Law Commons^™

Safety Over Semantics: The Case For Statutory Protection For Domestic Violence Asylum Applicants., Spencer Kyle

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Women and children make up the vast majority of the world’s refugee population. However, in the United States, the majority of successful applicants are men. Asylum seekers who assert claims of domestic violence are largely unsuccessful. The current immigration laws do not take gender into account when determining societal factors for obtaining asylum. People often misinterpret most foreign domestic violence allegations as differences of religion or cultural practices. Many believe domestic violence against women is solely a private issue and not the product of a political or social system designed to make women inferior to men. This dichotomy allows people …

A Decade's Legacy: Dashed Hopes For Gender Equality And The Status Of Afghan Women In Light Of The Ensuing Drawdown., Meredith B. English

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

This Comment addresses the legal structures which need to be supported in order to ensure substantial gender equality after allied forces withdraw from Afghanistan. After 2013, justice for abused women in Afghanistan stalled. Research suggests women’s rights and peace in Afghanistan are directly related. The presence of the Taliban and their restrictive rules has many Afghan women fearing for their lives and for the loss of decades of progress in the women’s rights movement. Leaders in Afghanistan must acquire a more liberal interpretation of Sharia law, while staying within the boundaries of the religious and ethnic traditions of the culture. …

She Acts Guilty: Sexually Charged Consciousness Of Guilt Evidence Should Be Excluded Because It Is Biased Against Women., Colin Caffrey

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

A lawyer may submit sexually charged evidence under a consciousness of guilt theory. Utilizing this type of evidence convicts women based on their character, not for their alleged crimes, in criminal cases across America. Consciousness of guilt evidence holds bias because it exploits common gender stereotypes in order to obtain criminal convictions. Sexually charged evidence does not directly show a defendant’s guilt, but simply allows the jury to infer guilt based on a defendant’s conduct. Violating gender norms or reacting to the occurrence of a tragedy differently than one might normally expect is not an admission of guilt. Sexually charged …

Hardline Ideology Stymies Real Results: Texas Lawmakers' Battle Over Family Planning Leaves Texas Women Unprotected., Mariel Puryear

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Family planning has opened economic and social doors for women. Contraception, specifically, allows women to choose when they have children, how far apart their children are born, or if they have children at all. This freedom empowers women to pursue higher education and careers which might not have been attainable otherwise. The increase in education effectively levels the playing field between genders, bringing more women into traditionally male-dominated professions. Family planning and contraceptive measures also dramatically impact low-income families. The role of family planning clinics is extremely important in a state like Texas, where many do not have insurance, and …

The Underrespresentation Of Hispanic Women In The Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Fields: What Can Be Done To Curie The Problem., Elky Almaraz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Hispanic women comprise approximately eight percent of the United States’ population and represent the largest group of minority women. However, Hispanic women only make up approximately two percent of the science and engineering workforce. In contrast, Caucasian women form approximately one-third of the United States’ population and eighteen percent of the science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) workforce. Hispanic women begin a post-secondary education in STEM fields with a proportional interest to other gender or racial groups. However, they are far less likely to continue the coursework and ultimately earn a degree than their non-minority classmates. Schools and education officials …

Gagging On A Bad Rule: The Mexico City Policy And Its Effect On Women In Developing Countries., Yvette Aguilar

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

The mortality rate of women living in developing countries is often higher due to lack of family planning services and unsafe abortions. The United States has been providing foreign assistance and financial aid since the conclusion of World War II. One example is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which focuses on providing long-range economic and social development support to developing countries. Many nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) rely on this aid to fund their programs. However, in 1984, restrictions introduced at the International Conference on Population in Mexico City forbade international planning services which provided or advocated …

Is Anything Ever Free?: Nafta’S Effect On Union Organizing Drives And Minorities And The Potential Of Ftaa Having A Similar Effect, Karla Shantel Jackson

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its additional labor agreement, the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), supported globalization between North American countries. Mexico, Canada, and the United States signed the agreements intending to increase economic growth and employment over a fifteen-year period. NAFTA proponents believed it would serve as a stimulus for long-term economic gains. Opponents disagreed, citing the ineffectiveness of the labor accord in protecting workers and major job losses. In the United States, NAFTA negatively impacted labor union organizing drives, women, and minorities. Nothing is ever free, and these demographics pay the price for …

The Diminishing Sphere Of The Cooperative Virtues In American Law And Society, Ana M. Novoa

Faculty Articles

Exploration of destructive developments in American law and society show that family law is completely askew. Although family law deals with the most intimate and basic personal relationships, it applies a legal process based on autonomous individual public and private economic rights to those intimate relational realities. It is a hallowed expression of male virtues and a paradigmatic example of the use of the law to protect vested interests and shape society, rather than a reflection of reality.

The split between the private/family/female and the public/business/male spheres of the nineteenth century created the separation of competitive attributes, virtues, and vices …

American Family Law: History -- Whostory, Ana M. Novoa

Faculty Articles

Family law should be rooted in preserving and protecting intimate relationships; instead, it is rooted in preserving those domestic systems that created or expanded the economic empire of the "Founding Fathers," the white males of the colonial northeast. This northeastern colonial perspective continues to underpin most of the basic assumptions in family law. Concurrently, with the increased privatization of the cooperative virtues, Americans have developed an excessive preoccupation with self and a cult of consumerism.

Consumerism has driven American society toward increased individualism and narcissism. A by-product of the increased individual-consumer culture is the mistaken belief that our personal values …

Feminism And Defending Men On Death Row Symposium: Thoughts On Death Penalty Issues 25 Years After Furman V. Georgia., Phyllis L. Crocker

St. Mary's Law Journal

In this Essay I explore the relationship between being a feminist and representing men on death row. It is appropriate to engage in this inquiry in considering how the law has developed in the twenty-five years since Furman v. Georgia. During that time both Furman and the advent of feminist legal theory have required a restructuring in the way we think about two fundamental legal questions: for death penalty jurisprudence, how and why we sentence individuals to death; and for feminist jurisprudence, how the law views crimes of violence against women. The relationship between these two developments becomes apparent when …