Law and Gender Commons^™

The Role Of Political And Social Movements On Women’S Entry Into The Legal Profession In Maryland (1902-1918), Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

The rise of women in the legal profession in Maryland was shaped by a wide range of factors, including national, state, and local political and social movements. As one scholar has noted, "[W] omen's lives are complex and .. . region, period, personality, and circumstance crucially influence what a subject is able to make of herself."' In this chapter, I explore how those circumstances-- personal and political-influenced the first group of eight women admitted to the Maryland Bar between 1902 and 1920. These women-Etta Maddox, Anna Grace Kennedy, Emilie Doetsch, Marie Elizabeth Kirk Coles, Mary Virginia Meushaw, Helen F. Hill, …

The Stereotyped Offender: Domestic Violence And The Failure Of Intervention, Carolyn B. Ramsey

Publications

Scholars and battered women's advocates now recognize that many facets of the legal response to intimate-partner abuse stereotype victims and harm abuse survivors who do not fit commonly accepted paradigms. However, it is less often acknowledged that the feminist analysis of domestic violence also tends to stereotype offenders and that state action, including court-mandated batterer intervention, is premised on these offender stereotypes. The feminist approach can be faulted for minimizing or denying the role of substance abuse, mental illness, childhood trauma, race, culture, and poverty in intimate-partner abuse. Moreover, those arrested for domestic violence crimes now include heterosexual women, lesbians, …

Toward A Political Sociology Of Conjugal-Recognition Regimes: Gendered Multiculturalism In South African Marriage Law, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

While conjugal-recognition policies are often a subject of political debate, scholarly attempts to explain such policies are relatively rare and typically focused on discrete policies—same-sex marriage, no-fault divorce, etc.—with comparatively little investigation of potential connections among policies. This article begins to develop a more holistic approach focused on explaining and understanding what I call conjugal-recognition regimes. Adapting the concept from the existing literature on welfare regimes, I argue that conjugal-recognition regimes exist when an identifiable pattern or principle organizes an institution’s conjugal-recognition policy and thereby shapes social relations at multiple levels, from the individuals in conjugal relationships to the multiple …

Report From The Restorative Justice Process At The Dalhousie University Faculty Of Dentistry, Jennifer Llewellyn, Jacob Mcissac, Melissa Mackay

Reports & Public Policy Documents

In December 2014, female students in Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Dentistry filed complaints under the University’s Sexual Harassment Policy after they became aware some of their male colleagues had posted offensive material about them in a private Facebook group. The select materials revealed from the Facebook group reflected misogynistic, sexist and homophobic attitudes. At the complainants’ request, the University began a restorative justice process to investigate the matter, address the harms it caused and examine the climate and culture within the Faculty that may have influenced the offensive nature of the Facebook group’s content. Twenty-nine students from the class of …

5th Circuit Likely To Strike Down Gay Marriage Bans: An Analysis Of The Hearing, Ari Ezra Waldman

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Lesbian Palimony Claim Can Proceed In Illinois, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

No Religious Out For Firefighters Staffing Engine In Pride Parade, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Incarcerated Child Birth And “Broader Birth Control”: Autonomy, Regulation, And The State, Deborah Ahrens

Faculty Articles

In recent years, the scholarly literature, the journalistic press, and even pop culture have begun to grapple with the many ways in which prison life works to degrade and dehumanize female prisoners, particularly pregnant women and new mothers. These voices are drawn — quite understandably — to the worst abuses, to practices (such as the shackling of laboring women) that underscore the dichotomy between the brutality of prison life and the allegedly autonomous norms governing pregnancy and parenting in the outside world. This article supplements — and in crucial places challenges — the narrative implicit in those depictions by, first, …

Transitions: From Danielle To Daniel, From Victim To Advocate, Daniel Bryner, Starcia Ague

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Girls’ Court: A Gender Responsive Juvenile Court Alternative, Wendy S. Heipt

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Why Feminism Matters To The Study Of Law, Kim Brooks

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Queen’s Law Faculty is home to Feminist Legal Studies Queen’s, a research group that expands awareness and development of scholarship in feminist legal studies, enables the development of feminist legal scholars at Queen's, and fosters connections among feminists with an interest in law. In Fall 2014, I had the privilege of returning to Queen’s Law to give the first seminar in FLSQ’s 2014-2015 lecture series. I was tasked with providing some reflections on why feminist legal theory matters. What follows is the text from the talk.

Examining The Websites Of Canada’S ‘Top Sex Crime Lawyers’: The Ethical Parameters Of Online Commercial Expression By The Criminal Defence Bar, Elaine Craig

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Online advertising has become a primary source of information about legal services. This trend towards web-based marketing of legal services poses new challenges to the regulation of the legal profession. Challenges which, to date, have not been fully met. It also creates a new source of data for researchers studying aspects of the legal profession such as legal ethics, lawyers’ perspectives and strategies, and legal discourse. The objective of this study is to examine the most prominent websites in Canada that advertise legal representation for individuals accused of sexual offences. The study of these websites yielded two types of observations …

Compelling Interests And Contraception, Neil S. Siegel, Reva B. Siegel

Faculty Scholarship

On the eve of Griswold v. Connecticut’s fiftieth anniversary, employers are bringing challenges under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to federal laws requiring them to include contraception in the health insurance benefits that they offer their employees. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, five Justices asserted that the government has compelling interests in ensuring employees access to contraception, but did not discuss those interests in any detail. In what follows, we clarify those interests by connecting discussion in the Hobby Lobby opinions and the federal government’s briefs to related cases on compelling interests and individual rights in the areas …

The Evidentiary Rules Of Engagement In The War Against Domestic Violence, Erin R. Collins

Law Faculty Publications

Our criminal justice system promises defendants a fair and just adjudication of guilt, regardless of the character of the alleged offense. Yet, from mandatory arrest to "no-drop" prosecution policies, the system's front-end response to domestic violence reflects the belief that it differs from other crimes in ways that permit or require the adaptation of criminal justice response mechanisms. Although scholars debate whether these differential responses are effective or normatively sound, the scholarship leaves untouched the presumption that, once the adjudicatory phase is underway, the system treats domestic violence offenses like any other crime.

This Article reveals that this presumption is …

Gendering The Compliance Agenda: Feminism, Human Rights And Violence Against Women, Megan Louise Pearce

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that while the due diligence standard in international human rights law has been a significant step forward in addressing violence against women, it has not yet delivered real change. The gap between legal promise and reality persists, and the article contends that addressing this gap requires integrating feminist insights into compliance theories. By applying feminist critiques to these theories, the article seeks to illuminate why the due diligence standard has been ineffective in eliminating violence against women and to highlight areas for future research.

Accident Of Birth Or Matter Of Choice: Legal Recognition Of Transsexual People In The Common Law, Kevin K.S. Tso

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The purpose of the Article is to look at the recognition-or lack thereof-of transsexual people at common law in relation to the "proper" sex and gender with which they associate themselves. This Article will begin by addressing and defining transsexualism and how the medical community's position on this topic has evolved over the years. It will then look at the historical foundations of transsexualism in the common law, especially at the Corbett decision that held sway in England and Wales for over thirty-five years and was followed internationally. The Article will then provide an overview of the current positions in …

Challenge It, Choose It, Or Change It: Ethics Of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy For Minors, Scott Mccoy, Tia Powell, Hayley Gorenberg, Matthew Shurka, Stephen Hayford, Brad Hoylman, Edward Stein

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

To Pee Or Not To Pee? "Where" Is The Question: Transgender Students And The Right To Use Public School Restrooms, Melissa Sterling

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Dressed To Oppress? An Analysis Of The Legal Treatment Of The First Amendment And Its Effect On Muslim Women Who Wear Hijabs, Nida Alvi

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the legal treatment of Muslim women's right to wear hijabs in the United States, arguing that while the First Amendment protects religious expression, Muslim women often face discrimination and undue burdens in schools, employment, and public spaces. The analysis highlights how courts and institutions frequently question the sincerity of their religious beliefs and impose assimilationist pressures, undermining true religious freedom.

Annotated Legal Bibliography On Gender

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide: The Absence Of Public Policy On Intimate Partner Violence Abrogates The Rights To Health Care And Bodily Integrity Under The South African Constitution, Stu Woolman, Courtenay Sprague

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

An estimated 31-55% of South African women experience lfetime intimate partner violence ("IPV'). The imminent danger of physical, psychological or sexual violence that all South African women face daily not only threatens their very existence, it impairs their development and agency, and thus the ability of each woman to pursue a lfe that reflects her own comprehensive vision of a fulfilling way of being in the world. This article first establishes the legal basis for the proposition that the South African Constitution and South Africa's international obligations require a form of public intervention that has the ability to diminish IP …

Contested Spaces During Transition: Regime Change In Myanmar And Its Implications For Women, Amy Barrow

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

This article examines recent political and legal developments in Myanmar to promote and protect Buddhism and their implications for women. Myanmar is currently undergoing political regime change. While periods of transition often present an opportunity to contest stereotypical gender roles and discriminatory cultural practices, a rise in Buddhist ethno-nationalism risks undermining women's "spaces" in society. Drawing on qualitative research interviews with members of civil society and other actors in Yangon, this article discusses the accelerated development of laws on the protection of race and religion alongside the parallel development of Myanmar's first law specifically addressing violence against women, to explore …

The Sisyphean Course Of Combating Gender Discrimination In The Federal Marketplace For Prime Contracts: Rolling The Boulder Of Small Business Size, Anna S. Molina

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Hoop Dreams Deferred: The Wnba, The Nba, And The Long-Standing Gender Inequity At The Game’S Highest Level, N. Jeremy Duru

Utah Law Review

From the beginning, the WNBA—which was born of the NBA’s approval in the NBA’s cities with NBA teams’ colors and largely NBA-related names and which survived a challenge from the ABL by virtue of its NBA affiliation—has featured a more stringent age eligibility rule than the NBA. When taken together, the two rules create two different tracks—one for men and one for women—to be negotiated on route to a professional basketball career in the United States. This sort of dualtracking, in which one route presents advantages over the other, is unacceptable in a nation committed to gender equity, and it …

Unfinished Business Of Repealing “Don’T Ask, Don’T Tell”: The Military’S Unconstitutional Ban On Transgender Individuals, Kayla Quam

Utah Law Review

Discrimination based on gender identity is a form of sex discrimination. In Price Waterhouse, the Supreme Court clarified that “sex” encompasses more than biological genitalia. That ruling eviscerated the holding of Holloway, Sommers, and Ulane—the three cases the Tenth Circuit relied on in declaring that sex discrimination did not encompass gender nonconformity. At least since Price Waterhouse, discrimination against someone because of that individual’s failure to conform to sex stereotypes must be considered a form of sex discrimination.156 As transgenderism is defined as nonconformity “to that typically associated with the sex . . . assigned at birth,” discrimination based on …

A Provocative Defense, Aya Gruber

Publications

It is common wisdom that the provocation defense is, quite simply, sexist. For decades, there has been a trenchant feminist critique that the doctrine reflects and reinforces masculine norms of violence and shelters brutal domestic killers. The critique is so prominent that it appears alongside the doctrine itself in leading criminal law casebooks. The feminist critique of provocation embodies several claims about provocation's problematically gendered nature, including that the defense is steeped in chauvinist history, treats culpable sexist killers too leniently, discriminates against women, and expresses bad messages. This Article offers a (likely provocative) defense of the provocation doctrine. While …

When Theory Met Practice: Distributional Analysis In Critical Criminal Law Theorizing, Aya Gruber

Publications

Progressive (critical race and feminist) theorizing on criminal law exists within an overarching American criminal law culture in which the U.S penal system has become a "peculiar institution" and a defining governance structure. Much of criminal law discourse is subject to a type of ideological capture in which it is natural to assume that criminalization is a valid, if not preferred, solution to social dysfunction. Accordingly, progressives’ primary concerns about harms to minority victims takes place in a political-legal context in which criminalization is the technique of addressing harm. In turn, progressive criminal law theorizing manifests some deep internal tensions. …

Bill 13 (The Accepting Schools Act): Ontario Legislation Mandating Support For Lgbt Students In Publicly-Funded Schools, Renato M. Liboro Jr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Twenty-six key stakeholders from schools in Waterloo Region, Ontario, participated in semi-structured, open-ended interviews for this dissertation. They included students, teachers, school board representatives in administrator and superintendent roles, trustees, and community service providers. This study explored the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in publicly-funded schools, the effect of those experiences on their mental health and well-being, and the success of strategies, programs, and policies implemented by schools to address LGBT youth issues. It also examined the perspectives of participants on Bill 13, Ontario’s Accepting Schools Act, particularly strengths and weaknesses of the bill in terms …

School-Based Supports For Trans Youth In Ontario, Charlie E. C. Davis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Trans youth are some of the most marginalized youths in schools. In 2012, the Ontario Government passed two legislations, one of which was the Accepting Schools Act, strengthening supports for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) students in schools. The other was Toby’s Act, an amendment to the Ontario Human Rights Code including protection from discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and gender expression. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how these two acts have created a political context supporting trans youth in schools. A comprehensive mixed-methods approach was used to examine provincial trends of trans-specific …

Honoring And Celebrating Myrna Raeder, Brett Dignam

Faculty Scholarship

It is a great privilege to be honoring Myrna Raeder and to celebrate her impressive career, scholarship and personhood. How appropriate to bring together scholars and advocates who share and will carry on her passions. Thank you everyone at Southwestern Law School who worked so hard to imagine and realize this symposium, for gathering us together, and for giving us the opportunity to reflect on the many gifts and fierce challenges Myrna gave to each of us. There is no finer tribute we can give than to carry on her work – the development of ideas and the encouragement of …