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Marriage Equality Comes To The Fourth Circuit, Carl Tobias

Washington and Lee Law Review

Marriage equality has come to America. Throughout 2014, several federal appellate courts and numerous district court judges across the United States invalidated state constitutional or statutory proscriptions on same-sex marriage. Therefore, it was not surprising that Eastern District of Virginia Judge Arenda Wright Allen held that Virginia’s bans were unconstitutional in February. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed her opinion that July. North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia District Judges rejected these jurisdictions’ prohibitions during autumn, and the Supreme Court approved marriage equality the next year. Because marriage equality in the Fourth Circuit presents …

Women's Legal Rights, In Oxford Research Encyclopedia Of African History (2019), Johanna E. Bond

Books and Chapters

In the colonial and postcolonial period, African women have advocated for legal reforms that would improve the status of women across the continent. During the colonial period, European common and civil law systems greatly influenced African indigenous legal systems and further entrenched patriarchal aspects of the law. In the years since independence, women’s rights advocates have fought, with varying degrees of success, for women’s equality within the constitution, the family, the political arena, property rights, rights to inheritance, rights to be free from gender-based violence, rights to control their reproductive lives and health, rights to education, and many other aspects …

The Role Of Women Entrepreneurs In Rebuilding A Nation: The Rwandan Model, Karen E. Woody

Scholarly Articles

This Article contributes to the literature by analyzing the normative shifts within the country's institutions, both pre- and post-genocide, and observes the role of women in restructuring the institutions as a major factor in the success that Rwanda enjoys today. By prioritizing gender equality in the recreation of its legal and economic structures, Rwanda is able to leverage the talents and capabilities of its entire population, and provides a model that can be applied to a number of other countries.

Part I details the historical underpinnings of the Rwandan genocide and humanitarian crisis. Part II addresses the efforts to establish …

Progress Is A Chameleon, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

Progress is a chameleon. Its hue changes with our perspective, which is influenced by our race, gender, socio-economic status, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, age, and ancestry, among other influences. The amount of progress we perceive also varies from person to person and depends on the type of law we practice and whether we work in a small town or big city. Perhaps most importantly, how we view the rapidity of change in the legal profession — as stagnant, developing, or somewhere in between — is impacted by our unique experiences, our psychology, the length of time we have been lawyers, …