Jean Y. Jew (born October 7: 1948 Greenwood, Mississippi) was an American academic who was a tenured professor at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. She retired in 2010. [1]
Jew received am undergraduate biology degrees from Newcomb College, Tulane University and Tulane University School of Medicine.[1]
At the University of Iowa, Jew’s research centered on the autonomic nervous system and the brain.[1]
Jew sued the University of Iowa and the Board of Regents in federal court on the basis of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[2]
Jew contended there were false rumors of her having a sexual relationship with her department head and that resulted in a hostile work environment. She also contends it was the reason why she wasn’t made a full professor.[2]
She won her case, which took ten years. Her experiences inspired her to be one of the founding members of the Iowa Women’s Foundation.[1]
Yale Law School has a case study of the case they use for their students.[3]
The University established the Jean Jew Women’s Rights Award in 1992 to honor those “who demonstrate outstanding effort or achievement in improving the status of women on campus.”[4]
Jew is a 2018 inductee of the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame.[1][5]