Law and Gender Commons^™

Book Review, Tang (Cindy) Tian

Journal Articles

Reviewing:

Strum, Philippa. On Account of Sex: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Making of Gender Equality Law. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2022. 206p. $21.95.

The Impact Of Post-Dobbs Abortion Bans On Prenatal Tort Claims, Aviva K. Diamond

Michigan Law Review

In June 2022, the Supreme Court revoked Americans’ fundamental right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. However, the Court said nothing about how its decision would impact tort claims related to reproductive care. Many states have since adopted near-total or early-gestational- age abortion bans, which has not only diminished access to reproductive care, but has also incidentally impaired the ability of plaintiffs to bring long-recognized prenatal tort claims. Prenatal tort claims—wrongful pregnancy, birth, and life—allow victims to recover when a medical professional negligently performs reproductive or prenatal care. This Note identifies the impact that post-Dobbs …

Mothers In Law, Melissa Murray

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality. By Tomiko Brown-Nagin.

Rich Dad, Gay Dad: The Wealth Traps Of Gay Fatherhood, Aloni Erez

All Faculty Publications

While legal and societal progress has enabled gay fathers to form families, there remains a critical blind spot in our understanding of their financial wellbeing. Specifically, there are indications that a wealth gap may exist among gay father households. This article introduces a novel taxonomy of the mechanisms that likely contribute to a wealth gap for these households, including surrogacy and adoption costs, legal recognition expenses, parental leave policies, discrimination in housing and borrowing, and limited support from families of origin. These obstacles reflect the structural features and prejudices that disproportionately affect households led by non-heterosexual fathers. The article highlights …

Title Ix’S Unrealized Potential To Prevent Sexual Violence, Katharine B. Silbaugh

Faculty Scholarship

The mandate of Title IX is equality in educational opportunities. If educational institutions could prevent sexual assaults from occurring, they would more fully ensure that students are not limited in their ability to benefit from the school’s educational programs. However, Title IX administration on college campuses still focuses far more on post-assault infrastructure than on assault prevention.

Yet with the ever-increasing particularity of the assault response requirements emanating from the Department of Education (“DOE”)2 and courts, Title IX jurisprudence has strayed too far from this basic purpose: to ensure that students in federally funding schools are not denied or limited …

Title Ix And The Challenges Of Educating For Equality, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

Educating for equality to foster practicing equality must be a vital task for the next fifty years of Title IX. It is also a task that fits into the mission and expertise of schools as educational institutions. I use “educating for equality” as shorthand for the role of schools in preparing children, adolescents, and college students to participate in and build a world in which—to echo Title IX’s “37 words that changed everything”¹—“No person in the United States, shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to …

Hierarchy, Race & Gender In Legal Scholarly Networks, Nicholson W. Price, Keerthana Nunna, Jonathan Tietz

Articles

A potent myth of legal academic scholarship is that it is mostly meritocratic and mostly solitary. Reality is more complicated. In this Article, we plumb the networks of knowledge co-production in legal academia by analyzing the star footnotes that appear at the beginning of most law review articles. Acknowledgments paint a rich picture of both the currency of scholarly credit and the relationships among scholars. Building on others’ prior work characterizing the potent impact of hierarchy, race, and gender in legal academia more generally, we examine the patterns of scholarly networks and probe the effects of those factors. The landscape …

Exploring The Role Of Mandatory Mediation In Civil Justice, Nayha Acharya

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this article, I offer a framing of the debates around mandatory mediation that rest on the premise that a legitimate civil justice process depends on unhindered access to an adjudicative system, which must be recognized as a procedural right. This is a keystone of the rule of law, and a valid legal system that deserves the authority that it asserts is contingent on this. My central thesis is that requiring mediation (which is independent of the rule of law) before allowing full access to adjudication compromises the procedural rights of legal subjects, and the rule of law principle. Such …

Introducing The Gender Dimension Of Plastic Pollution In The Arctic, Sara L. Seck, Tahnee Prior

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This short communication seeks to introduce a new perspective – a gender dimension – into ongoing conversations on the governance of plastic pollution in the Arctic. Specifically, it seeks to understand (1) the degree to which gender and plastic pollution intersect in Arctic research and policy-making to date; and (2) the degree to which negotiations of the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution integrate diverse gender perspectives from the North. We first consider the extent of the plastics problem in the Arctic and the degree to which existing research addresses its gender-dimension. Then, we introduce existing regional and global responses to …

Easing The Burden Of Survivors Of Domestic Violence Through The "One Family, One Judge" Court Model: Why Integrated Domestic Violence ("Idv") Courts Should Be Instituted Throughout The United States, Elka B. Blonder

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note advocates for the implementation of Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) Courts nationwide, arguing that these courts provide a more efficient and supportive system for survivors of domestic violence by consolidating criminal, civil, and family cases under a single judge. This "one family, one judge" model aims to reduce the fragmentation and trauma survivors face in traditional court systems, offering a holistic approach that enhances survivor safety and offender accountability.

Gender Mainstreaming In Trade Agreements: "A Potemkin Façade"?, Katrin Kuhlmann, Amrita Bahri

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The distributional outcomes of trade agreements have historically been uneven, creating both “losers” as well as “winners” and benefitting certain stakeholders while leaving others without benefits or even with negative repercussions. In particular, distributional outcomes can vary between women and men, since they play different roles in society, markets, and economies, and they enjoy different opportunities as well. At times, and sometimes by their very nature, trade agreements can restrict opportunities for women and further increase the gender divide. But in recent years, there has been a drastic upsurge in the number of countries that are incorporating commitments on gender …

Sex Exceptionalism In Criminal Law, Aya Gruber

Publications

Sex crimes are the worst crimes. People generally believe that sexual assault is graver than nonsexual assault, uninvited sexual compliments are worse than nonsexual insults, and sex work is different from work. Criminal codes typically create a dedicated category for sex offenses, uniting under its umbrella conduct ranging from violent attacks to consensual commercial transactions. This exceptionalist treatment of sex as categorically different rarely elicits discussion, much less debate. Sex exceptionalism, however, is neither natural nor neutral, and its political history should give us pause. This Article is the first to trace, catalog, and analyze sex exceptionalism in criminal law …

The Future Of Intersectionality In Employment Law, Suzette Malveaux

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Paradox Of Juridical Secularism: An Illustration Through The Cases Of Sabarimala And Hijab, Sukriti .

National Law School Journal

Secularism in India was imagined in cognisance of religion's entrenchment in the public life of the country as well as in people’s identities. This form of secularism was made possible within the Constitution of India through a broad framing of religious freedoms that was limited by statist concerns such as public order, morality, and health. In the face of rising majoritarianism, secular values are under serious challenge, impacting the right to religious freedom and expression. In the face of this challenge, this article assesses the judiciary’s engagement with religion on issues of discrimination against women. The article contends that the …

Political Equality, Gender, And Democratic Legitimation In Dobbs, Aliza Forman-Rabinovici, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, demonstrating how the Court deploys new arguments about women’s political equality — alongside long-standing arguments about federalism and judicial minimalism — to legitimate the overruling of Roe v. Wade. In contending that abortion rights are better determined by legislatures, the Dobbs Court advances a thin conceptual account of democracy and political equality that ignores a range of anti-democratic features of the political process that shape abortion policy — such as partisan politics and gerrymandering — as well the absence of women in the …

Remarks On Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights, Amber Baylor, Valena Beety, Susan P. Sturm

Faculty Scholarship

The following are remarks from a panel discussion co-hosted by the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law and the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law on the book Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights.

Remote Justice & Domestic Violence: Process Pluralism Lessons From The Pandemic, Andrea K. Schneider, Heather Hlavka, Sameena Mulla, Erin Schubert, Aleksandra J. Snowden, Jennica Webster

Articles

Domestic violence procedures, like so many court processes around the world, were forced to go online and remote during the pandemic. The impact was dramatic-there were fewer restraining order petitions filed in the first place and an even lower amount granted. In short, domestic violence survivors, among the most vulnerable in our court system, were even more challenged in the last two years. Like many court systems, Milwaukee will never go back to being fully in-person for all procedures in conjunction with domestic violence. The evolving hybrid choices could provide additional access to justice, or these processes could create additional …

Twenty-First Century Split: Partisan, Racial, And Gender Differences In Circuit Judges Following Earlier Opinions, Stuart Minor Benjamin, Kevin M. Quinn, Byungkoo Kim

Faculty Scholarship

Judges shape the law with their votes and the reasoning in their opinions. An important element of the latter is which opinions they follow, and thus elevate, and which they cast doubt on, and thus diminish. Using a unique and comprehensive dataset containing the substantive Shepard’s treatments of all circuit court published and unpublished majority opinions issued between 1974 and 2017, we examine the relationship between judges’ substantive treatments of earlier appellate cases and their party, race, and gender. Are judges more likely to follow opinions written by colleagues of the same party, race, or gender? What we find is …

Panel 4 - Severe Or Pervasive: Towards Empowering Workers, Allegra Fishel, Joe Sellers, Bernice Yeung, Ann Mcginley, Alexis Ronickher

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

FACILITATOR: All right. We’re back and I wanted to introduce our moderator for our panel, Severe or Pervasive: Towards Empowering Workers. We have Ms. Allegra Fishel moderating. Ms. Fishel is a seasoned civil rights advocate and the founder of The Gender Equality Law Center. So, thank you so much for being here and, Ms. Fishel, I turn it over to you.

Panel 5 - The Future Of Employment Law, Karla Gilbride, Geraldine Sumter, Stephen Rich, Marcia Mccormick, Michael Selmi

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

FACILITATOR: All right everyone, welcome to our last panel, “The Future of Employment Law.” I want to quickly introduce our moderator, Karla Gilbride, the co-director of the Access to Justice Project. Karla, you can take it away.

Hair Me Out: Why Discrimination Against Black Hair Is Race Discrimination Under Title Vii, Alexis Boyd

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In May 2010, Chastity Jones sought employment as a customer service representative at Catastrophe Management Solutions (“CMS”), a claims processing company located in Mobile, Alabama. When asked for an inperson interview, Jones, a Black woman, arrived in a suit and her hair in “short dreadlocks,” or locs, a type of natural hairstyle common in the Black community. Despite being qualified for the position, Jones would later have her offer rescinded because of her hair. CMS claimed that locs “tend to get messy” and violated the “neutral” dress code and hair policy requiring employees to be “professional and business-like.” Therefore, CMS …

Principle Originalism--The Third Way: A Jurisprudential Response To Dobbs V. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Ryan Fortson

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

All judges attempt to decide cases for reasons other than politics or their own personal opinions. But finding a consistent judicial methodology is fraught with peril. Against what it sees as the hyper-textualism of strict constructionism and the unfettered discretion of living constitutionalism, originalism posits itself as the only viable way to achieve an objectively neutral interpretation of the law. This is certainly the stance taken by the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which claims that the Constitution is silent on abortion and that therefore no corresponding right to abortion exists. But there can be different …

Anti-Abortion Statutes As Religious Beliefs, Scott Devito

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Alito ruled there is no right, under the U.S. Constitution, for a woman to have an abortion. Since then, eleven states have either enacted or activated statutes that forbid the performance of an abortion. Others may soon follow suit. This Article does not attempt to dispute the reasoning of the Dobbs decision. Instead, it asks whether the eleven state statutes, now construed as constitutionally permitted, are, in fact impermissible intrusions into the constitutionally required separation of church and state. This Article approaches this problem from both a historical and philosophical perspective. First, …

Letter From The Editor, Adriana E. Morquecho

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

It is an honor to write this editor’s note for Volume 30.2 of the Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law (“Journal”) commemorating our Symposium co-hosted by the National Institute for Workers’ Rights (“Institute”), “Enhancing Anti-Discrimination Laws in Education & Employment.” The Symposium and this Volume are a culmination of months of tireless work to draw attention to an area of law needing greater attention—employment and education discrimination

Panel 1 - Towards Effective Governmental Intervention: Ending Discrimination In The Workplace, Rebecca Salawdeh, Patrick Patterson, Victoria Lipnic, Carol Miaskoff, Hnin Khaing

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

FACILITATOR: Good morning, everyone and welcome to the “Enhancing Antidiscrimination Laws in Education and Employment Symposium”, hosted by the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, the American, and the National Institute for Workers’ Rights (“Institute”). And without further ado, let me pass it off to the Institute’s board president, Rebecca Salawdeh

Panel 2 - Unreported Shortcomings Of Title Ix, Lisa Taylor, Leslie Annexstein, Elizabeth Kristein, Natasha Martin, Elizabeth Kristen

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

MODERATOR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to our second panel, Unreported Shortcomings of Title IX. I’m going to start off with a quick introduction of our moderator. Today we have Dean Lisa Taylor who is our Dean for Diversity, Inclusion and Affinity Relations at WCL. She is much beloved by students of the Journal and students of WCL in general. And I know she is going to kick off a great panel. Dean Taylor, it’s all yours.

Ensuring The Laws Barring Sexual Harassment Protect The Reticent Victim, Joseph M. Sellers, Aniko R. Schwarcz

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

According to multiple employee surveys, sexual harassment is one of the most underreported forms of abuse in the workplace. There are a number of reasons that reportedly account for this reluctance to complain about sexual harassment. They include the potential shame, embarrassment, and fear that may accompany reports of sexual harassment and the blame and heightened scrutiny of the victim that may be prompted by these complaints. Unlike most other forms of discrimination, where their presence may be inferred from patterns observed in workforce data, sexual harassment is typically undetectable and certainly not actionable unless it is the subject of …

Reflection On Progress Without Equity: Title Ix K-12 Athletics At Fifty, Elizabeth Kristen

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) turned fifty this year. Despite tremendous progress for women and girls over the last five decades, the promise of gender equity in athletics remains elusive, especially at the K-12 level. Unlike so many other civil rights laws passed in the 1960s and 1970s, Title IX remains a highly under-litigated and underenforced statute. A basic Westlaw search for “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964” yields more than 10,000 federal cases. But the same search for “Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972” yields about 2500 cases. Only …

Laboratories Of Democracy: State Law As A Partial Solution To Workplace Harassment, Ann C. Mcginley

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Despite the recent public awakening concerning both sexism and racism in our society, the federal courts have systematically chipped away at employees’ civil rights under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to be free of both sexual and racial harassment at work.

Alito Versus Roe V. Wade: Dobbs As A Means Of Circumvention, Avoidance, Attenuation And Betrayal Of The Constitution, Antony Hilton

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

There can be no argument that Justice Alito is a learned justice of great knowledge and reason, and has a superb grasp of the law. As such, despite any opposition to or disagreement with his legal opinions, he is deserving of respect for his intellectual prowess, in general and as it relates to the Constitution. Notwithstanding all the aforementioned, wrong is wrong.