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Jaryn Saritzky
(JD ’14)
published “
Equal Opportunity to Parent: The Case for Offering Teenage Moms and Dads Family Leave in Secondary Schools
” in the
Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender
(459-487, Volume 20, Number 2, Winter 2014).

Abstract:

“This Note proposes that expecting and parenting male and female students be given four weeks of family leave, and that this family leave be supplemented by homebound instruction and supportive educational services. The Note explores the rights and responsibilities of teenage expecting and parenting fathers, a population severely neglected in policy, jurisprudence and scholarship, as well as proposes that family leave policies be developed for expecting and parenting male and female students in secondary school.

Despite the evolution of the Equal Protection Clause, gender stereotypes about men and women and their role as parents have remained prevalent in the legal system and have led to the unequal treatment of expecting and parenting male and female students. Schools and districts that have tried to develop new and progressive programs to address the challenges and needs of expecting and parenting students have focused their efforts entirely on female students. As a result, teenage fathers have not been given the same opportunity to parent, nor have they been asked to take on the same responsibilities, as teenage mothers. The protections of Title IX and the instructive policies of the Family Medical Leave Act have also proven to be ineffective in engendering the equal treatment of male and female expecting and parenting students. This Note proposes that part of the solution in addressing the needs of expecting and parenting students is to treat mothers and fathers equally. As a result, fathers will be expected, and given the opportunity, to play a more active role in childrearing.”

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Jaryn Saritzky is a third year student at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law. She will graduate in May 2014. Saritzky is on the Executive Boards of the Moot Court Competition Team, Public Interest Law Foundation, and Children and Family Law Society. She is also the Notes Editor for the
Nexus Journal of Law & Policy
. Saritzky plans to pursue a career in dependency law and children’s rights.