before the supreme court in the late 1990s many lawyers next up the names of justice o'connor and kingsburg so often they were once presented with t-shirts saying i am ruth, not sandra and i am sandra, not ruth. the alumni threw a party at the local country club and hired a stripper. none of the women present could quite believe it was happening, but the dean appreciated the thought behind the invitation and well fortified behind curbing the embraced a guest it was that moment i i saw -- decided the hell with contracts, the law school needed a course on gender. women are moving up, barriers are coming down. examples of blatant discrimination are rare. at the same time, this progress has created its own difficulties. the central problem is what i i call the no problem problem, the lack of consensus that there is a serious problem. on virtually every measure of social status financial well-being and physical safety women feel worse than men, sexual violence remains common and reproductive rights are by no means secure. they pay a price in the world outside it. these issues are not cultural pr