Digital Commons Network^™

For Women, A Court Of Last Appeal, Saumya Uma

Dr. Saumya Uma

Tribute To John Pickering, Marcia Greenberger

Michigan Law Review

This room is filled with many women lawyers. All of us loved John Pickering and are in his debt, but we are only a small number of those who do. For many decades, John guided young, and I must admit not so young, women lawyers to positions where they could stand up for their own rights and the rights of others. He worked with us to champion the causes that matter most to women and their families. John used his great stature and the enormous respect that he garnered to open doors for women to leadership positions in the bar, …

The Custody Battle Over Cryogenically Preserved Embryos After Divorce: Advocating For Infertile Women’S Rights, Cori S. Annapolen

ExpressO

This paper focuses on the struggles that infertile women face to achieve motherhood because their rights are underrepresented in the American court system. It specifically centers on how the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) helps infertile women conceive children, but then details the problems that increasing technology now causes for these women after they freeze embryos and then divorce. Because the courts of only four states have determined who gets custody of these embryos after a divorce, and because the divorce rate and the number of couples utilizing IVF are increasing, future states will likely be forced to answer …

Sexual Harassment: Limiting The Affirmative Defense In The Digital Workplace, Donald P. Harris, Daniel B. Garrie, Matthew J. Armstrong

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Digital communications sexual harassment is on the rise. Such harassment occurs through sexually offensive and unwarranted e-mails, placing harassing messages on electronic bulletin boards, and other forms of harassment that occur through the Internet. To date, courts have remained silent on the issue of sexual harassment by digital communications. Should this type of harassment be treated any differently than harassment that occurs in the physical space? The somewhat surprising answer is yes.

This Article advocates applying a new judicial framework for addressing digital communications sexual harassment. This new framework accounts for the real-world technology in the digital workplace and the …

Modern Day Slavery In Our Own Backyard, Ellen L. Buckwalter, Meredith S. Salvaggio, Susan L. Pollet, Maria Perinetti

ExpressO

Trafficking in persons is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. Each year an estimated 600,000 – 800,000 human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world’s borders. Approximately 2.5 million men, women and children are victims of trafficking at any point in time throughout the world. Approximately 14,500 – 17,500 individuals are trafficked annually into the United States, making the United States the third largest destination country in the world for victims of human trafficking.

In order to fight trafficking in the United States effectively, legislation at the state level, in addition to the federal …

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Rhetorical Holy War: Polygamy, Homosexuality, And The Paradox Of Community And Autonomy, Gregory C. Pingree

ExpressO

The article explores the rhetorical strategies deployed in both legal and cultural narratives of Mormon polygamy in nineteenth-century America. It demonstrates how an understanding of that unique communal experience, and the narratives by which it was represented, informs the classic paradox of community and autonomy – the tension between the collective and the individual. The article concludes by using the Mormon polygamy analysis to illuminate a contemporary social situation that underscores the paradox of community and autonomy – homosexuality and the so-called culture wars over family values and the meaning of marriage.

The Wrongful Rejection Of Big Theory (Marxism) By Feminism And Queer Theory: A Brief Debate, Dana Neacsu

ExpressO

Post modern thought has fought meta-narrative into derision. "[I]f you lick my nipple," as Michael Warner remarked, "the world suddenly seems insignificant," and of course, identity becomes more than a cultural trait. It becomes "the performance of desire." It becomes a place of "ideological contestation over need," or, in other words, an ideology that demands "legitimacy for its desire." However, meta-narratives talk about desire too. For example, Marx talked about the desire caused by the never-ending production of commodities. Thus, if, at first sight, it may seem that identity politics and Marxism have very little in common, that may not …

Lucky: The Sequel, Martha Chamallas

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

Lucky: The Sequel is a review essay based on Alice Sebold’s 1999 memoir Lucky in which Sebold describes her own rape as a college student, her experiences as a rape victim and her navigation of the legal system. Chamallas uses Sebold’s rape narrative to explore themes of particular interest to feminist legal scholars. She discusses the intersection of race and rape, the continuing controversy surrounding the categorization of rape as a crime of violence versus a sex crime and the usefulness of considering the social and cultural dimensions of the trauma of rape.

Civil Rights In Ordinary Tort Cases: Race, Gender, And The Calculation Of Economic Loss, Martha Chamallas

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

This article explores race and sex bias in the computation of damages for loss of future earning capacity, an important component of economic loss in personal injury cases. It analyzes recent cases in the United States and in Canada which reject the use of race and sex-based tables to determine awards for female and minority plaintiffs and explains the method used by the special master in the September 11th Compensation Fund. Chamallas explores objections to reform -- from both the “right” and the “left” –- and makes the case for connecting civil rights principles to civil litigation.

The Shadow Of Professor Kingsfield: Contemporary Dilemmas Facing Women Law Professors, Martha Chamallas

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

This essay discusses the predicament of women law professors in an era when the representation of women on law faculties has reached a “critical mass.” It explores three mechanisms for reproducing gender inequality: (1) self-fulfilling stereotypes, (2) gender-specific comparison groups, and (3) the accumulation of small disadvantages. Chamallas uses stories from her own and colleagues’ experiences to illustrate contemporary forms of bias.

Out Of Jahiliyya: Historic And Modern Incarnations Of Polygamy In The Islamic World, Brooke D. Rodgers-Miller

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

A Policy Of Mediocrity: A Review Of United States Policy Concerning The Women Of Afghanistan, Meghan Hallock

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Special Collection: Seminar Papers On Women And Islamic Law, Christie S. Warren

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Law And Women's Presence In The Thaksin Era, Virada Somswasdi

Cornell Law School Berger International Speaker Papers

The term "law" as used here depicts consistency in ideology, intent, presumption and the imposition of definitions on day-to-day human relations, including male-female relations. The power of law is the process of definition, which takes precedence over experiences, and also takes precedence over the meaning that women give to their own lives.

This paper refutes a rigid division of issues within law and adopts a feminist perspective, rather than that of the mainstream structure. Issues identified as significant by the women’s movement are thus emphasized. I do not refer to law as the only tool feminists need to resort to …

Book Review: Madam Secretary, Dru Stevenson

ExpressO

Review of Madeline Albright's Memoirs

Telling Stories, Saving Lives: The Battered Mothers' Testimony Project, Women's Narratives, And Court Reform, Leigh Goodmark

ExpressO

In November 2002, the Wellesley Centers for Women’s Battered Mothers’ Testimony Project released Battered Mothers Speak Out, a report detailing human rights abuses committed against forty battered mothers and their children who had litigated cases in the Massachusetts family court system. Although the report initially generated a great deal of attention, the response from the courts was overwhelmingly negative, and the report prompted no change in the courts. Because the stories of these women resonated with my own experiences representing battered women, I wondered why the report had so little effect on system change. The official response of the courts …

The W Visa: A Legislative Proposal For Female And Child Refugees Trapped In A Post-9/11 World, Marisa S. Cianciarulo

Working Paper Series

This article addresses an urgent humanitarian crisis affecting unaccompanied or abused refugee children and widowed, divorced, abandoned or abused female heads of refugee households. Such women and children suffer the consequences of the post-9/11 U.S. refugee resettlement backlog more severely than the general refugee population. They are far more at risk of life-threatening harm such as trafficking, sexual exploitation and rape. Moreover, they are far less likely to present a threat to U.S. national security than many people who are able to secure visas to the United States quickly and with fewer background checks. Despite their vulnerability and lack of …

The W Visa: A Legislative Proposal For Female And Child Refugees Trapped In A Post-9/11 World, Marisa S. Cianciarulo

ExpressO

Abstract of The W Visa: A Legislative Proposal for Female and Child Refugees Trapped in a Post-9/11 World Marisa S. Cianciarulo, Reuschlein Clinical Teaching Fellow, Villanova University School of Law This article addresses an urgent humanitarian crisis affecting unaccompanied or abused refugee children and widowed, divorced, abandoned or abused female heads of refugee households. Such women and children suffer the consequences of the post-9/11 U.S. refugee resettlement backlog more severely than the general refugee population. They are far more at risk of life-threatening harm such as trafficking, sexual exploitation and rape. Moreover, they are far less likely to present a …

A Separate Crime Of Reckless Sex, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

This article attempts to make progress on both the problems of sexually transmitted disease and acquaintance rape by proposing a new crime of reckless sexual conduct. A defendant would be guilty of reckless sexual conduct if, in a first sexual encounter with another particular person, the defendant had sexual intercourse without using a condom. Consent to unprotected intercourse would be an affirmative defense, to be established by the defendant with a preponderance of the evidence. As an empirical matter, first-encounter unprotected sex greatly increases the epidemiological force of sexually transmitted disease and a substantial proportion of acquaintance rape occurs in …

Gender And Emotion In Criminal Law, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy Reform And The Financial Well-Being Of Women: How Intersectionality Matters In Money Matters, Kristin (Brandser) Kalsem

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

After eight years of heated controversy, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 was signed into law by president Bush on April 20, 2005. Proponents of the Act claimed that it would cure the bankruptcy crisis and that the wealthy would no longer be allowed to abuse the system at the expense of hard-working American families. Opponents cast the legislation as a dream come true for the credit card companies, claiming that it would serve only to enrich the rich at the expense of the poorest of the poor. One of the key issues that emerged from …

An Implied Warranty Of Freedom From Sexual Harassment: The Solution For Harassed Tenants Where The Fair Housing Act Has Failed, Theresa Keeley

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Although sexual harassment in the workplace is recognized as a problem, sexual harassment in housing has largely been ignored. When confronting sexual harassment in housing, courts have borrowed standards for sexual harassment in the workplace. Criticism of this practice exists; however this Article examines the real source of the problem: bringing sexual harassment claims under the Fair Housing Act. Specifically, this Article shows how and why the Fair Housing Act fails to address the problem of sexual harassment in housing. To remedy this failure, this Article proposes an "implied warranty of freedom from sexual harassment" that both restores the tenant's …

Reducing Private Violence Against Women In Public Housing: Can Second Generation Cpted Make A Difference?, Walter S. Dekeseredy, Alvi Shahid, Claire M. Renzetti, Martin D. Schwartz

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Global Sex Trafficking And The Trafficking Victims Protection Act Of 2000: Legislative Responses To The Problem Of Modern Slavery, Rosy Kandathil

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Human trafficking is becoming the fastest growing criminal activity in the world. Generally, trafficking is defined as the transportation of persons across international borders for labor purposes, by means of force, fraud, or coercion. Commerce directly related to human slavery yields approximately $7-$10 billion a year, trailing only behind drugs and weapons trade for international profit. According to recent congressional findings, over 700,000 human beings are trafficked across international borders each year, including approximately 50,000 women and children into the United States. Women and girl children are the primary targets for sexual exploitation into prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, and other …

"Has The Millennium Yet Dawned?": A History Of Attitudes Toward Pregnant Workers In America, Courtni E. Molnar

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article will focus on what might be considered the "prehistory" of the PDA in an attempt to shed new light on the equality/difference debate. Beginning as early as the nineteenth century, pregnant workers have been forced into either the equality approach or the difference approach depending mostly on race and class. This Article will show that, at times, both approaches restrained the autonomy of women and even caused harm to individual women and society by contributing to the development of the stereotypes and social attitudes that continue to permit pregnancy discrimination today.

Cambridge Law School For Women: The Evolution And Legacy Of The Nation's First Graduate Law School Exclusively For Women, Nina A. Kohn

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Although several scholars have briefly discussed CLSW in conjunction with work on other subjects, this Article presents the first comprehensive history of the school. The Article begins in Section Two by exploring how and why CLSW came into being in 1915 after two young Radcliffe suffragists led an unsuccessful campaign for admission to Harvard Law School. Section Three examines the design, pedagogical foundations, and day-to-day workings of the school during its first two years. Sections Four and Five explore the historical events that led to CLSW's closure in 1917. These sections also document and discuss the school's subsequent, and previously …

Hands Off Policy: Equal Protection And The Contact Sports Exemption Of Title Ix, Jamal Greene

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The disparity between what the Constitution permits of public schools and what Title IX permits of private ones is unquestionably stark. This Article calls this disparity into question. First, it asks under what circumstances, if any, allowance for sex discrimination in athletics may be justified under constitutional standards. Then, it considers the practical relevance of the disparity between how a school may lawfully discriminate under Title IX and how it may do so under the Equal Protection Clause. Finally, it offers a prescription for bringing into balance the gender equity messages sent by Title IX and the Constitution.

Women As Supreme Court Advocates, 1879-1979, Mary Clark

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Pipeline To Pathways: New Directions For Improving The Status Of Women On Campus, Judith S. White

ADVANCE Library Collection

For the past thirty years, much of the effort to improve the status of women in higher education has focused on the so-called "pipeline" theory, which held that a large number of women undergraduates and graduate students would, over time, yield larger numbers of women at the highest academic ranks. In other words, getting more women into college, encouraging them to pursue graduate and professional education, and recruiting them into the academy was supposed to create a growing "pool" from which search committees would select ever larger numbers of women assistant professors. These women, in turn, would earn tenured positions …