THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Nadine Taub

January 21, 1943 – June 16, 2020

“In the process of putting on paper why control over reproduction was crucial for women, I really began to perceive all the ways women were confined and punished because of their reproductive functions.”

Educator, Attorney, Author. Served on faculty at Rutgers University for close to 30 years. A pioneer in the field of Women’s Rights. Founder of the Rutgers Women’s Rights Clinic (WRC) in the early 1970s as part of women’s rights teaching and advocacy – initially conceptualized by then-Rutgers Professor Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and as depicted in the movie, “On the Basis of Sex.” As WRC director, pioneered work in establishing sexual harassment as a form of sex discrimination in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and in education under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. With Lou Raveson, helped advance in the New Jersey Supreme Court the state constitutional right of low-income women to Medicaid-funded therapeutic abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected such a right. Secured access to women to previously all-male eating clubs and accommodations such as Princeton University’s Ivy Club. Developed ways for battered women to use traditional civil remedies to obtain protection from their attackers. Spearheaded work with the U.S. Civil Rights Commission on domestic violence issues while an active member of the New Jersey Task Force on Domestic Violence. Co-author of several books and treatises on women’s rights and gender discrimination.