Law and Gender Commons^™

Episode 8: The End Of The Beginning, Sara Gras

Season 01

This final episode closes with some final thoughts from most of my guests about where this issue currently stands, where it could be headed, and what we should be doing with our concerns in the meantime.

Look for more episodes of Hearsay from the Sidelines coming later in 2024!

Dara Purvis (Faculty Profile)
Associate Dean for Research and Partnerships & Professor of Law, Penn State Law
Works referenced:

• Dara E. Purvis, Transgender Children, Teaching Early Acceptance, and the Heckler’s Veto, 72 Stud. L. Pol. Soc’y 219 (2017).
• Dara E. Purvis, Transgender Students and the First Amendment (Forthcoming), …

Growing Pains: An Arkansas Case Study On Adolescent Autonomy And Access To Puberty Blockers For Gender-Affirming Care, Katherine T. Litaker

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Arkansas Act 626 outlaws any gender-affirming medical treatment for persons under eighteen years of age. This Note focuses on the evolving litigation surrounding Arkansas Act 626, the potential repercussions of the issues facing transgender adolescents, and the legal protections that may be implemented whether or not Arkansas Act 626 is upheld as a constitutional piece of legislation. It begins by examining the standard bases for administering puberty blocker treatments and addressing many of the misconceptions in medical treatment that have influenced the shaping of legislation on transgender healthcare. The Note discusses the current legal barricades for adolescents trying to access …

The Imperative Of Rejecting "Gender-Critical" Feminism In The Law, Henry F. Fradella

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Roughly a half-century ago at the height of the second-wave feminist movement, some feminist scholars and activists found themselves arguing with transgender people about who is a woman. While much of contemporary feminist thought has moved past biological essentialism’s outdated embrace of a sex binary to embrace trans-equality, a relatively small but vocal group of self-proclaimed “gender-critical feminists” (who are sometimes called trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or “TERFs” for short) eschew transgender legal rights that they perceive as potentially threatening to the rights of cisgender women. Most gender-critical arguments in that regard are fallacious; they are based on myths and false …

Episode 7: Strange Bedfellows, Sara Gras

Season 01

In this episode I explore the various factions who, despite their different general ideologies, have united in advocating for the exclusion of trans kids from sports. My guests and I discuss why this presents such a challenge when working to educate and advocate around this issue. I also provide some additional details on one of the largest and most powerful organizations supporting exclusion.

Erin Buzuvis (Faculty Profile)
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, Western New England School of Law

Kurt Weaver
Executive Director, You Can Play Project

Shira Berkowitz (Organizational Bio)
Senior Director …

Teaching Critical Use Of Legal Research Technology, Jennifer E. Chapman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Eviction Abolition, Larisa G. Bowman

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

This Article contends that today’s eviction crisis in the United States is the civil equivalent of mass incarceration. Eviction, like mass incarceration, is a racialized and gendered system of social control heavily supervised by the state. State court judges order evictions, and law enforcement officers execute them. Eviction’s mechanisms of control are to punish, exploit, and surveil. Some tenants are forcibly removed from their homes as punishment for their poverty, while others pay their last dollar to remain housed. In nuisance and lease violation cases, tenants routinely are subjected to onerous “probationary” terms that place them under heightened surveillance. Low-income, …

How Viable Is Viability? Artificial Womb Technology And The Threat To Abortion Access, James E. Brown

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The viability standard plays an important role in abortion access around much of the United States. In fact, before the Dobbs decision, the viability standard was the constitutional gatekeeper to abortion access and was uniform across the entire nation. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has removed the constitutional right to abortion altogether. Nevertheless, I will provide an argument as to why Dobbs does not signal the end of viability-based abortion around the U.S. I will prove the importance of the viability standard even in a post-Dobbs society, highlighting its operation within various state laws, such as Michigan’s Prop. 3, as well …

Child Sacrifices: The Precarity Of Minors’ Autonomy And Bodily Integrity After Dobbs, Teri Dobbins Baxter

Scholarly Works

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court held that there is no constitutional right to abortion. The decision has had a devastating impact on people seeking abortions in many states, and it will have an even more profound effect on the rights and lives of minors. Pregnant minors face greater risks than pregnant adults when they are forced to continue a pregnancy that can harm their physical and mental health and their educational and financial futures. Very young minors are incapable of consenting to the sexual acts that result in pregnancy, but many states require even these …

The Nineteenth Amendment And Dobbs, Paula A. Monopoli

Faculty Scholarship

There was a surge in legal scholarship around the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution—the Woman Suffrage Amendment—leading up to its centennial in August 2020. But this scholarly interest around the Nineteenth peaked two years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022. This paper revisits the Nineteenth Amendment in light of the Court’s decision in Dobbs. It argues that the Nineteenth should be understood as a ban on sex discrimination that extends beyond the right to vote. The Amendment expands the scope of women’s citizenship as a matter of …

Pay Differences In The Absence Of Discrimination: Legislative Fallacies And Statistical Truths, Allan G. King, Stephen G. Bronars

Journal of Legislation

No abstract provided.

Safe Babies, Safe Moms: A Multifaceted, Trauma Informed Care Initiative, Loral Patchen, Asli Mccullers, Charmain Beach, Melanie Browning, Shy Porter, Aimee Danielson, Evelyn Asegieme, S. Roxana Richardson, Ali Jost, Caitlin S. Jensen, Naheed Ahmed

HJA Scholarship

Purpose

This report describes a multifaceted, trauma-informed initiative developed to address racial/ethnic maternal and infant health inequities in Washington, D.C.

Description

Structural racism and systemic oppression of marginalized communities have played a critical role in maternal and infant health inequities in the United States. Black birthing individuals are exponentially more likely to experience adverse birth outcomes, including preterm birth, low birth weight and maternal mortality. In response to these statistics, the Safe Babies Safe Moms (SBSM) initiative was developed to support patients of marginalized identities and improve health outcomes. SBSM Women’s and Infants’ Services Specialty Care (WIS-SC) is one component …

Book Review, Her Honor: Stories Of Challenge And Triumph From Women Judges By Lauren S. Rikleen (2024), Ashley Evans

Library Scholarship

In an inspiring collection of stories, Her Honor: Stories of Challenge and Triumph from Women Judges takes readers on a journey into the lives and experiences of 25 female judges. These distinguished women are all recipients of the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Award, an honor bestowed upon women who achieve professional excellence and serve as inspirations in the legal field. The collection of narratives in this book shines a light on the exceptional lives, hardships, and accomplishments of these exceptional women, leaving readers feeling empowered and motivated.

A History Of Corporate Law Federalism In The Twentieth Century, William W. Bratton

Seattle University Law Review

This Article describes the emergence of corporate law federalism across a long twentieth century. The period begins with New Jersey’s successful initiation of charter competition in 1888 and ends with the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. The federalism in question describes the interrelation of state and federal regulation of corporate internal affairs. This Article takes a positive approach, pursuing no normative bottom line. It makes six observations: (1) the federalism describes a division of subject matter, with internal affairs regulated by the states and securities issuance and trading regulated by the federal government; (2) the federalism is an …

Gendered Peace Through International Law, Louise Arimatsu, Christine M. Chinkin

Books

Two leading feminist lawyers reflect on gender in international law to set out what a gendered peace might look like and its impact on international law in this open access book.

In order to challenge orthodoxies, the book takes an unconventional approach, merging personal reflections, expert essays, and interviews. It throws the disciplinary net wide, drawing on international law, gender studies, international relations and history. The authors, undisputed global leaders in the field, challenge the reader to unlearn international law, in order to relearn it in a way that makes it more fit for purpose in the contemporary world. This …

This Comment Is Gay: How Banning Lgbtq-Themed Books Violates First Amendment Rights, Michael Karam

Upper Level Writing Requirement Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Stakeholder Capitalism’S Greatest Challenge: Reshaping A Public Consensus To Govern A Global Economy, Leo E. Strine Jr., Michael Klain

Seattle University Law Review

The Berle XIV: Developing a 21st Century Corporate Governance Model Conference asks whether there is a viable 21st Century Stakeholder Governance model. In our conference keynote article, we argue that to answer that question yes requires restoring—to use Berle’s term—a “public consensus” throughout the global economy in favor of the balanced model of New Deal capitalism, within which corporations could operate in a way good for all their stakeholders and society, that Berle himself supported.

The world now faces problems caused in large part by the enormous international power of corporations and the institutional investors who dominate their governance. These …

Henderson And The Objective Observer Standard: The Future Of Race-Conscious Standards Post-Students For Fair Admissions, Gabriela Dionisio

Seattle University Law Review

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which struck down race-conscious admissions policies. Within just a year after its ruling, Students for Fair Admissions has already had a sweeping impact, reaching beyond higher education. Although the Supreme Court did not indicate whether Students for Fair Admissions applies to sectors beyond higher education, law firms, and other employers have already modified their diversity policies and initiatives, erasing race and company diversity considerations. Given those dramatic changes, there is growing fear that Students for Fair Admissions …

Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan

Seattle University Law Review

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. The American obsession with crime and punishment can be tracked over the last half-century, as the nation’s incarceration rate has risen astronomically. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over 2.3 million, outpacing both crime and population growth considerably. While the rise itself is undoubtedly bleak, a more troubling truth lies just below the surface. Not all states contribute equally to American mass incarceration. Rather, states have vastly different incarceration rates. Unlike at the federal level, …

Deconstructing Concepts About Nature: An Alternative Perspective For Ecofeminism Based On The Rights Of Nature, Leslie Terrones

PEEL Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Class Counsel Draft Gender Gap: An Analysis Of Class Counsel Applicants, Alissa Del Riego

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article accomplishes three important and distinct objectives. First, it provides an updated window into the class counsel gender gap. Second, and most critically, it analyzes a to date unexamined data point—MDL class counsel applications. And third, based on its analysis of the data gathered, it demonstrates: (1) female class counsel application rates are correlated with appointment rates and (2) gender equal class counsel applicants’ success rate, suggesting courts are not discriminating against female class counsel applicants. Instead, the class counsel gender gap appears to be a product of the class counsel draft gender gap. To narrow the gap, more …

Gender Identity And Birth Certificates: The Surrogacy Nexus, Richard F. Storrow

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article confronts and responds to the weaponization of birth certificates in recent controversies around gender identity by drawing parallels between gender identity and intentional parentage. A juxtaposition of gender identity with parentage identity reveals that they share the common underpinning of self-identification, raising the question why birth certificates are permitted to reflect one’s parentage identity but, as has been suggested in numerous controversies involving transgender litigants, not one’s gender identity. This Article argues that, for the same reasons that a surrogacy arrangement permits the parties to it to define for themselves who are the legal parents of the child …

The Emerging Crime Of Persecution Based On Sexual Orientation, Anthony J. Colangelo

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article argues that persecution based on sexual orientation constitutes a crime against humanity under international law. Unlike other scholarship that has focused on the definition of crimes against humanity in the 1998 Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court—which does not explicitly enumerate “sexual orientation” as a protected classification—this Article looks to customary international law made up by the practices of states.

Diligent research has revealed that between 1998 and 2022, at least 107 states enacted laws or revised existing laws decriminalizing sexual orientation and/or categorizing sexual orientation as a protected classification from discrimination. This is in addition to …

Legal Reforms And Women’S Rights Advocacy In Africa, Emelyne Calimoutou Dr.

Human Rights Brief

Although Gambia enacted the Women’s (Amendment) Act in 2015, which criminalized female genital mutilation and imposed penalties of up to three years in prison, the parliament is currently deliberating on a bill to overturn the Act.

The prospect of Gambia becoming the first country to reverse legislation against female genital mutilation is alarming, not only for its immediate implications on women’s health, but also for the precedent it could set for other states. It serves as a reminder of the fragility of women’s rights protections in the face of deeply entrenched social practices and underscores the urgent need for a …

The Federal Future Of Medication Abortion, Michelle S. Simon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A majority of Americans believe that there should be a right to abortion, at least in some cases. Yet a vocal and determined minority has its sights set on a complete ban on all abortions everywhere in the United States. In many states, these anti-abortion activists have achieved their goal through new laws and limitations enacted in the wake of the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs. Anti-abortion advocates are also challenging the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory approval of mifepristone, one of the drugs used in medication abortion (also known as medical abortion). The FDA had initially approved mifepristone …

What Are We Waiting For? A Collection Of Poems And Essays About Family, Love, Loss, Time, And Hope, Right/Write To Heal, Skye Adams, D W, N L, D G, Jillian Foley, Madison Burke, Erica King, Becky Wurwarg

Justice Policy

This anthology is a collaboration with the Opportunity Scholars project and the Right/Write to Heal Initiative. The collection tells the stories of women and their families who have been impacted by incarceration in Maine and New York, the pathways that brought them to justice system involvement, and what inspires them to remain hopeful. These stories of family, love, loss, time, and hope were written by residents at the Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center and the Women’s Center at the Maine Correctional Center, and partners from New York who participated in a weekly creative writing project together. The authors and editors …

Gender Regrets: Banning Abortion And Gender-Affirming Care, Margot J. Pollans, Noa Ben-Asher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article analyzes the use of “regret” in the campaigns to ban GAC and abortion. It identifies two overlapping threads. First, both campaigns against medical care point to protection of patients from future regret as a legitimate state interest justifying restrictions on providing medical care. Second, both rely on concerns about regret to redefine the legal meaning of “informed consent” and make it easier for potential future plaintiffs to prevail in civil suits against providers of medical care. In doing so, both treat the emotion of regret as a distinct injury that may give rise to a range of legal …

A Feminist Critique Of The Va Rating Schedule, Yelena Duterte

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Fibromyalgia crept into Tina’s life, slowly stealing away her energy and inflicting pain on her body. She experienced a myriad of symptoms including severe and constant pain, fatigue, and memory issues; as she put it, “brain fog.” Her symptoms were so intense she could barely get out of bed, let alone engage in the activities she once loved. Doctors blamed her hormones, believed her pain was psychosomatic, or dismissed her as someone seeking drugs. After several years of severe symptoms and missing work, she was fired from her job. As a United States Air Force veteran who served in the …

Rethinking Crime And Punishment: Women Who Kill Their Abusers In South Africa, Rebecca Gore

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The battered women’s movement in the United States was galvanized in the 1970s and ushered in a paradigm shift in how we understand domestic violence. For women who kill their abusers, the movement attempted to incorporate their lived experiences of domestic violence into legal doctrine. Decades later, the battered women’s movement has generated criticisms such as stereotyping women, failing to take an intersectional lens, and over-reliance on the carceral system. These lessons from feminists in the United States present cautionary tales for other contexts, especially for unequal societies impacted by domestic violence, crime, and mass incarceration. Prompted by personal experiences …

Public Primacy In Corporate Law, Dorothy S. Lund

Seattle University Law Review

This Article explores the malleability of agency theory by showing that it could be used to justify a “public primacy” standard for corporate law that would direct fiduciaries to promote the value of the corporation for the benefit of the public. Employing agency theory to describe the relationship between corporate management and the broader public sheds light on aspects of firm behavior, as well as the nature of state contracting with corporations. It also provides a lodestar for a possible future evolution of corporate law and governance: minimize the agency costs created by the divergence of interests between management and …

Stakeholder Governance As Governance By Stakeholders, Brett Mcdonnell

Seattle University Law Review

Much debate within corporate governance today centers on the proper role of corporate stakeholders, such as employees, customers, creditors, suppliers, and local communities. Scholars and reformers advocate for greater attention to stakeholder interests under a variety of banners, including ESG, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and stakeholder governance. So far, that advocacy focuses almost entirely on arguing for an expanded understanding of corporate purpose. It argues that corporate governance should be for various stakeholders, not shareholders alone.

This Article examines and approves of that broadened understanding of corporate purpose. However, it argues that we should understand stakeholder governance as extending well …