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Criminalization Is Not The Only Way: Guatemala’S Law Against Femicide And Other Forms Of Violence Against Women And The Rates Of Femicide In Guatemala, Sydney Bay
Washington International Law Journal
Femicide in Guatemala has not decreased over the past twelve years, despite government efforts to curb the practice. In 2008, Guatemala passed the Law Against Femicide and Other Forms of Violence Against Women, which defined and criminalized femicide. The Law also created regulatory agencies and courts focused on stopping femicide and other forms of violence against women in the country, including physical, sexual, emotional, and economic violence. But because the government lacks resources and it has received resistance from the agencies’ local levels, femicide and the violence against women has not diminished. Additionally, recent Supreme Court cases have weakened aspects …
Violence Implicit In Hijab Suppression Laws In Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, And France Under The Cedaw Framework, Jordan Elizabeth Pahl
Violence Implicit In Hijab Suppression Laws In Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, And France Under The Cedaw Framework, Jordan Elizabeth Pahl
Washington International Law Journal
This Comment examines three instances of laws banning hijab, the headscarf worn by many Muslim women. These laws, as enacted in Soviet Uzbekistan, France, and Tajikistan provide justifications for violence against women on a number of levels and, as such, violate the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The stigmatization of Muslim women these laws perpetuate result in women’s lack of access to work and education as guaranteed by CEDAW, and also act as a catalyst for violence against women who violate these laws. This paper argues that hijab suppression laws violate CEDAW …
A Quest To Increase Women In Corporate Board Leadership: Comparing The Law In Norway And The U.S., Angela R. Foster
A Quest To Increase Women In Corporate Board Leadership: Comparing The Law In Norway And The U.S., Angela R. Foster
Washington International Law Journal
Gender imbalance is a persistent problem on corporate boards the world over. Women are severely underrepresented in these important leadership positions within public companies. Norway took a big swing at inequality in 2003 by enacting a quota law requiring at least 40% representation of each gender on boards of directors of public companies. Norway now has the highest percentage of women serving on corporate boards. Through Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, the United States enacted a diversity disclosure rule that requires public companies to divulge their policy regarding gender in board hiring. The disclosure rule has proven ineffectual, and at …
Large-Scale Land Acquisitions And Applying A Gender Lens To Supply Chain Reform, Mina Manuchehri
Large-Scale Land Acquisitions And Applying A Gender Lens To Supply Chain Reform, Mina Manuchehri
Washington International Law Journal
In recent years, multinational corporations, in particular food and beverage companies, have committed to “zero tolerance for land grabs” throughout their supply chains. To achieve this end, companies have also committed to international legal norms, including Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Although these commitments were unprecedented, no company explicitly requires the consideration of women’s use of and rights to land when remedying land grabs or acquiring land. To guarantee that women are included and consulted throughout land acquisition processes, companies should explicitly require the application of a …
Mexico's Missed Opportunities To Protect Irregular Women Transmigrants: Applying A Gender Lens To Migration Law Reform, Alyson L. Dimmitt Gnam
Mexico's Missed Opportunities To Protect Irregular Women Transmigrants: Applying A Gender Lens To Migration Law Reform, Alyson L. Dimmitt Gnam
Washington International Law Journal
Mexico is a transit country for hundreds of thousands of migrants traveling north. Due to economic liberalization, women increasingly migrate in search of employment opportunities, a phenomenon called the “feminization of migration.” As women migrate, they face high risks of sexual and gender-based violence, including sexual assault, rape, kidnapping, and trafficking. During transit, the impunity of organized criminal groups and corrupt state officials facilitate rampant abuse of women. Mexico’s former migration policy exacerbated women’s vulnerability to abuse by criminal organizations by pushing women into dangerous illicit migration channels. In response to the abuse of transmigrants, Mexico passed a sweeping migration …
Recognizing The Feminization Of Displacement: A Proposal For A Gender-Focused Approach To Local Integration In Ecuador, Johanna L. Gusman
Recognizing The Feminization Of Displacement: A Proposal For A Gender-Focused Approach To Local Integration In Ecuador, Johanna L. Gusman
Washington International Law Journal
The feminization of displacement refers to the phenomenon in which women represent an increasingly disproportionate percentage of displaced populations worldwide. The objective of this comment is to raise awareness of this growing problem and recommend that policymakers craft legal responses to better address this reality, using Ecuador as an example. Specifically, this comment outlines how a gender-focused approach to local integration in Ecuador can rectify a refugee policy that never once mentions gender and is silent on the most pressing issues facing refugee women and girls in the area: sexual and gender-based violence. Through the proposal put forth in this …
Women's Land Rights In Rural China: Transforming Existing Laws Into A Source Of Property Rights, H. Ray Liaw
Women's Land Rights In Rural China: Transforming Existing Laws Into A Source Of Property Rights, H. Ray Liaw
Washington International Law Journal
In the aftermath of legal reforms designed to secure land tenure for farmers, women in rural China lost rights to land at marriage, divorce, and widowhood. Despite a central legal framework that facially protects women’s property interests, ambiguity in the property and marriage laws have allowed village leaders to reassert traditional social norms and deny constitutional equal rights guarantees for women. Recent attempts to ameliorate landlessness for women, specifically in the Rural Contract Law and the Property Law, offer little promise of providing a significant solution for rural women. New proposals to mitigate rural women’s loss of land rights must …
No More Waiting For Revolution: Japan Should Take Positive Action To Implement The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, M. Christina Luera
No More Waiting For Revolution: Japan Should Take Positive Action To Implement The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, M. Christina Luera
Washington International Law Journal
In 1985, Japan ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ("CEDAW"), which requires the eradication of all legal, political, social and cultural structures that prevent women from enjoying full equality with men. Under CEDAW, Japan is legally obligated to strive for actual, not just formal, equality between men and women. CEDAW also requires States Parties to take positive action to achieve gender equality. Despite the Japanese government's apparent efforts to comply with CEDAW over the last two decades, gender equality remains a distant reality. On July 8, 2003, the Committee on the …
Gender Equality And Women's Issues In Vietnam: The Vietnamese Woman—Warrior And Poet, Wendy N. Duong
Gender Equality And Women's Issues In Vietnam: The Vietnamese Woman—Warrior And Poet, Wendy N. Duong
Washington International Law Journal
Exploration of women's issues in Vietnam strengthens the emerging voice of the "exotic other female" in contemporary international feminist discourse. Any women's movement in Vietnam today must be cast as the revitalization of the Vietnamese woman's collective cultural identity, rather than as a Western imported feminist doctrine. The Vietnamese woman's collective cultural identity is based on the history and cultural folklores of Vietnam, including expressions of feminist ideas in law and literature, and a long history of warfare and collective sufferings, wherein women have been seen as martyrs, national treasures, and laborers in war and in peace. The advocacy of …
The "Comfort Women" Case: Judgment Of April 27, 1998, Shimonoseki Branch, Yamaguchi Prefectural Court, Japan, Taihei Okada
The "Comfort Women" Case: Judgment Of April 27, 1998, Shimonoseki Branch, Yamaguchi Prefectural Court, Japan, Taihei Okada
Washington International Law Journal
This court hereby issues the following judgment on the Plaintiffs' claim for an official apology and compensation for "Comfort Women and female Teishintai forced laborers from the city of Pusan, and an official apology and compensation for all female Teishintai forced laborers and "Comfort Women," based on proceedings in this court concluding September 29, 1997.
Commentary On A Victory For "Comfort Women": Japan's Judicual Recognition Of Military Sexual Slavery, Etsuro Tutsuka
Commentary On A Victory For "Comfort Women": Japan's Judicual Recognition Of Military Sexual Slavery, Etsuro Tutsuka
Washington International Law Journal
Despite international condemnation, Japan has done little to recognize its responsibility for forcing over 200,000 "Comfort Women" into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. However, in a landmark April 1998 decision, a Japanese court ordered Japan to compensate three Korean "Comfort Women." This was the first time that a Japanese court found in favor of foreign plaintiffs in a postwar compensation case. The court held members of the Diet negligent under the State Liability Act for failing to enact a compensation law for the "Comfort Women." Although the judgment will almost certainly be overturned, …
Eastern Twists On Western Concepts: Equality Jurisprudence And Sexual Harassment In Japan, Leon Wolff
Eastern Twists On Western Concepts: Equality Jurisprudence And Sexual Harassment In Japan, Leon Wolff
Washington International Law Journal
A rich source of Japanese jurisprudence on sexual equality underlies Japan's emerging law against sexual harassment. With no law specifically outlawing sexual harassment, academics and the courts have invoked the principle of sexual equality to support their conclusion that Japanese law carries an implicit prohibition against acts of sexual harassment. In developing a legal case against sexual harassment, Japanese courts and academic commentators have introduced novel constructions of equality. The key innovations include relational equality, inherent equality and quantifiable equality. In presenting some of these Japanese contributions to equality jurisprudence, the hope is that feminist discourse on equality can take …