Human Rights Law Commons^™

Imagine All The Women: Power, Gender And The Transformative Possibilities Of The South African Constitution, Penelope Andrews

Articles & Chapters

This chapter will explore the South African Constitution, and more particularly, the Bill of Rights, as a vehicle for social and economic transformation. By analyzing the provisions relating to gender equality in South Africa's Constitution, as well as decisions of the Constitutional Court, this chapter will examine whether theconstitutional rights framework in South Africa contains within it the transformative possibilities that will lead to gender equality in all spheres of South African society, and particularly in the economic sphere.

Virginity Testing And South Africa's Hiv/Aids Crisis: Beyond Rights Universalism And Cultural Relativism Toward Health Capabilities, Erika George

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I explore the tension between the politics of culture and the rights of women and girls to equality, privacy, and sexual autonomy in the context of epidemic disease. Specifically, this Article examines the political debate surrounding the resurgence of virginity testing, its widespread popular support in certain communities, and the South African government's recent efforts to prohibit the practice. This Article argues that the current debate over virginity testing, which focuses on abolition or accommodation of the practice, is misguided and polarizing. It argues that these perspectives on the debate increase the likelihood that the problem causing …

Romance Is Dead: Mail Order Bridges As Surrogate Corpses, Daniel Epstein

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Domestic Work And The Feminization Of Migration, Glenda Labadie-Jackson

Campbell Law Review

This Article brings forth some general reflections on domestic work and the feminization of migration, with particular emphasis on the complex interrelation of immigration status, gender, class, and race that takes place in this context. In light of these reflections, the Article concludes by recommending the promulgation of additional national and international regulatory schemes designed to protect the human rights of domestic workers.

“We Are At War And You Should Not Bother The President”: The Suffrage Pickets And Freedom Of Speech During World War I, Catherine J. Lanctot

Working Paper Series

The story of Alice Paul’s National Woman’s Party and its 1917 picketing campaign onbehalf of woman suffrage is almost unknown in legal circles. Yet the suffrage pickets were among the earliest victims of the suppression of dissent that accompanied the entry of the United States into World War I. Nearly forty years before the modern civil rights movement brought the concept of nonviolent civil disobedience to the forefront of American political discourse, the NWP conducted a direct action campaign at the very doorstep of the President of the United States, and they did so during a time of war.

In …

Sex And Globalization, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

For some time now, I have focused on a mission to bring together the separate discourses of the human rights and trade fields—certainly not to blend them, but to raise awareness of their myriad interconnections. Indeed, human rights and trade are interlocking pieces of the puzzle we call international law and cannot possibly remain sequestered in the "splendid isolation" in which they have existed since their inception as disciplines. In any study of globalization, especially if one endeavors to pursue its benefits for all persons, not just the elite around the world, one must be aware of and seek to …

Militarization And Terrorism And Counter- Terrorism Measures In Thailand: Feminists And Women Human Rights Defenders, Virada Somswasdi

Cornell Law School Berger International Speaker Papers

Women human rights defenders need to work closely with feminist human rights defenders; both groups must empower each other and promote gender-sensitization of other members of the rights movements against militarization.

Despite the fact that women’s human rights defenders in the women’s movements have brought about some positive legal changes for women’s human rights, there are political, economic and social patriarchal contexts, especially through militarization, that obstruct ideal legislation and enforcement to cover all areas which have been identified in international instruments, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women and the Declaration on the Elimination of …

"It's Not Ok": New Zealand's Efforts To Eliminate Violence Against Women, Jeanmarie Fenrich, Jorge Contesse

Crowley Mission Reports

Over the last decade, New Zealand has made significant efforts to address an acute social problem—violence against women. In New Zealand, it is estimated that one in three women has been a victim of domestic violence. In an effort to combat the problem, New Zealand has enacted legislation and regulations which aim to prevent and eliminate domestic violence. It has also created visible public education campaigns calling upon people to stop “family violence” as it is called in New Zealand.

"I'D Grab At Anything. And I'D Forget." Domestic Violence Victim Testimony After Davis V. Washington, 41 J. Marshall L. Rev. 937 (2008), Nancee Alexa Barth

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rape At Rome: Feminist Interventions In The Criminalization Of Sex-Related Violence In Positive International Criminal Law, Janet Halley

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article examines the work of organized feminism in the formation of new international criminal tribunals over the course of the 1990s. It focuses on the statutes establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and the International Criminal Court (ICC). It offers a description of the evolving organizational style of feminists involved in the legislative processes leading to the establishment of these courts, and a description of their reform agenda read against the outcomes in each court-establishing statute. At each stage, the Article counts up the feminist victories and defeats, …

Judicial Reasoning About Pregnancy And Choice, Jocelyn Downie, Chris Kaposy

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Women in Canada are at risk of abortion becoming increasingly difficult to access. In its landmark 1988 ruling, R. v. Morgentaler, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the prohibition of abortion in section 251 of the Criminal Code on the grounds that it violated a section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees, among other things, "security of the person". However, all of the justices who ruled that section 25 unconstitutional nonetheless claimed that protecting the fetus is a valid objective of federal legislation, leaving open the possibility that a different and carefully crafted law against abortion …

Female Genital Mutilation: Exploring Strategies For Ending Ritualized Torture; Shaming, Blaming, And Utilizing The Convention Against Torture, Patricia A. Broussard

Journal Publications

The intent of this article is to graphically describe female genital mutilation (FGM); discuss the background of FGM and its health, psychological, and social implications; propose some workable solutions to ending FGM; and raise the level of awareness of the pain and suffering of women around the world. In part, this article will discuss invoking the Convention against Torture against those nations unwilling to end this horrific practice. There is also a caveat to this article: the author acknowledges that discussing solutions to the practice of FGM is not a simplistic and straight-forward endeavor. Solutions to ending FGM are as …

Gender Struggles In Homosocial Settings: Reconstructing Gender And Social Equity Sustainability In Post-Colonial Societies, Bosire Maragia

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Reproductive Injustice: An Analysis Of Nicaragua's Complete Abortion Ban, Jocelyn E. Getgen

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Giving Birth In Shackles: A Constitutional And Human Rights Violation, Dana L. Sichel

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

"Protecting" Women's Health: How Gonzales V. Carhart Endangers Women's Health And Women's Equal Right To Personhood Under The Constitution, Martha K. Plante

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Regulating Pregnancy Behaviors: How The Constitutional Rights Of Minority Women Are Disproportionately Compromised, Joanne E. Brosh, Monica K. Miller

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Equality's Future: An Introduction, Victoria Nourse

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

We stand at an extraordinary moment: never before have so many powerful men wished to be women. For the first time in history, a massive number of male and female voters--18 million in fact--cast their ballots to nominate a woman, Senator Hillary Clinton, to be President of the United States. Disappointed at Senator Clinton's failure to win the Democratic Party's nomination, many women threatened to bolt the party. Sensing opportunity, the Republican Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, promptly named as his vice-presidential running mate the first woman ever nominated by the Republican Party to a Presidential ticket. And, not to …

Casa Of Maryland And The Battle Regarding Human Trafficking And Domestic Worker Rights, Elizabeth Keyes

All Faculty Scholarship

At the November 2006 symposium presented by the University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class, the panelists discussed various issues regarding human trafficking. One entity at the forefront of the fight against human trafficking is CASA of Maryland. This article contains remarks originally made by the author that focused the topic of human trafficking on one particular group of workers: domestic workers. That particular group provides an interesting study because of the many race and gender issues that are wrapped up in the treatment of domestic workers under the law.

Daughters Of The Nile: The Evolution Of Feminism In Egypt, Mohamed Younis

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Immigration Relief For Human Trafficking Victims: Focusing The Lens On The Human Rights Of Victims, Carole Angel

Women, Leadership & Equality

No abstract provided.

Seeking Integral Reparations For The Murders And Disappearances Of Women In Ciudad Juárez: A Gender And Cultural Perspective, Jorge Calderón Gamboa

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Transphobia And The Relational Production Of Gender, Elaine Craig

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Knowing one's place in the social order, whether that place is one of relative privilege or not, serves two psychologically ameliorative functions. It relieves one from the “anxiety of [gender] identity interrogation” and it helps to inform one as to the socially agreed upon, acceptable conduct for interpersonal exchanges--the episteme of social interaction. This Paper will demonstrate that gender identity is produced through relational, contextually influenced, interpretative processes. Because gender is constructed in societies which strongly embrace static, binary conceptions of gender, and in which social, familial, occupational, and sexual *139 interactions are heavily influenced by gendered social scripts, gender …

In The Back Alleys Of Health Care: Abortion, Equality And Community In Canada, Joanna Erdman

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The decriminalization of abortion in Canada ensured neither its availability nor accessibility as an integrated and publicly funded health service. While Canadian women are increasingly referred to or seek abortion services from single-purpose clinics, their exclusion from public health insurance often render these services inaccessible. This article considers denied funding for clinic abortion services from the perspective of the Canadian constitutional guarantee of sex equality. The article focuses on the 2004 Court of Queen's Bench's judgment in Jane Doe I v. Manitoba, which framed denied public funding for clinic abortion services as a violation of women's equality rights under the …

Transphobia And The Relational Production Of Gender, Elaine Craig

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Knowing one's place in the social order, whether that place is one of relative privilege or not, serves two psychologically ameliorative functions. It relieves one from the “anxiety of [gender] identity interrogation” and it helps to inform one as to the socially agreed upon, acceptable conduct for interpersonal exchanges--the episteme of social interaction. This Paper will demonstrate that gender identity is produced through relational, contextually influenced, interpretative processes. Because gender is constructed in societies which strongly embrace static, binary conceptions of gender, and in which social, familial, occupational, and sexual *139 interactions are heavily influenced by gendered social scripts, gender …

Judicial Selection As It Relates To Gender Equality On The Bench, Adam Goldstein

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the relationship between judicial selection methods and gender equality on the bench, arguing that merit selection does not necessarily lead to greater gender diversity compared to other methods like appointments or elections. Despite claims that merit-based systems promote diversity, empirical evidence suggests that elected judges may achieve comparable or greater gender representation.

Technological Advancement And International Human Rights: Is Science Improving Human Life Or Perpetuating Human Rights Violations?, Christine A. Khalili-Borna

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note assesses the practices of pre-implantation and prenatal genetic screening and sex-determination through an international human rights framework founded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

American Husbandry: Legal Norms Impacting The Production Of (Re)Productivity, Camille Nelson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article concentrates on the normative legal structure that established complete control over female slaves by sanctioning their subjugation to further slaveholders’ profit maximization and social domination. The criminal law sanctioned the rape of slave women, and the legal doctrine of partus sequitur ventrem mandated that the legal status of children born to slave women was determined by the mother’s legal status. The slave master derived an economic benefit from ensuring slave women had as many children as possible. This system ensured that slave women held no legally protected autonomy over their own bodies or over their own offspring.

Such …

Democracy, Gender, And Governance: Introduction, Darren Rosenblum

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Since at least the mid 1990s and the Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing, gender as an analytic category and as a programmatic concern has become a mainstream part of international law. While feminists have traditionally understood their relation to international law in critical terms and from their position as outsiders, this turn toward gender equality places at least some feminists and some of their projects within the governance structure of international law itself. This crucial shift from exclusion to partial inclusion merits examination.

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.