Applications Of Feminist Legal Theory

Sapphire Bound!

•·S) Sapphire Bound! REGINA AUSTIN ... I GREW UP THINKING that "Sapphire" was merely a character on the Amos 'n' Andy program, a figment of a white man's racist/sexist comic imagination.! Little did I suspect that Sapphire was a more generally employed appellation for the stereotypical Black Bitch-tough, domineering, emasculating, strident, and shrill.2•••We really cannot function effectively without coming to terms with Sapphire.... A Sapphire Named Crystal The task of articulating and advancing distinctive minority feminist jurisprudential stances will become easier as those ofus interested in the status of minority women begin to analyze concrete cases and legal problems. To substantiate my point that a black feminist perspective can and must be made manifest, I have attempted to apply the rough, tentative thesis I advance above to the examination of a particular decision, Chambers v. Omaha Girls Club.3 The plaintiff, Crystal Chambers, was employed by the defendant Girls Club of Omaha (the Club) as an arts and crafts instructor at a facility where approximately ninety percent of the program participants were black. Two years later, Chambers, an unmarried black woman in her early twenties, was discharged from herjob when she became pregnant. Her dismissal wasjustified by the Club's so-called "negative role model rule" which provided for the immediate discharge ofstaffguilty of "[n] egative role modeling for Girls Club Members," including "such things as single parent pregnancies."4 In her lawsuit, Crystal Chambers attacked the role model rule on several grounds. In her Title VII claims, for example, she maintained that the rule would have a disparate impact on black women because of their significantly higher fertility rate. She further asserted that her discharge constituted per se sex discrimination barred by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. Although the soundness of these arguments 1989 Wis. L. Rev. 539. Copyright © 1989 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Reprinted by permission of the Wisconsin Law Review. Copyrighted Material 908 Sapphire Bound! I 909 was acknowledged, they were effectively countered by the business necessity and the bona fide occupational qualification defenses. The district court ruled against Crystal Chambers because it concluded that the Club's role model rule was the product of its dedication to the goal of "helping young girls reach their fullest potential."5 Programmatic concerns provided adequate support for the rule. According to the findings, the Club's activities were characterized by a "high staff to member ratio," "extensive contact" and "close relationships" between the staffand members, and an "open, comfortable atmosphere."6 "Model" behavior by the staff and imitation by the members were essential to the Club's agenda: Those closely associated with the Girls Club contend that because of the unique nature of the Girls Club's operations, each activity, formal or informal, is premised upon the belief that the girls will or do emulate, at least in part, the behavior ofstaff personnel. Each staff member is trained and expected to act as a role model and is required, as a matter of policy, to be committed to the Girls Club philosophies so that the messages of the Girls Club can be conveyed with credibility.7 The Club's goal was to expose its members "to the greatest number of available positive options in life."8 "[T]eenage pregnancy [was] contrary to this purpose and philosophy " because it "severely limit[s] the available opportunities for teenage girls. ''9 Citing plaintiffs expert, the court stated that "[t]eenage pregnancy often deprives young women of educational, social and occupational opportunities, creating serious problems for both the family and society."lo The Club had several programs that related to pregnancy prevention. In the opinion of the district court, the Club "established that it honestly believed that to permit single pregnant staff members to work with the girls would convey the impression that the Girls Club condoned pregnancy for the girls in the age group it serves."11 Furthermore, "[w]hile a single pregnant working woman may, indeed, provide a good example of hard work and independence, the same person may be a negative role model with respect to the Girls Club objective of diminishing the number of teenage pregnancies."12 The Club pointed to the reaction of two members to the earlier pregnancies ofother single staffers in accounting for the genesis of the rule. In one case, a member who stated "that she wanted to have a baby as cute" as that of a staff member became pregnant shortly thereafter...