in Rosenberg's private correspondence and in published articles, 1985-1987, ensued among historians and feminists over these conflicting historical interpretations and the role of feminists in the law courts.

From the description of Papers, 1979-1987. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 232007630

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