Kerri Lynn Stone’s new book, Panes of the Glass Ceiling: The Unspoken Beliefs Behind the Law’s Failure to Help Women Achieve Professional Parity, is fundamentally about investigating generally unacknowledged understandings about women and employment in the United States. A valuable addition to the literature, this thoughtful book should find a home on the shelves of academics, students, advocates, and policy makers alike. In the text, Stone weaves together employment law, judicial decisions, interview responses from women, and studies regarding employment in defining the “panes” comprising the glass ceiling. In doing so, she connects information regarding individual women’s experiences, reporting on workplace conditions and studies, and social science research with influential interpretations of employment law by appellate courts (or the lack thereof, such as in chaps. 5 and 6). The author provides thought-provoking arguments regarding generally unspoken beliefs that disadvantage women in social settings, as well as legislative and judicial approaches to discrimination in the workplace. Furthermore, she brings a wide array of theories and observations together to advocate for improvements for women in employment.

Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of law or norms, often in the form of unstated assumptions, that impede women in employment: stereotypes regarding women (chap. 1); the unequal impact of bullying on women (chap. 2), tolerance of “locker room talk” (chap. 3), perceptions regarding women lacking agency (chap. 4), concerns about women in the workplace representing a liability to men (chap. 5), expectations of gratitude from women in employment (chap. 6), intolerance of presumed and actual needs related to motherhood (chap. 7), perceptions of women as second-income earners or only temporarily in the workforce (chap. 8), and unequal weighing of evidence regarding motives and distrust of plaintiffs (chap. 9). Within each chapter, Stone presents the underlying belief(s), the “belief-driven behavior that adds to the glass ceiling” (the “pane”), the related harm to women (the “pain”), and manifestations of such beliefs in other contexts; she also shares the big-picture takeaways including policy prescriptions in some chapters (p. 25). Stone’s analyses often highlight the extent to which judges find complained-of behavior not to be “on the basis of sex” because they ignore larger societal structures that lead to unequal effects, such as the presence of “locker room talk” (chap. 3) or the failure to provide accommodations after the birth of a child (chap. 7). She also analyzes other behaviors that reflect assumptions of inequality, such as privileging plaintiffs who were coerced into sex over those who choose to leave a job due to harassment (chap. 4). The result is an engaging piece of legal thinking focused, in many instances, on social and policy solutions. It offers many interesting avenues for further exploration using various social science approaches, especially political science.

The book grapples to some extent with the question of which legal solutions, especially judicial ones, are likely to resolve effectively the harms that Stone identifies. As part of the larger quest to show how these assumptions reduce the impact of law on employment discrimination against women, Stone does an excellent job of highlighting the extent to which issues of selection bias influence the development of law. It is an essential point for law and political science scholars in considering judicial decision-making and impact issues. For example, plaintiffs may internalize harmful assumptions and not pursue lawsuits. In other instances, she points out that some behavior, such as reduced social contact with women (chap. 5) or requesting more emotional labor or housekeeping from women (chap. 6), is subtler and less likely to form the basis of a legal claim. Additionally, as with other types of litigation, settlement is the most likely outcome. Settled cases generally do not advance through the appellate system but form the basis of the legal opinions that guide future cases. Moreover, defendants with deep pockets are highly motivated to settle matters with egregious facts.

However, at times, Stone also seems to overstate the extent to which direct judicial action is necessary for law to have a meaningful impact. For example, she notes “the dearth of opportunities that courts have had to interpret the law in the course of adjudicating cases, creating less law and affording fewer opportunities to explore difficult cases, nuanced legal points, and boundary-pushing facts” due to “herd immunity” created by the absorption of ideas into the “collective consciousness and pop culture” (p. 15). Of course, this also speaks to the classic “second face of power” (Peter Bachrach and Morton Baratz, “Two Faces of Power,” American Political Science Review 56, no. 4 [1962]) whereby expectations shape behavior. Instead of a failure, it can represent an ideal function of law (which Stone alludes to in other parts of the book, including chapter 3, and features heavily in the conclusions) or other norms. Finally, Stone often describes seminal cases in which courts were hostile to employment discrimination claims, raising the question of whether further legal development opportunities would likely reduce workplace discrimination against women.

Additionally, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and equivalent state agencies are rarely mentioned by Stone and do not feature in the primer on employment law in the introduction. This is surprising given these agencies’ role in employment litigation, especially because they were designed to reduce the number of lawsuits and encourage settlements (see, e.g., Frank Landy, Employment Discrimination Litigation: Behavioral, Quantitative, and Legal Perspectives, 2005). Additionally, requirements that claims first be brought to such agencies before being pursued in court create costs and burdens that influence litigation. These issues speak to Stone’s concerns regarding a lack of judicial development (p. 15). The agencies also provide potential avenues for agency-driven litigation that could avoid factors that discourage women from pursuing such claims, such as a lack of resources. Thus, they are worthy of attention and potentially represent institutions that may reinforce assumptions and in ways that may vary by the administration and also may be avenues for change.

Finally, Stone explicitly focuses on the discrimination against individuals identifying as women and generally leaves more complex issues of gender identity and intersectionality for future research. By doing so, she ignores many interesting avenues regarding theoretical and legal approaches to issues such as pregnancy discrimination and interpretation of laws that disallow discrimination on “the basis of sex.” This decision left me wanting more in a book about unspoken beliefs and societal norms.

Overall, Stone has provided an engaging and well-written book that raises important ideas and questions. Her intellectual framework is one that political scientists could help further develop, test, and expand, particularly in light of the roles of legislatures, bureaucracy, and courts in resolving employment law claims. It also highlights many areas in which theorizing and analysis are needed regarding employment discrimination and issues of gender identity, race, and beyond.