Alba Conte:  

itional, harmless workplace behavior. While Conte was writing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, The Portland Oregonian published an article stating that a survey of 200 CEOs concluded that sexual harassment was not a problem in Oregon. She wrote a rebuttal that received little attention. Soon, however, Anita Hill would allege that she was sexually harassed by Clarence Thomas, and Oregon’s own Senator Bob Packwood, in his fifth term and long a supporter of women’s rights, would be charged with being a serial harasser, Conte said. Societal factors. Like the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings, the Packwood case brought the issue of workplace sexual behavior to the forefront in Oregon, noted Conte. An increasing number of sexual harassment suits were brought. But the underlying tenacity of certain societal factors kept discrimination alive. These include the power structure of employment relationships, resentment for women in the workplace, and the idea that women invite harassment by teasing or "setting up" male employees. Outside the workplace, other forms of sexism that hinder equality include emphasis on traditional marriage elements like the taking of the husband’s last name, she added. Status of women. A recent study indicated that 70 percent of Americans believe a woman should take her husband’s last name and 50 percent thought it should be a legal requirement for a woman to do so. The study found that lower-educated men believed a woman who kept her birth name to be a "less committed" wife than one who didn’t. This group also found that her husband would be more justified in divorcing her for her perceived neglect of the marriage when given a scenario where two women, one with her birth name and the other with her husband’s name, repeatedly worked late. The most common reason given by individuals who advocated for women's name change was the belief that women should prioritize their marriage and their family ahead of themselves. Women often use the notion of tradition to justify adherence to dated notions of marriage, including the use of the husband's last name. What makes it "hard" is the illusion of paperwork (there is none) and more importantly, the pushback by friends and family. This approach undermines progressbecause it reinforces the notions of inferiority and property rights of husbands, Conte claimed. It translates into the idea that women shouldn’t be able to tell men what to do at the workplace and that women can be controlled. Harassment is related to how society defines gender: Males learn a sense of superiority over females during childhood and reaffirm that notion into adulthood. If you subscribe to that notion, you won’t be able to work for women without consequences of some kind, she added. Workplace reckoning. Despite all the legal advances, the "old boys’ network" is still entrenched and self-serving, Conte said. The Harvey Weinstein revelations led to a day of reckoning for the women, most of us who had come to regard harassment, both at work and in public, as just another day, she added. The unique feature of the workplace, however, is the ability to hold alleged harassers financially accountable for their deeds. Agriculture is a particularly dangerous industry for women—80 percent of women farmworkers report having experienced some form of sexual violence on the job. According to Conte, the financial accountability for misconduct has been demonstrated in the Florida tomato industry by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers through its Fair Food Program, which puts market pressure on tomato growers to enforce a strict code of conduct in their fields. The code was developed by workers themselves and sets various human-rights standards, one of which is zero tolerance for sexual assault. It requires immediate firing for unwanted physical touching. Severe economic consequences go to the grower who does not respond to complaints. The code covers more than 90 percent of Florida’s $600 million tomato industry. The coalition has established legally binding agreements with 14 of the world’s largest retail food corporations that purchase tomatoes. These corporations must cut off purchases from farms that are out of compliance with the code. This success was hard won—the coalition educated consumers about the plight of farmworkers via hunger strikes, marches, and direct action. Every new employee immediately receives a trilingual pamphlet and watches a CIW-produced video about the code, and then participates in worker-to-worker education sessions in the fields. This is a heartening approach which should be extended to other industries. Other interests. Conte said that she’s always loved research and writing. In law school, she published the Women and the Law Handbook, as well as a monthly newsletter. They were supported by alumnae contributions and Xeroxed and hand-bound with her own original cartoons. Over 35 years later, she is developing a web site that she hopes will be a similarly comprehensive collection of current issues facing women in the law. The best years of her life were those spent dancing and performing as a member of the Connecticut Dance Theater Workshop, Conte claimed. Over the years she’s traveled to Paris and London to do research on women’s legal issues in Europe and returns to Paris when possible to satisfy her other passion, photography. Her original goal to elude that corporate career was a good one, she said. She cherishes her flexibility and has had the wonderful opportunity to work with people who have devoted their lives to civil rights. Her assistants over the years, Kim Lakin and Kathe Koretsky, were the self-starters everyone dreams of. It’s been a rewarding, if modest, career, she concluded. With over 35 years’ worth of publications, Alba Conte is an expert in sexual harassment, class actions, the legal rights of gays and lesbians, and court-awarded attorney's fees. Her path to writing the first legal treatise on sexual harassment was paved with first-hand experience as a diner waitress. Inspired by the degradation she witnessed in the workplace, she went on to earn a degree in Women’s Studies at Douglass College of Rutgers University and a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded the Alice Paul Award for her contribution to the legal status of women at the University with her publications. She continued her writing after law school, as the co-author of Newberg on Class Actions, and the author of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Law and Practice, The Legal Rights of Gays and Lesbians and Attorney Fee Awards, as the author of a number of legal articles, and as a contributing author to other works. She has been consulting and providing expert testimony in these areas for over 25 years, and her work has been cited a number of times by the United States Supreme Court, in cases including the discrimination class action Wal-mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor, Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, Smith v. Bayer Corp., and Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corp., and by hundreds of other federal and state courts. (That was the boring article.) update 2022: Dodged a covid bullet so far. Having worked in a home office for 40 years I didn't feel trapped and I love my husband so much it was great being with him all the time. We are starting to venture out a little but always admit that we prefer being home. We are trying to buy a little lot on a peninsula in Baja, 800 feet up with a breathtaking view of the Pacific, so we can be even more isolated. 😂. Everything takes sooooo long in Mexico, doubly so because of Covid and the role of the government when foreigners want to buy coastal property. The time goes by so quickly now and I am grateful for every day. I am also mourning the fact that the Supreme Court has decimated a lot of the work that I have done for over 50 years. June 2023 We bought the lot but decided that the risks associated with building and the exorbitant cost of building materials didn't make such a project viable right now, so I had been keeping my eye on a secure expat community north of San Felipe, Baja on the Sea of Cortez. A sweet house became available and we bought it, though it took seven months to close because of the complications surrounding foreign ownership of coastal properties. Like the lot, it is deeded property, but the title is held in a trust. Our darling sellers invited us to spend the night in the casita the night before closing, so they could show us how everything in the house worked. It is about 8 blocks to the beach, with an amazing view, Bill calls it Alba's Great Adventure. It's never too late to embark on one. We are packing up the Portland house to sell, with no regrets or second thoughts. It's time. October 2023, House in Portland is sold and we have moved into the house in Baja, It is a dream come true. Except for the big tarantula we encountered on the beach. Our Portland furniture, always a little tight in our house there because the rooms are small, looks like it was made for this house.