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Articles 1 - 27 of 27
Full-Text Articles in Law
A Feminist Economic Perspective On Contract Law: Promissory Estoppel As An Example, Orit Gan
A Feminist Economic Perspective On Contract Law: Promissory Estoppel As An Example, Orit Gan
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Economic analysis is a highly influential theoretical approach to contract law. At the same time, feminist analysis of contract law offers an important critical approach to the field. However, feminist economics, a prominent alternative approach to mainstream neo-classical economics drawing from both economic theory and feminist theory, has only been applied scarcely and sporadically to contract law. This Article seeks to bridge this gap and to apply the key features of feminist economics to an analysis of the doctrine of promissory estoppel. This Article uses promissory estoppel as an example to demonstrate a feminist economic analysis of contract law.
“Champion Man-Hater Of All Time”: Feminism, Insanity, And Property Rights In 1940s America, Magdalene Zier
“Champion Man-Hater Of All Time”: Feminism, Insanity, And Property Rights In 1940s America, Magdalene Zier
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Legions of law students in property or trusts and estates courses have studied the will dispute, In re Strittmater’s Estate. The cases, casebooks, and treatises that cite Strittmater present the 1947 decision from New Jersey’s highest court as a model of the “insane delusion” doctrine. Readers learn that snubbed relatives successfully invalidated Louisa Strittmater’s will, which left her estate to the Equal Rights Amendment campaign, by convincing the court that her radical views on gender equality amounted to insanity and, thus, testamentary incapacity. By failing to provide any commentary or context on this overt sexism, these sources affirm the …
A Relational Feminist Approach To Conflict Of Laws, Roxana Banu
A Relational Feminist Approach To Conflict Of Laws, Roxana Banu
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Feminist writers have long engaged in critiques of private law. Surrogacy contracts or the “reasonable man” standard in torts, for example, have long been the subjects of thorough feminist analysis and critique. When private law issues touch on more than one jurisdiction, Conflict of Laws is the doctrine that determines which jurisdiction can try the case and—as separate questions—which jurisdiction’s law should apply and under what conditions a foreign judgment can be recognized and enforced. Yet, there are virtually no feminist perspectives on Conflict of Laws (also known as Private International Law). This is still more surprising when one considers …
How Feminist Theory Became (Criminal) Law: Tracing The Path To Mandatory Criminal Intervention In Domestic Violence Cases, Claire Houston
How Feminist Theory Became (Criminal) Law: Tracing The Path To Mandatory Criminal Intervention In Domestic Violence Cases, Claire Houston
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Our popular understanding of domestic violence has shifted significantly over the past forty years, and with it, our legal response. We have moved from an interpretation of domestic violence as a private relationship problem managed through counseling techniques to an approach that configures domestic violence first and foremost as a public crime. Mandatory criminal intervention policies reflect and reinforce this interpretation. How we arrived at this point, and which understanding of domestic violence facilitated this shift, is the focus of this Article. I argue that the move to intense criminalization has been driven by a distinctly feminist interpretation of domestic …
An Incomplete Revolution: Feminists And The Legacy Of Marital-Property Reform, Mary Ziegler
An Incomplete Revolution: Feminists And The Legacy Of Marital-Property Reform, Mary Ziegler
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
As this Article shows, the conventional historical narrative of the divorce revolution is not so much incorrect as incomplete. Histories of the divorce revolution have focused disproportionately on the introduction of no-fault rules and have correctly concluded that women's groups did not play a central role in the introduction of such laws. However, work on divorce law has not adequately addressed the history of marital-property reform or engaged with scholarship on the struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment to the federal Constitution. Putting these two bodies of work in dialogue with one another, the Article provides the first comprehensive history …
Baring Inequality: Revisiting The Legalization Debate Through The Lens Of Strippers' Rights, Sheerine Alemzadeh
Baring Inequality: Revisiting The Legalization Debate Through The Lens Of Strippers' Rights, Sheerine Alemzadeh
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
The debate over legalization of prostitution has fractured the feminist legal community for over a quarter century. Pro-legalization advocates promote the benefits attending government regulation of prostitution, including the ability to better prosecute sex crimes, increase public health and educational resources for individuals in the commercial sex trade, and apply labor and safety regulations to the commercial sex industry in the same manner as they are applied to other businesses. Some anti-legalization advocates identify themselves as "new abolitionists," and argue that government recognition of prostitution reinforces gender inequality. Often, this debate is framed in the hypothetical: What would happen if …
Victim Participation At The International Criminal Court And The Extraordinary Chambers In The Courts Of Cambodia: A Feminist Project, Susana Sacouto
Victim Participation At The International Criminal Court And The Extraordinary Chambers In The Courts Of Cambodia: A Feminist Project, Susana Sacouto
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
The question this Article poses is whether victim participation--one of the most recent developments in international criminal law--has increased the visibility of the actual lived experience of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in the context of war, mass violence, or repression. Under the Rome Statute, victims of the world's most serious crimes were given unprecedented rights to participate in proceedings before the Court. Nearly a decade later, a similar scheme was established to allow victims to participate as civil parties in the proceedings before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC or Extraordinary Chambers), a court created …
Against The New Maternalism, Naomi Mezey, Cornelia T. L. Pillard
Against The New Maternalism, Naomi Mezey, Cornelia T. L. Pillard
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Parenting is a major preoccupation in law and culture. As a result of efforts of the American women's movement over the past forty years, the legal parent is, for the first time in history, sex-neutral. Our law has abandoned restrictions on women's education, employment, and civic participation that sprang from and reinforced beliefs about the primacy of motherhood as women's best destiny. On the flip side, U.S. law now also generally rejects formal constraints on men's family roles by requiring sex-neutrality of laws regulating custody, adoption, alimony, spousal benefits, and the like. The official de-linking of presumptive parenting roles from …
Setting The Stage: A Quick Glance Back At The Journal's History, Julia L. Ernst
Setting The Stage: A Quick Glance Back At The Journal's History, Julia L. Ernst
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This symposium, organized by the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, explored several cutting-edge topics related to its over-arching theme, "Rhetoric & Relevance: An Investigation into the Present and Future of Feminist Legal Theory." When the journal editors invited me to provide a few opening remarks, they informed me that: the goal of this symposium is to have a series of discussions about current happenings in the field of feminist legal scholarship, so that we may start to answer the question, "What's next?" These discussions will take place in the form of panels that focus on particular areas of the …
Past As Prologue: Old And New Feminisms, Martha Chamallas
Past As Prologue: Old And New Feminisms, Martha Chamallas
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Each "stage" of feminist legal theory-and each brand or strand of feminism- stays alive and is never completely replaced by newer approaches. When I first attempted to synthesize the field of Feminist Legal Theory for a treatise I was writing at the end of the twentieth century, I thought it would be useful to think chronologically and to analyze the major developments of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. I crudely divided feminist legal theory into three stages roughly corresponding to the preceding decades: the equality stage of the 1970s, the difference stage of the 1980s, and the diversity stage of …
Situations, Frames, And Stereotypes: Cognitive Barriers On The Road To Nondiscrimination, Marybeth Herald
Situations, Frames, And Stereotypes: Cognitive Barriers On The Road To Nondiscrimination, Marybeth Herald
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
A study of the psychological literature can enhance legal theory by focusing attention on how the human brain perceives, distinguishes, categorizes, and ultimately makes decisions. The more that we learn about the brain's intricate operations, the more effective we can be at combating the types of gender biased decisions that influence our lives. In developing strategies to achieve equality, feminist, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex activists would be wise to learn from the psychological literature. This Article highlights a few examples illustrating how this knowledge might re-direct strategic choices for combating gender inequality.
Beyond The Binary: What Can Feminists Learn From Intersex Transgender Jurisprudence, Julie Greenberg, Marybeth Herald, Mark Strasser
Beyond The Binary: What Can Feminists Learn From Intersex Transgender Jurisprudence, Julie Greenberg, Marybeth Herald, Mark Strasser
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Our panel will be discussing recent developments in the intersex and transsexual communities. The transsexual community began to organize in the 1970s, but did not fully develop into a vibrant movement until the 1990s. The intersex movement was born in the mid-1990s and has rapidly developed a strong and influential voice. Recently, both movements have undergone profound changes and each has provided new and unique theoretical perspectives that can potentially benefit other social justice groups. The purpose of our dialogue today is to describe these developments and explore how feminists could potentially benefit from the theoretical frameworks that are being …
Toward A Third-Wave Feminist Legal Theory: Young Women, Pornography And The Praxis Of Pleasure, Bridget J. Crawford
Toward A Third-Wave Feminist Legal Theory: Young Women, Pornography And The Praxis Of Pleasure, Bridget J. Crawford
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Part I of this Article explores the general themes of third-wave feminist writings. The Article begins with an overview of third-wave feminist literature and its predominant concerns. These concerns are (1) dissatisfaction with earlier feminists; (2) the multiple nature of personal identity; (3) the joy of embracing traditional feminine appearance and attributes; (4) the centrality of sexual pleasure and sexual self-awareness; (5) the obstacles to economic empowerment; and (6) the social and cultural impact of media and technology. Textual analysis reveals third-wave feminists' reliance on non-legal tools for remedying gender inequality. Although third-wave feminists acknowledge the law's role in women's …
Dealing With Hate In The Feminist Classroom: Re-Thinking The Balance, Kathryn M. Stanchi
Dealing With Hate In The Feminist Classroom: Re-Thinking The Balance, Kathryn M. Stanchi
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
The goals of this essay are two-fold. First, by describing the experience the author had in Law and Feminism, the essay will show how hateful and harassing speech in a seminar devoted to issues of gender, race and sexuality can rob students of important educational experiences. The story of the author’s class is meant to remind legal educators and administrators of the concrete harm, both personal and educational, of hate speech. Too often the hate speech debate focuses on the theoretical and the abstract; participants forget that the principles at stake have demonstrable consequences for real people. Second, while this …
Restructuring The Marital Bedroom: The Role Of The Privacy Doctrine In Advocating The Legalization Of Same-Sex Marriage, Nadine A. Gartner
Restructuring The Marital Bedroom: The Role Of The Privacy Doctrine In Advocating The Legalization Of Same-Sex Marriage, Nadine A. Gartner
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Part I of this paper examines the reasons underlying queer rights advocates' reluctance to insert privacy arguments into the case for legalizing same-sex marriage. Part II illustrates that, due to such disinclination, advocates transformed notions of privacy into concepts of liberty. Part III argues that, after the Lawrence decision, proponents of same-sex marriage can and should use privacy-based arguments to fortify their claims.
Feminist Voices In The Debate Over Single-Sex Schooling: Finding Common Ground, Rosemary C. Salomone
Feminist Voices In The Debate Over Single-Sex Schooling: Finding Common Ground, Rosemary C. Salomone
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This article examines the deep divide within feminist ranks with an eye toward proposing a constructive and essential role for feminist understandings as single-sex schooling inches its way toward legal acceptability and into the mainstream of educational reform. In doing so, the forces that have shaped competing perspectives on women's equality are examined, especially disagreements over sameness and difference. In the end the article looks to the Court's decision in United States v. Virginia as a road map for feminists to follow in reaching common ground on the approach, despite seemingly profound ideological differences among them.
The Use Of Human Rights Discourse To Secure Women's Interests: Critical Analysis Of The Implications, Renu Mandhane
The Use Of Human Rights Discourse To Secure Women's Interests: Critical Analysis Of The Implications, Renu Mandhane
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This article highlights the significant theoretical constraints of universalism, the tendency of human rights advocates to ignore the underlying cause of rights violations, as well as problems associated with the concept of and informal hierarchy between rights. The article suggests that there are certain circumstances in which INGOs that rely primarily on human rights language in their advocacy efforts may wish to supplement their analysis with explicit reference to feminist legal theory in order to more effectively secure women's interests globally. These ideas will be developed with ongoing reference to the recent and successful campaign initiated by Nepali women to …
United Nations Convention Documents In Light Of Feminist Theory, R. Christopher Preston, Ronald Z. Ahrens
United Nations Convention Documents In Light Of Feminist Theory, R. Christopher Preston, Ronald Z. Ahrens
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This article proposes that language identifying human rights of women in U.N. Conference documents has its origin in several different feminist theories. An understanding of these theories can help to clarify meaning, resolve inconsistencies, and predict the future direction of language in U.N. documents. Part I examines three prominent feminist theories and their relation to international law. Part II examines the history of women's rights in U.N. documents and examines the influence of feminist theory on the document language. Using the Women and the Economy section of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Platform for Action (Platform for Action), Part …
Reproductive Liberty Under The Threat Of Care: Deputizing Private Agents And Deconstructing State Action, Linda Kelly
Reproductive Liberty Under The Threat Of Care: Deputizing Private Agents And Deconstructing State Action, Linda Kelly
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This Article uncovers the unsettling parallels between feminism and the recent restrictions on reproductive liberty in order to reveal the threat posed by the feminist ethic of care. By critically reexamining feminism's foundation and direction, the need for greater emphasis on female individuality becomes apparent. Kelly’s contention is that such a perspective, aggressively supported by the state, will ensure feminism's progress and encourage the achievement of gender equality.
A Feminist Approach To Social Scientific Evidence: Foundations, Andrew E. Taslitz
A Feminist Approach To Social Scientific Evidence: Foundations, Andrew E. Taslitz
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This Article addresses several aspects of a feminist approach to social scientific evidence, specifically, the interpretive nature of mental states, the feminist attitude toward juries, and the political nature of evidence law.
"O Wind, Remind Him That I Have No Child": Infertility And Feminist Jurisprudence, Linda J. Lacey
"O Wind, Remind Him That I Have No Child": Infertility And Feminist Jurisprudence, Linda J. Lacey
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
Feminists have constructed a "grand theory" of infertility and new reproductive techniques that has little to do with reality. Much of the discussion of reproductive technology is written in highly abstract, philosophical terms, rather than in the more experiential, narrative style which characterizes much of feminist jurisprudence. The infertile woman is generally voiceless and invisible in the telling of this story; when she does appear she is dismissed or criticized. This Article is an attempt to begin dialogue which incorporates her perspective into the discussion.
Can Families Be Efficient? A Feminist Appraisal, Ann Laquer Estin
Can Families Be Efficient? A Feminist Appraisal, Ann Laquer Estin
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
This Article examines the convergence of feminist and law and economics theory on family law questions, particularly issues of marriage and divorce. Both feminist legal theory and law and economics analysis have come to occupy a significant place in the American legal academy, demonstrated by growing numbers of conferences, journals, casebooks and monographs, and electronic mail lists in each area. Not surprisingly, as the two fields have grown, they have begun to touch, to overlap, and occasionally to come into conflict. This process has been evident in the extensive literature on sex discrimination in employment and is increasingly apparent in …
Lessons For The United States: A Greek Cypriot Model For Domestic Violence Law, Joan L. Neisser
Lessons For The United States: A Greek Cypriot Model For Domestic Violence Law, Joan L. Neisser
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
The purpose of this Article is twofold: to view the problem of domestic violence victims not wishing to testify against their abusers through the lenses of different feminist perspectives; and to use the Greek Cypriot experience as a model to test the value of these theories when developing legal policies addressing this issue.
A Feminist Theory Of Malebashing, Susan H. Williams, David C. Williams
A Feminist Theory Of Malebashing, Susan H. Williams, David C. Williams
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
The concern about feminist "malebashing" is increasingly common, inside the university and out, but unfortunately, because of the emotions involved, most discussions of malebashing generate more confusion than understanding. When feminists say negative things about men, they often speak in anger and perhaps fear. When men respond, they are often angry, defensive, and perhaps hurt. While this confusion may be understandable, it is still counter-productive. The dialogue is plagued by a failure to answer with precision or rigor the most basic questions about this subject: What is "malebashing," i.e., illegitimate negative statements about men, and how is it different from …
An Essay On The Piano, Law, And The Search For Women's Desire, Julia E. Hanigsberg
An Essay On The Piano, Law, And The Search For Women's Desire, Julia E. Hanigsberg
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
The thesis of this essay is a simple one: to have a measure of control over her destiny, to have any choices, a woman must be a sexual agent, a subject of desire rather than an object. How can women exercise any autonomy in any other realms if in their most intimate lives they are unable to voice their desires? I do not mean to suggest that sexuality has unlimited explanatory power or that everything about women's domination can be explained by a rearticulation of desire. I do believe, however, that although the issue of sexuality is much discussed, feminist …
Book Review: From Basic Needs To Basic Rights: Women's Claim To Human Rights. Edited By Margaret A. Schuler. Washington, D.C.: Women, Law And Development International, 1995. 597 Pages., Joel Armstrong Schoenmeyer
Book Review: From Basic Needs To Basic Rights: Women's Claim To Human Rights. Edited By Margaret A. Schuler. Washington, D.C.: Women, Law And Development International, 1995. 597 Pages., Joel Armstrong Schoenmeyer
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
In the review of this work, Schoenmeyer will adhere to the structure provided by Schuler. In doing so, he will give an overview of the topics addressed in each individual section and then attempt to tie together and further analyze some of the book's main concepts.
Strategies Of Connection: Prostitution And Feminist Politics, Margaret A. Baldwin
Strategies Of Connection: Prostitution And Feminist Politics, Margaret A. Baldwin
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
A feminist political approach to prostitution must begin from these strengths and be tested against the standards set by them. I want to address how taking each of these strengths seriously can create sustained resistance against prostitution.