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Margaret H.
Zhang
Assistant Professor of Law

B.M., University of Michigan

J.D., University of Pennsylvania

Contact

Email: mzhang1@widener.edu

AboutPublicationsCV
About

Margaret H. Zhang is an Assistant Professor at Widener University Delaware Law School, where she teaches Civil Procedure, Employment Discrimination Law, and Legal Methods. Her research explores issues at the intersection of reproductive justice, workplace justice, and environmental justice. She received Delaware Law School’s Douglas E. Ray Excellence in Faculty Scholarship Award in 2026 for her most recent published article, How Workplace Equity Laws Perpetuate Inequity.

Margaret was previously a Visiting Assistant Professor and an Equity & Inclusion Fellow at Rutgers Law School. Before transitioning to law teaching, Margaret served as the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s Interim Associate Director for Equity and Inclusion. Margaret also worked as an advocate for pregnant and parenting people with the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she specialized in advancing and protecting pregnant and lactating people’s rights though individual client counseling and representation, policy advocacy, and community education.

Margaret served as a law clerk to Judge Cheryl Ann Krause of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and as a law clerk to Judge Rudolph Contreras of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Margaret earned her J.D. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she participated in the Supreme Court Clinic, served as Online Executive Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and served as Executive Director of the Custody And Support Assistance Clinic (CASAC). She also holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Publications

Publications on SSRN

Law Review Articles

Toxics Regulation Amid Political Realignment (work in progress).

The Haircut Cases Were Wrong, 47 Colum. J. Gender & L. (forthcoming, 2026).

How Workplace Equity Laws Perpetuate Inequity, 52 Mitchell Hamline L. Rev. 127 (2025).

Pregnant Workers and the Climate Crisis, 91 Tenn. L. Rev. 431 (2024).

Case Note, Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus and the (Bleak) Future of Statutes that Bar False Statements in Political Campaigns, 164 U. Pa. L. Rev. Online 19 (2015).

Comment, Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction for Indian Tribes: Inherent Tribal Sovereignty versus Defendants’ Complete Constitutional Rights, 164 U. Pa. L. Rev. 243 (2015).

Amicus Briefs

Hall v. Millersville University, 22 F.4th 397 (3d Cir. 2022). Co-author of an amicus brief that successfully supported protections under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 for victims of dating violence.

Victory v. County of Berks, 789 F. App’x 328 (3d Cir. 2019). Co-author of an amicus brief that supported constitutional equal protection claims arising from inequitable housing and treatment of incarcerated women at Berks County Jail.

Wible v. School District of Philadelphia, No. 1392 CD 2018 (Pa. Commw. Ct. May 22, 2019). Co-author of an amicus brief supporting protections under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act for survivors of school sexual harassment.

E.D. v. Sharkey, 928 F.3d 299 (3d Cir. 2019). Co-author of an amicus brief that successfully supported constitutional claims arising from an immigrant detainee’s sexual assault while in detention.

Commonwealth v. Dischman, 195 A.3d 567 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2018). Co-author of an amicus brief that successfully supported dismissal of the felony charge of aggravated assault of a fetus, arising from the defendant’s substance use while pregnant.

Threets v. UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, No. GD-15-022369 (Pa. C.C.P. Allegheny Cty.). Disparate-treatment and disparate-impact pregnancy discrimination suit.

Government Submissions

Comment on Tool for the Prioritization of Food Chemicals for Post-Market Assessment (Aug. 15, 2025), https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FDA-2025-N-1733-0057.

Comment on Development of an Enhanced Systematic Process for FDA’s Post-Market Assessment of Chemicals in Food (Jan. 21, 2025), https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FDA-2024-N-3609-63162.

Comment on Proposed Rule: Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings (Jan. 14, 2025), https://www.regulations.gov/comment/OSHA-2021-0009-22566.

Comment on Draft Hazard Review: Wildland Fire Smoke Exposure Among Farmworkers and Other Outdoor Workers (Dec. 31, 2024), https://www.regulations.gov/comment/CDC-2024-0065-0042.

Comment on Regulations to Implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (Oct. 10, 2023), https://www.regulations.gov/comment/EEOC-2023-0004-97910.

Women’s Law Project, Comment Letter on Proposed Updated Compliance Manual on Religious Discrimination (with Kimberly Kelly & Amanda Smith) (Dec. 17, 2020), https://downloads.‌regulations.gov/EEOC-2020-0007-0043/attachment_1.pdf.

Op-Eds

Opinion, A New Law Can Help Some Pregnant Workers with Climate Crisis–Level Heat This Summer (with Allison Jones), Pa. Capital-Star (June 16, 2023), https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/a-new-law-can-help-some-pregnant-workers-with-climate-crisis-level-heat-this-summer-opinion.

Opinion, It’s Time for Pa. Lawmakers to Stop Punishing Working Mothers and Their Babies (with Tara Murtha), Pa. Capital-Star (Aug. 13, 2020), https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/its-time-for-pa-lawmakers-to-stop-punishing-working-mothers-and-their-babies-opinion.

Opinion, How Pregnancy Discrimination Happens Today, PennLive.com (Oct. 22, 2019, 8:09 AM), https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2019/10/how-pregnancy-discrimination-happens-today-opinion.html.

With Title IX Enforcement Uncertain, an Alternate Avenue for Relief for Pennsylvania (with Tara Murtha), The Forum: The Tri-State School Study Council Newsletter (Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa.), Spring/Summer 2019, at 4.

How Solo, Small Firms Can Be Model Employers, Phila. Bar Reporter (Phila. Bar Ass’n, Phila., Pa.), Nov. 2018, at 13.

Pregnancy Means Job Loss for Some Women: What Medical Providers Can Do About It, Obstetrical Soc’y of Phila. Newsletter (Obstetrical Soc’y of Phila., Phila., Pa.), Dec. 2017, at 12.

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