Law and Gender Commons^™

The Genuine Article: A Subversive Economic Perspective On The Law's Procreationist Vision Of Marriage, Courtney Megan Cahill

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Judging Magic: Can You See The Sleight Of Hand?, Rebecca Johnson

Michigan Law Review

Cultural critic bell hooks says, "Movies make magic. They change things. They take the real and make it into something else right before our very eyes." Movies do not, of course, have an exclusive hold on this ability to change one thing into something else. Law, too, possesses this power. Certainly, one must acknowledge some significant differences in the "magic" of filmic and legal texts. For the most part, as willing consumers of cultural products, we "choose" to subject ourselves to the magic of film. We sit in a darkened theater and let ourselves be taken away to a different …

Cold Comfort Pharmacy: Pharmacist Tort Liability For Conscientious Refusals To Dispense Emergency Contraception, Kristen Marttila Gast

ExpressO

The past several years have seen an increasing number of pharmacists refuse to dispense emergency contraception, an effective, post-coital form of contraception, on the grounds that the drug violates their personal beliefs. This Article addresses the impact of those pharmacist refusals under existing principles of tort law. The Article draws on existing pharmacy case law, state-specific refusal clauses, and ethics statements promulgated by professional pharmacy associations to investigate whether pharmacists have a legal duty to dispense emergency contraception, notwithstanding religious or ethical objections. Concluding that in most states, such a legal duty does exist, the Article develops a “wrongful conception” …

Hitting The Legal Diversity Market Home: Minority Women Strike Out , Leeann O'Neill

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Building A New Paradigm For The Women's Movement: Spotlight On Kiran Ahuja , Parag Khandhar

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

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 …

Toward A Third-Wave Feminist Legal Theory: Young Women, Pornography And The Praxis Of Pleasure, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article critically examines a growing body of non-legal writing by women who have proclaimed a third-wave of feminism and suggests the ways that legal theory might be enriched by this work. Scholars typically label the nineteenth-century woman suffrage movement as the first wave of feminism, and view the legal and social activism of the 1970s as the second wave of feminism. The third wave of feminism, with its intellectual origins in the response to the Clarence Thomas Senate confirmation hearings, is a reaction to the popular stereotype that feminists are humorless man-haters. Third-wave feminists proclaim their difference from second-wave …

The Constitution As Idea: Describing - Defining - Deciding In Kelo, Marc L. Roark

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

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.

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.

Subverting The Marriage-Amendment Crusade With Law And Policy Reform, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

New Jersey’S Civil Union Law: A Constitutional “Equal” Creates Inequality, Thomas H. Prol

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Informed Consent For Routine Infant Circumcision: A Proposal, David Solomon

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Falling To Pieces: New York State Civil Legal Remedies Available To Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Survivors Of Domestic Violence, Sharon Stapel

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rocks, Hard Places, And Unconventional Domestic Violence Victims: Expanding Availability Of Civil Orders Of Protection In New York, Sarah E. Warne

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mapping Alimony: From Status To Contract And Beyond, Gaytri Kachroo

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “With the introduction of no-fault divorce, one spouse could unilaterally petition for divorce, in most states, by demonstrating a period of separation or the impossibility of reconciliation. The possibility that a marriage can be dissolved without a showing of fault has obliterated the need to seek consent from the other spouse contesting it. This can preclude the need for a mutually designed financial arrangement. Courts now play a greater role in such financial arrangements and are more likely to conform such financial arrangements to statutory standards. From state to state, despite the prevalence of such conforming by courts, resulting …

Learning To Love After Learning To Harm: Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Gender Equality And Cultural Values, Penelope Andrews

Articles & Chapters

The question that the Jacob Zuma rape trial and its aftermath raised was how a country like South Africa, with such a wonderful Constitution and expansive Bill of Rights, could generate such negative and retrogressive attitudes towards women. In line with this inquiry, this article raises three issues: The first focuses on the legacy of apartheid violence and specifically the cultures of masculinity, the underbelly of apartheid violence. Second, the article explores the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a vital part of the post-apartheid transformation agenda, to examine how the TRC pursued violations of women's human rights. …

International Union, U.A.W. V. Johnson Controls: The History Of Litigation Alliances And Mobilization To Challenge Fetal Protection Policies, Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, Susan P. Sturm

Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court's decision in Johnson Controls is the culmination of a long legal campaign by labor, women's rights, and workplace safety advocates to invalidate restrictions on women's employment based on pregnancy. This campaign powerfully demonstrates the use of amicus briefs as opportunities to link the efforts of groups with overlapping agendas and to shape the Supreme Court's understanding of the surrounding empirical, social and political context. But Johnson Controls also provides important lessons about the narrowing effects and fragility of litigation-centered mobilization. The case affirmed an important anti-discrimination principle but ironically left women (and men) with the right to …

The Meaning Of “Life”: The Morning-After-Pill, The Question Of When Life Begins, And Judicial Review, Jason M. Horst

ExpressO

The Article foresees that certain state legislation limiting access to the morning-after-pill will thrust the question of when life begins onto the courts. This is due both to fact that the morning-after-pill has the potential to act at a point when the existence of potential life is in dispute and largely a matter of belief and to the fact that the constitutionality of the legislation may depend on whether courts consider the morning-after-pill abortion or contraception.

The Article argues that courts should address the question of whether to consider the morning-after-pill abortion or contraception by attempting to adopt and apply …

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.

Confronting Conventional Thinking: The Heuristics Problem In Feminist Legal Theory, Nancy Levit

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

“Actions As Words, Words As Actions: Sexual Harassment Law, The First Amendment And Verbal Acts, John F. Wirenius

ExpressO

The article examines the tension between the hostile work environment under the civil rights laws and the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, even when such speech is offensive and even discriminatory. After discussing the tension and its limits, the author examines other rationales proposed to resolve this tension, and rejecting them as unsatisfactory. Noting that hostile work environment doctrine, as a variable standard, employs a less “bright-line” approach than is typical of the First Amendment’s rule, the author nonetheless finds that the “open texture” of all rules, and the requirement that a hostile work environment be systematically pervasive or …

Imagining The Law-Trained Reader: The Faulty Description Of The Audience In Legal Writing Textbooks., Jessica E. Price

ExpressO

In law schools today, first-year legal writing courses play a crucial role in helping students learn to communicate about the law. Many legal writing teachers approach legal writing education in a practical way, attempting to pass on their own experiences in law practice settings to students. Unfortunately, as other writers have observed, such reliance on personal knowledge about “what lawyers are like” may lead legal writing teachers to oversimplify a complicated matter – the needs and preferences of the audience for legal writing – and may even amount to indoctrination in stereotypes about law practice. This article offers a closer …

The Uncertain Future Of Marriage And The Alternatives, Daniel I. Weiner

ExpressO

The cultural and institutional predominance of marriage in our society has lately been challenged by two important social trends: growing dissatisfaction with or indifference to marriage on the part of those eligible to marry, and the emergence of nontraditional families headed by adults who may wish to marry but are presently excluded from doing so. This Essay argues that proactive law reformers have responded to these trends by taking two very different approaches. The first approach, “diversity of forms,” is exemplified by the cultivation of alternatives and substitutes to traditional marriage ranging from same and opposite-sex domestic partnerships and other …

Parental Consent And Notification Laws In The Abortion Context: Rejecting The "Maturity" Standard In Judicial Bypass Proceedings, Anna Bonny

ExpressO

The choice to become a parent, to give a baby up for adoption, or to terminate a pregnancy presents a life-altering decision for a minor. The majority of states require minors to engage their parents or legal guardians in their choice to obtain an abortion, but not in decisions to give their babies up for adoption or to become parents. Though the Supreme Court has held that parental consent and notification laws do not infringe on a minor's constitutional rights if judicial bypass options are available, the reality of these judicial proceedings demonstrates a biased and unworkable legal avenue. Even …

Multistable Figures: Sexual Orientation Visibility And Its Effects On The Experiences Of Sexual Minorities In The Courts, Todd Brower

ExpressO

A multistable figure is a cognitive illusion in which a single drawing contains multiple, competing images. On first viewing a person will see one image, but not the other – it usually requires additional information to trigger the viewer’s awareness of the second image. However, once you know about the disparate figures in the illustration, you cannot erase that knowledge from your mind and see a sole image as you did originally. This inability to ignore information and its effect on subsequent experience has parallels in lesbians’ and gay men’s treatment in the courts.

Courts today are deeply involved in …

Domestic Violence And Legal Reforms In Nigeria: Prospects And Challenges, Itoro Eze-Anaba

ExpressO

The article focuses on the challenges for women’s rights activists attempting to provide a better legal regime for victims of domestic violence in Nigeria. It is my desire to provide a resource material on the issue of domestic violence for activists, policy makers, legislators and law reformers who are engaged in providing a better legal framework for the protection and promotion of women’s rights in a developing country like Nigeria. Having worked extensively on this issue, the article documents my experience on law reform advocacy in Nigeria.

The Purpose Of Child Support, Ira M. Ellman

ExpressO

What is the appropriate amount of child support to require in particular cases? How should we take account, if at all, of subsequent events such as either parent’s remarriage? It seems obvious that the answers to such questions ought to turn on our purpose in requiring support payments in the first place. But while fixing the amount of child support can be politically contentious, and has attracted the attention of partisans on both sides of the gender gap, the literature contains no systematic examination of support rules in light of their underlying policy purpose. This article fills that gap. It …

Abortion: Ensuring Access, Sanda Rodgers, Jocelyn Downie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Access to reproductive health care is essential to women’s health, and for some women, abortion is a key component of that care. But not all women in Canada have adequate, or in some cases any, access to abortion. It is important for Canadian physicians to know the facts about access to abortion so that they can better protect and promote the health of their female patients.

Women Fighting Poverty In Cameroon: A Legal Perspective!, Geraldine Chin C K G Chin

ExpressO

Poverty in Sub Saharan Africa has many causes, which range from the impact of the Structural Adjustment Programs, the huge foreign debt and policies that encourage mismanagement of state resources. This growing poverty and underdevelopment has attracted the attention of the international community to pursue programs aimed at attaining the UN Millennium Development Goals, foreign debt relief and increased development aid. During the introduction of policies that brought about economic hardship, African women were not consulted and their voices were not heard. Yet it is these women who feel most of the impact of these policies. During the period of …