Disparate Impact's Impact: The Gender Violence Lens

infrequently explored issues that could be interpreted to limit the theory's utility.It concludes that those limitations should not bar the theory's use.Instead, disparate impact should offer an alternative remedy for the hidden role domestic and sexual violence plays in perpetuating women's economic inequality. I INTRODUCTIONlthough disparate impact theory has been touted as one of the most important and controversial developments in employment discrimination law, 1 in practice, it is less frequently used. 2 On its face, this may seem surprising, given the challenges of proving discriminatory intent as part of a disparate treatment claim and recent scholarship demonstrating the ways that unconscious bias, rather than intentional discrimination, accounts for inequalities at work. 3 Although some recent commentators have criticized the doctrine, 4 others have called for its revival.5This Article joins the dialog about the practical and potential utility of disparate impact theory by arguing that it should be applied to cases evaluating the theory's applicability to a particular set of cases: those involving terminations of domestic violence survivors.The Article situates the issue in the context of two debates: one about the applicability of disparate impact theory and the other about the economic stability of domestic violence survivors.In cases in which a survivor is terminated or otherwise subjected to an adverse job 1 See, e.g.,