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Ruth Bader Ginsburg Essay/Art Contest 2024, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

5th Annual Women In Law Leadership Lecture, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Rwu Law Alumni Newsletter April 2024, Roger Williams University School Of Law

RWU Law

No abstract provided.

Symposium: Gender, Health, And The Constitution: The New Gender Panic In Sport: Why State Laws Banning Transgender Athletes Are Unconstitutional, Deborah L. Brake

ConLawNOW

This essay considers the role of sport in the new gender panic of legislative activity targeting transgender individuals, which now extends into health and family governance. Sport was one of the first settings—the gateway—to ignite the current culture war on transgender youth. This analysis examines how Title IX of the Education Act of 1972, the popular law responsible for the growth of opportunities for girls and women in sports, has been mobilized in service of a broader gender agenda. Far from providing a persuasive justification for the state laws banning transgender girls from girls’ sports, Title IX, properly understood, supports …

We(Ed) Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident: All Things Cannabis Are Inequitable, Garrett I. Halydier

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Current approaches to social equity in the cannabis industry continue to fail to promote racial equity while simultaneously exacerbating gender, environmental, and other inequities. To better understand the structural dynamics underlying this phenomenon, I first present a multi-disciplinary recounting of not only the racial inequities, but also the stigma, business, research, energy, sex and gender, hemp, and international inequities of the War on Drugs. This serves as the foundation for a compilation of the structural and theoretical reasons for how current social equity policies, whether targeting the cannabis industry, community reinvestment, social justice, or access equity, will only continue to …

Intersectionality Matters In Food And Drug Law, Colleen Campbell

University of Colorado Law Review

Feminist scholars critique food and drug law as a site of gender bias and regulatory neglect. The historical exclusion of women from clinical trials by the FDA prioritized male bodies as the object of clinical research and therapies. Likewise, the FDA’s prior restriction on access to contraceptive birth control illustrates how patriarchal and paternalistic attitudes within the Agency can harm women’s reproductive health. However, there is little analysis of how race and gender intersect in this domain. This Article uses the regulation of skin-lightening cosmetics products to illustrate why and how intersectionality matters in food and drug law. While the …

What Do We Do With You: How The United States Uses Racial-Gendered Immigrant Labor To Inform Its Immigrant Inclusion-Exclusion Cycle, Tori Delaney

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hocus Pocus: Modern-Day Manifestations Of Witch Hunts, Brie D. Sherwin

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Witch hunts have never been about facts or evidence; rather they are about beliefs often fueled by fear. Witch hunts of the past persecuted the powerless – typically women or those who did not fit into “societal norms.” More recently, the term “witch hunt” has reappeared with great fervor in the political arena, used by the powerful to generate fear that serves a distinct political narrative that those in power are the true victims. Tweets, sound bites, and political speeches rife with accusations of a “witch hunt” reflect a modern usage which has served to delegitimize the historical context of …

How Gender And Other Identity Factors Influence Attitudes Toward Will Making: Lessons From Australia, Bridget J. Crawford, Tina Cockburn, Kelly Purser, Ho Fai Chan, Stephen Whyte, Uwe Dulleck

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This essay aims to stimulate interest in further empirical study of attitudes toward will making by reporting the results of a 2022 survey conducted in Australia of the general population (n=1202) and legal professionals (n=112). We asked participants for their views about the ideal age at which to begin the will-making process and the relative contributions of the client and attorney to any resulting will. There was a discernible gender-based difference in views on both questions. Women preferred to initiate those conversations approximately six years earlier than men did and, especially at earlier life stages, preferred less professional input into …

Connecting Nuclear Security To International Frameworks On Gender And Security, Kathleen A. Doty, Jessica S. Burniske

International Journal of Nuclear Security

The international community is slowly beginning to recognize the intersections between law and policy as it relates to international security—particularly arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament—and the body of human rights law that addresses gender equality. Notably absent from this discussion is the field of nuclear security. Despite its historical underpinnings as an inherently domestic activity, nuclear security is thoroughly grounded in international treaty law. However, nuclear security is often overlooked in the international security context and has not been well-situated in international instruments that address gender equality. We argue that gender equality in nuclear security should be understood as an …

Women In Nuclear Power Programs: Case Studies From Africa, Jessica S. Burniske, Chanel Chauvet-Maldonado, Beth Kaboro, Madalina Man, Susan Nalumansi

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Approximately 30 countries are considering, planning, or starting nuclear power programs, and nearly 20 more countries have expressed interest in nuclear power. Most of these countries are nuclear newcomers. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a nuclear power program is a major undertaking requiring careful planning, preparation, and investments in institutions and human resources because of the safety, security, and safeguards requirements associated with the use of nuclear energy. The IAEA Milestones Approach states that states should follow three phases of development to establish the necessary infrastructure for a nuclear power program. Nuclear security is one of the …

Play Like A Girl, Get Paid Like A… Man?, Amanda M. Malool

UNH Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

Firearm Deaths In The Mountain West, 2020, Lana Kojoian, Annie Vong, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet examines data from the RAND Corporation report “Understanding Firearm Deaths by State—and How to Reduce Them,” which provides data on state and national rates of firearm related deaths, including suicides and homicides for 2020 This fact sheet includes firearm death data for five Mountain West states: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

How Gender And Other Identity Factors Influence Attitudes Toward Will Making: Lessons From Australia, Bridget J. Crawford, Tina Cockburn, Kelly Purser, Ho Fai Chan, Stephen Whyte, Uwe Dulleck

ACTEC Law Journal

This essay aims to stimulate interest in further empirical study of attitudes toward will making by reporting the results of a 2022 survey conducted in Australia of the general population (n=1202) and legal professionals (n=112). We asked participants for their views about the ideal age at which to begin the will-making process and the relative contributions of the client and attorney to any resulting will. There was a discernible gender-based difference in views on both questions. Women preferred to initiate those conversations approximately six years earlier than men did and, especially at earlier life stages, preferred less professional input into …

Sexual Orientation At The Crossroads, Johan D. Van Der Vyver

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County that sexual orientation is included in the concept of “sex” in the non-discrimination provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is historically indefensible. The Civil Rights Act was initiated by President John F. Kennedy to combat racial discrimination in the workplace and the word “sex” was included in the Act by a “claque of Southern Congressmen” as part of a filibuster attempt to prevent its enactment. It was accepted by proponents of the Act on the instructions of President Johnson merely to avoid the …

Gender And Deception: Moral Perceptions And Legal Responses, Gregory Klass, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan

Northwestern University Law Review

Decades of social science research has shown that the identity of the parties in a legal action can affect case outcomes. Parties’ race, gender, class, and age all affect decisions of prosecutors, judges, juries, and other actors in a criminal prosecution or civil litigation. Less studied has been how identity might affect other forms of legal regulation. This Essay begins to explore perceptions of deceptive behavior—i.e., how wrongful it is, and the extent to which it should be regulated or punished—and the relationship of those perceptions to the gender of the actors. We hypothesize that ordinary people tend to perceive …

Gender, Race, And Job Satisfaction Of Law Graduates, Joni Hersch

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Studies typically find that lawyers have high job satisfaction and that women are not less satisfied than are men. But racial differences as well as gender differences by race or ethnicity in satisfaction may be masked because most lawyers identify as racially White. To examine whether job satisfaction differs by race and whether gender and race/ethnicity have an intersectional relation to job satisfaction, I use data on nearly 13,000 law graduates drawn from six waves of the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) conducted between 2003 and 2019. The NSCG uniquely provides a large enough sample to examine intersectionality in …

The Intersection Of Gender And Negotiation: A Comprehensive Look At The Literature, Kelsey England

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

According to the majority of literature it appears there are differences in specific advantages and disadvantages genders are exposed to in negotiations. This article aims to further introduce and break down the literature in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the intersections of negotiation and gender in regards to general negotiation practices, negotiations within the workplace, and what can be done to level the playing field in regards to disadvantages placed on certain genders. This article also addresses the remaining gaps in the literature and suggests where the research should move in future studies.

Humanitarian Protection In International Refugee Law, Sexism And Exclusion: Case For Human Rights Assessment, Carol Ijeoma Njoku

Theses and Dissertations

The overall purpose of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee (Refugee Convention) and its 1967 Protocol is to protect refugees fleeing persecution and threat to life. Established in the aftermath of World War II (WW II), Article 1. A(1) of the Refugee Convention centered the meaning and criteria for refugee protection on the circumstances of the War. Thus, the status of a refugee is framed from persecution feared or suffered “on account of” race, religion, nationality, political opinion, and membership in a particular social group. More than seven decades after WW II, the scope of the definition …

Shooting To Minimize Gender Discrimination As An Unintended Consequence Of Title Ix, Alexa Potts

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Title IX is a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. Congress initially passed Title IX out of concern for sexbased equality in academia. However, Title IX has had significant impacts on athletics, resulting in increased athletic opportunities for females. To be Title IX compliant, institutions must provide equality in athletic participation for both sexes. The Office of Civil Rights provided a three-part test to measure equality in athletic participation. Institutions must satisfy at least one of the three prongs to meet Title IX requirements as they pertain to equality in athletic …

Privacy: Pre- And Post-Dobbs, Rona Kaufman

Law Faculty Publications

The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to include a fundamental right to familial privacy. The exact contours of that right were developed by the Court from 1923 until 2015. In 2022, with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the Supreme Court abruptly changed course and held that the right to terminate a pregnancy is no longer part of the right to privacy previously recognized by the Court. This essay seeks to place Dobbs in the context of the Court’s family privacy cases in an effort to understand the Court’s …

Startup Biases, Jennifer S. Fan

Articles

This Article provides an original descriptive account of bias in the startup context and explains why litigation is eschewed and what happens when it is used as a mechanism to combat bias in the venture capital ecosystem. Further, this Article identifies two particular phenomena in the startup context that exacerbate gender and racial bias. First, homophily—the idea that like attracts like—abounds and has been part of the DNA of venture capital since its inception. The thick networks that developed as venture capital made its way from the East Coast to the West Coast were limited to an elite group that …

Gender-Based Religious Persecution, Pooja R. Dadhania

Faculty Scholarship

People fleeing gender-based violence in the home face an uphill battle when seeking asylum in the United States. Through the lens of public and private spheres, this Article explores the underutilized religion ground for asylum for cases involving gender-based violence in the home—i.e., the private sphere. This Article argues that if an individual imposes a patriarchal practice on an asylum seeker in the private sphere and justifies that practice using religion, the asylum seeker’s resistance to that practice should constitute religious expression.

The religion ground protects individuals who are persecuted because of their religious beliefs and religious expression. It typically …

4th Annual Women In Law Leadership Lecture, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Gender Identity, Health, And The Law: An Overview Of Key Laws Impacting The Health Of Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming People, Naomi Seiler, Amanda Spott, Mekhi Washington, Paige Organick-Lee, Aaron Karacuschansky, Gregory Dwyer, Katie Horton, Alexis Osei

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

A growing population of transgender, nonbinary, and other gender non-conforming Americans experience the burden of multiple physical and mental health inequities. Largely rooted in discrimination and stigma, these disparities are compounded by barriers to respectful, appropriate healthcare.

A range of new policies, including state laws attempting to limit access to gender-affirming care for minors, may further compound health disparities. However, in some states and at the federal level, protective laws seek to prohibit discrimination and support access to care. Meanwhile, the constitutional status of gender identity under the Equal Protection Clause, and the legality of certain federal protections challenged on …

Twenty-First Century Split: Partisan, Racial, And Gender Differences In Circuit Judges Following Earlier Opinions, Stuart M. Benjamin, Byungkoo Kim, Kevin M. Quinn

Faculty Articles

Judges shape the law with their votes and the reasoning in their opinions. An important element of the latter is which opinions they follow, and thus elevate, and which they cast doubt on, and thus diminish. Using a unique and comprehensive dataset containing the substantive Shepard’s treatments of all circuit court published and unpublished majority opinions issued between 1974 and 2017, we examine the relationship between judges’ substantive treatments of earlier appellate cases and their party, race, and gender. Are judges more likely to follow opinions written by colleagues of the same party, race, or gender? What we find …

Transgender Erasure: Barriers Facing Transgender Refugees In Canada, Sean Rehaag, Alexandra Verman

All Papers

This paper explores the experiences of transgender refugee claimants in Canada’s refugee status determination system, using mixed methods: quantitative analysis of data obtained from the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), reviews of published and unpublished decisions, country condition documentation packages and IRB guidelines, as well as interviews with refugee lawyers. Using these methods, we explore how credibility arises in transgender refugee claims, noting the impact of medicalization and country conditions materials on transgender claims, and drawing parallels between medical gatekeeping and credibility assessments in refugee claims. We identify potential explanations for low recorded numbers of transgender claims as rooted in …

He Said, She Said: Assessing The Post-Colonial Legacy On Somalia’S Rape Laws, Natalia W. Nyczak

Emory International Law Review

Most jurisdictions have adopted changes in legislation within the past fifty years that reflect the evolution and advancement of women’s legal rights. Somalia, however, has not undergone a significant change in its legal regime since the 1960s. Somalia’s penal code and criminal procedure code are based on laws that were written in the late 1800s to early 1900s. When it comes to rape, judges harbor the beliefs that women must “put up a fight” against their assailants and doubt the inherent trustworthiness of women. These prevailing gender myths prevent women from accessing justice and infringe on their rights to equality …

Athletic Scholarships And Title Ix: Compliance Trends And Context, Erin E. Buzuvis

Faculty Scholarship

This Article evaluates enforcement practices and compliance trends related to Title IX's requirement for gender equity in the distribution of athletic financial aid. It confirms that universities in the most competitive athletic programs continue to underfund women's athletic scholarships relative to the proportionality standard required by law. It also confirms that the under-allocation of women's athletic opportunities at universities across divisions results in additional disparities in scholarship funding that is not captured by an analysis of compliance. This Article concludes with suggestions that the government clarifies its expectations and enforcement priorities. It further calls for regulators, scholars, and advocates to …

College Athletes As Defendants In Rape Trials: The Impact On Legal Decision-Making, Sophia Salyers

Lewis Honors College Thesis Collection

The issue of rape continues to be of concern in the United States. Rape is defined as any unwanted or forcible penetration without consent (United States Department of Justice, 2017). More specifically, rape can include sexual violence tactics such as force, threats, manipulation, or coercion (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2022). The magnitude of the issue of rape has been demonstrated, with adult rape data showing that on average, 319,950 people over the age of 12 were raped or sexually assaulted in the United States annually in 2020 (Morgan, 2021). Furthermore, every sixty-eight seconds an American is raped (Morgan). Finally, …