Law and Gender Commons^™

Sisters In Law: Black Women Lawyers' Struggle For Advancement, Carla Pratt

Faculty Articles

While the presence of women in law school and the legal profession has improved greatly, the uncomfortable reality is that women tend to occupy positions in the legal profession that subordinate them to men. This reality is even more glaring when the position of black women is examined. Black women carry the burden of multiple consciousness which influences every aspect of their professional lives. Multiple consciousness means that black women must be mindful of their professional identity, their gender and their race in navigating the pipeline to power. This paper will explore the multiple consciousness that intersecting identities invoke and …

Surviving Castle Rock: The Human Rights Of Domestic Violence, Max D. Siegel

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article critically examines the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales and its broader implications for domestic violence survivors' rights. It argues that the Court's adherence to a "Negative Constitution," which limits government obligations to citizens, fails to protect vulnerable populations and violates international human rights standards. The article advocates for incorporating international law into U.S. jurisprudence to address systemic failures in responding to domestic violence.

Annotated Legal Bibliography On Gender

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Masthead, Cardozo Journal Of Law & Gender, Vol. 20 (2013–14)

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Circumcision Or Mutilation - Voluntary Or Forced Excision - Extricating The Ethical And Legal Issues In Female Genital Ritual, Obiajulu Nnamuchi

Journal of Law and Health

This Article consists of seven sections. Following the introduction, Part II reconstructs the debate as to whether Female Genital Ritual is a legitimate cultural practice or a human rights violation, and it sets forth the major arguments. Part III delves into, and debunks, the moral relativist argument regarding FGR. Part IV seeks to determine whether FGM is evil. A foray into the theory of evil, the section draws critical distinctions between FC and FGM and explains why the distinctions are of paramount moral importance. Part IV also concludes that FGM is evil, and thus, among the issues related to the …

Reforming The Safe Haven In Ohio: Protecting The Rights Of Mothers Through Anonymity, Brittany Neal

Journal of Law and Health

This Note discusses the conflict between the statewide safe haven law and the Ohio juvenile rules regarding procedure. It purports that to protect the rights of new mothers and retain the essential element of anonymity, Ohio’s Juvenile Rule 1(C) needs to be amended to maintain the state’s current safe haven law. Therefore, because of the statewide threat Ohio courts place on Ohio’s safe haven law, Juvenile Rule 1(C) needs to explicitly provide for an additional exception in cases of child relinquishment. Section II of this Note discusses the beginning of state safe haven legislation and what the laws are attempting …

Female Law Students, Gendered Self-Evaluation, And The Promise Of Positive Psychology, Dara Purvis

Faculty Scholarship

For the last several decades, studies and surveys have shown that female law students perform worse and feel worse about their experiences in law school than do male students. Hidden in average figures, however, is a subgroup of female students who thrive. Positive psychology, focusing on what traits make people happy rather than how to alleviate depression, provides novel ideas of how to improve legal education for women without making accommodations specifically targeting gender.

Book Review, Barbara Babcock's Woman Lawyer: The Trials Of Clara Foltz, Tracy A. Thomas

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Woman Lawyer tells the story of Clara Foltz, who in 1878 became the first female lawyer in California. Today her legacy is memorialized in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles. The courthouse recognizes Foltz’s efforts to establish the office of the public defender. Barbara Babcock is eager to tell Foltz’s story, and the details come tumbling out.

Remediating Discrimination Against African American Females At The Intersection Of Title Ix And Title Vi, Alfred Dennis Mathewson

Faculty Scholarship

In Part I, I present a brief treatment of intersectionality in anti-discrimination law focusing on the distinction between cause of action and remedy. Harm caused by gender or racial discrimination may give rise to causes of action based on equal protection principles." In Part II, I go further and argue that the primary intersectionality problem presented by Title IX is one of remedy. I conclude that the differences in the remedial effects of Title IX result, in part, from unremedied racial discrimination, a conclusion that begins with Professor Jerome Dees's argument that Brown v. Board of Education and anti-discrimination laws …

The Gendered Aspects Of Social Justice Work And Occupational Segregation In The Legal Academy: A Review Of 2003, Barbara Cox

Faculty Scholarship

My service as chair of the Section on Women in Legal Education ("Section") was rather unusual. I started serving on the Executive Committee in 1999 and became Chair-Elect in 2001. Veryl Miles (Catholic) was Chair for 2001 but became Deputy Director of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in August that year, so I served out her term as Interim Chair from August 1 to December 31, 2001. Then I became Chair-Elect again in 2002 (because I was on sabbatical that year and could not serve as Chair) and Vernellia Randall agreed to step in as Chair. I served …

A "Neo-Feminist" Assessment Of Rape And Domestic Violence Law Reform, Aya Gruber

Publications

No abstract provided.

When The Cure Makes You Ill: Seven Core Principles To Change The Course Of Youth Justice, Gabrielle Prisco

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Motherhood And The Constitution: (Re)Thinking The Power Of Women To Facilitate Change, Angela Mae Kupenda

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

However, this essay suggests a different, or additional, approach. Rather than focusing on the many barriers to equality originating from others, this essay focuses on women's power to forge equality. Some of this power is cloaked, unharnessed, and underutilized. This essay is intended to challenge women to reconstitute the power of motherhood as a means of transforming not only families, but also law and society. This essay suggests the power of women to be mothering teachers and teaching mothers. Women have a choice, even an affirmative duty, to unharness their power to facilitate change and shape a status quo of …

Of Wife And The Domestic Servant In The Arab World, Lama Abu-Odeh

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The author asserts to avoid common misunderstandings on the relevance of Sharia to modern women in the Arab World that a) Shari’s relevance to the lives of modern women in the Arab World has been largely confined to the area of family law, b) in the modern nation state Sharia has been codified, i.e., certain rules derived from Islamic jurisprudence on the family have been selected and passed as laws, each nation state having its own unique combination of such rules, c) the courts and the judges who adjudicate disputes on family law are either secular courts/judges, or judges trained …

Pregnancy As 'Disability' And The Amended Americans With Disabilities Act, Jeannette Cox

School of Law Faculty Publications

The recent expansion of the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) protected class invites reexamination of the assumption that pregnant workers may not use the ADA to obtain workplace accommodations. The ADA’s scope now includes persons with minor temporary physical limitations comparable to pregnancy’s physical effects. Accordingly, the primary remaining justification for concluding that pregnant workers may not obtain ADA accommodations is that pregnancy is a physically healthy condition rather than a physiological defect. Drawing on the social model of disability, this Article challenges the assumption that medical diagnosis of “defect” must be a prerequisite to disability accommodation eligibility. The social …

Uncomfortable Places, Close Spaces: Theorizing Female Correctional Officers’ Sexual Interactions With Men And Boys In Custody, Brenda V. Smith

Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Articles

This Article examines female-perpetrated sexual abuse in custodial settings and its place at the intersection of race, class, and gender in order to disentangle complex and overlapping narratives of abuse, sex, desire, and transgression. Ultimately, this Article confronts our discomfort with and reluctance to acknowledge the fact that women sexually abuse men and boys in custody, and it offers possible explanations for these behaviors.

Woman Scorned?: Resurrecting Infertile Women's Decision-Making Autonomy, Jody L. Madeira

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Legal scholarship portrays women as reproductive decision makers in conflicting ways. The distinctions between depictions of infertile women and women considering abortion are particularly striking. A woman seeking infertility treatment, even one who faces no legal obstacles, is often portrayed as so emotionally distraught and desperate that her ability to give informed consent is potentially compromised. Yet, the legal academy has roundly rejected similar stereotypes of pregnant women considering abortion, depicting them as confident and competent decision makers. This Article argues that legal scholars' use of a "desperate woman" stereotype denies women's ability to critically assess the health risks and …

"The Birth Of Death": Stillborn Birth Certificates And The Problem For Law, Carol Sanger

Faculty Scholarship

Stillbirth is a confounding event, a reproductive moment that at once combines birth and death. This Essay discusses the complications of this simultaneity as a social experience and as a matter of law. While traditionally, stillbirth didn't count for much on either score, this is no longer the case. Familiarity with fetal life through obstetric ultrasound has transformed stillborn children into participating members of their families long before birth, and this in turn has led to a novel demand on law.

Dissatisfied with the issuance of a stillborn death certificate, bereaved parents of stillborn babies have successfully lobbied state legislatures …

The Lawmaking Family, Noa Ben-Asher

Faculty Publications

Increasingly there are conflicts over families trying to “opt out” of various legal structures, especially public school education. Examples of opting-out conflicts include a father seeking to exempt his son from health education classes; a mother seeking to exempt her daughter from mandatory education about the perils of female sexuality; and a vegetarian student wishing to opt out of in-class frog dissection. The Article shows that, perhaps paradoxically, the right to direct the upbringing of children was more robust before it was constitutionalized by the Supreme Court in Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) and Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925). In …

Unsex Mothering: Towards A New Culture Of Parenting, Darren Rosenblum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

I was, until recently, a pregnant man. I explored some of the issues that arose along my path to parenthood in a recent essay titled Pregnant Man?: A Conversation. My husband and I began the process of having a child several years ago when we hired a surrogacy agency that works primarily with gay male couples. After a complex process, we are now raising our daughter.

As a parent, I confront a far more sexed area of life than I have ever encountered before. Everyone congratulates my partner and me on being “fathers,” even though within our home we …

A Case Of Conflict Of Cultures: End-Of-Life Decision Making Among Asian Americans, Pat K. Chew

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This essay presents a case example of a conflict between two cultures. One culture is the U.S. mainstream culture, as illustrated in a federal statute, the Patient Self-Determination Act. This statute provides legal guidelines for health care providers dealing with individuals' end-of-life decision making. Lawyers and health care providers refer to these guidelines in their counseling and treatments, apparently assuming that these guidelines are in the best interest of those they serve. The other culture is Asian American culture and its approach to end-of-life decision making. As this essay will discuss, Asian Americans have strong and long-established beliefs, values, and …

"There Is A World Elsewhere": Preliminary Studies On Alternatives To Interest-Based Bargaining, F. Peter Phillips

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

We live in an Age of Reason, which our predecessors were pleased to call an Age of Enlightenment. The laws of physics and molecular chemistry, not the appearance of angels to shepherds, define our social expectations. In economics and in politics, we accept the guidance of a collective rationale, an Invisible Hand that, if it doesn't predict, nevertheless records the aggregate of decisions made by millions of social actors, each expressing not the general welfare but their individual self-interest.

Subordinate Bias Liability, Theresa M. Beiner

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Female Disease: The Unintentional Gendering Of Fibromyalgia Social Security Claims, Dara Purvis

Faculty Scholarship

Social Security disability claims are not supposed to be decided based on the gender of the applicant. Reliance on the apparently neutral mechanism of clinical medical evidence, however, has a disproportionate impact on women bringing disability claims based on fibromyalgia. Recognizing and identifying disability has been delegated by Congress and the Social Security Administration almost entirely to physicians, based upon a misguided and mistaken belief that clinical medical evidence evaluated by a trained physician will answer with certainty whether an individual claimant is capable of working. Fibromyalgia, a diffuse syndrome characterized by excess pain that is overwhelmingly diagnosed in women …

Table Of Contents - Cardozo Journal Of Law & Gender, Vol. 18, Iss. 3

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Can Equitable Estoppel Be Used As An Effective Way For A Legal Parent To Obtain Child Support For The Children Of A Separated Same-Sex Couple?, Josh Smolow

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Sex Change: Changing The Face Of Transgender Policy In The United States, Amy Ballard

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that transgender laws in the United States are inconsistent and unjust, with a lack of a uniform legal definition of transgender. The 2010 passport policy, which allows gender changes without surgery, highlights the need for comprehensive legal reform. The author advocates for a standardized legal definition and procedures to ensure consistent rights and protections for transgender individuals.

Looking At Regional Trade Agreements Through The Lens Of Gender, Constance Z. Wagner

All Faculty Scholarship

This article focuses on an unresolved issue within international trade law and policy, namely whether there is a need to consider gender-differentiated impacts of trade agreements and if so, how such impacts should be addressed. The author argues in favor of a gender aware approach to trade, discussing this topic within the context of regional trade agreements (“RTAs”), which are being used increasingly as a route to economic integration among nations. While there is evidence of gender-differentiated impacts of trade liberalization, there has been little progress made in advancing an agenda to address gender issues at the level of multilateral …

Gender, Family, And Work, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

The country has prohibited sex discrimination since the 1960’s, but society continues to view women and men differently because women give birth, breastfeed, and are traditional caregivers. This article takes a historical look at court decisions and legislative efforts to address equality where men and women are not similarly situated and also explores recent developments and current debates, such as caregiver discrimination, lactation rooms and breaks, and the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. Despite the abundance of legislation and court decisions over the past forty years, much progress still needs to be made.

How (Not) To Talk About Abortion, Meredith J. Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

In this essay, I aim to have a conversation about how we converse- how we talk-about abortion and related issues. In the process, I want to consider how we might come together to discover issues of shared commitment and values and transform the existing abortion debate. I begin with a review of some of the more notable abortion-related rhetoric during the 2012 Virginia General Assembly, and contrast that rhetoric with the discourse in my classroom. I then consider whether and how we might move forward together toward a more meaningful and productive dialogue on these issues.