Law and Gender Commons^™

Commercial Sex And Exploitation, Judge Barbara Mack, Dana Raigrodski

Chapters in Books

Commercial sexual exploitation (CSE), including sex trafficking, mainly targets women, children, young adults (up to age 24), and individuals identifying as LGBTQ+, primarily in communities in poverty, Indigenous communities, and communities of color. Economic and social marginalization drives people into the commercial sex industry and exploitation, which in turn perpetuates that economic and social marginalization. The most targeted and marginalized populations have been doubly harmed by exploitation and by poor treatment within the legal system.

While data is limited, CSE is widespread in the sex industry in Washington State and nationally. State and national data show significant disparities based on …

Constructing The Yellow Brick Road: Preventing Discrimination In Financial Services Against The Lgbtq+ Community, Cyrus Mostaghim

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (“LGBTQ+”) community lacks explicit statutory protections from discrimination in financial services. After the Supreme Court held in Bostock that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity was illegal, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an informal interpretive rule for the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and Regulation B that made discrimination in the access to credit based on sexual orientation or gender identity illegal.

However, this article argues that an informal interpretive rule is easily rescinded and does not provide sufficient protection. Thus, alternative action is needed to create …

“That Name Is Dead To Me”: Reforming Name Change Laws To Protect Transgender And Nonbinary Youth, Sarah Steadman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Content warning: this Article discusses suicidality.

For transgender and some nonbinary youth, living under a chosen name is a first step toward becoming their authentic selves. For these youth, a name change is powerful; it allows them to choose a name that matches their gender identity. They consider their birth name to be a distressing “dead” name—one that they cannot relate to and need to bury.

Using one’s chosen name decreases suicidality among transgender youth who face many challenges, including family rejection and other severe mental health stressors. Transgender and nonbinary youth can only require others to use their chosen …

Law Library Blog (September 2021): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

The End “Goal” To The U.S. Women’S Soccer Team Equal Pay Lawsuit: Proposing A Resolution For Gender Equality By Examining The Equal Pay Laws For Male And Female Sports, Veronica Adams

University of Miami Business Law Review

In March 2019, on International Women’s Day, 28 women on the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team filed a lawsuit against The U.S. Soccer Federation claiming gender discrimination, specifically in unequal payment between the men’s team and the women’s team. Players based the lawsuit on two grounds: (1) that U.S. Soccer violated the Equal Pay Act by paying the WNT less than the MNT; and (2) that the federation discriminated against the WNT under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in regard to workplace conditions. The Federation claims that the men and women are paid equally and the discrepancy in pay …

Working While Mothering During The Pandemic And Beyond, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Although combining work and family has never been easy for women, working while mothering during the pandemic was close to impossible. When COVID-19 caused most workplaces to shut down, many women were laid off. But many women were forced to work from home alongside their children, who could not attend daycare or school. Mothers tried valiantly to combine a full day’s work on top of caring for young children and helping school-aged children with remote school. But many found this balance difficult, leading to women’s lowest workforce participation rate in over forty years. And even women who did not quit …

Law, Criminalisation And Hiv In The World: Have Countries That Criminalise Achieved More Or Less Successful Pandemic Response?, Matthew M. Kavanagh, Schadrac C. Agbla, Marissa Joy, Kashish Aneja, Mara Pillinger, Alaina Case, Ngozi A. Erondu, Taavi Erkkola, Ellie Graeden

O'Neill Institute Papers

How do choices in criminal law and rights protections affect disease-fighting efforts? This long-standing question facing governments around the world is acute in the context of pandemics like HIV and COVID-19. The Global AIDS Strategy of the last 5 years sought to prevent mortality and HIV transmission in part through ensuring people living with HIV (PLHIV) knew their HIV status and could suppress the HIV virus through antiretroviral treatment. This article presents a cross-national ecological analysis of the relative success of national AIDS responses under this strategy, where laws were characterised by more or less criminalisation and with varying rights …

Indiana Federal Court Rejects Public School Teacher’S Religious Discrimination Claim Over Misgendering Discharge, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Twists & Swirls: Caregiving & Sexualization—Femininity Construct In Gendered Migration From Nigeria To Italy, Christiana Essie Sagay

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

With globalization, interconnectivity, and the possibilities of increased income through wage differentials comes the desirability to migrate for labour. Contrary to early migration theories, women are increasingly migrating for labour independent of male breadwinners. Therefore, "temporary and permanent movements are globalizing, accelerating, diversifying and feminizing." The influence of gender on migration has become so convoluted that culturally and socially constructed roles of masculinity and femininity motivate and inspire migration trends among many women migrating from Nigeria to Italy, creating a sort of gendered social agency. This piece offers an analysis of how social contexts and gendered expectations shape the desires …

Working While Mothering During The Pandemic And Beyond, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Faculty Publications

Although combining work and family has never been easy for women, working while mothering during the pandemic was close to impossible. When COVID-19 caused most workplaces to shut down, many women were laid off. But many women were forced to work from home alongside their children, who could not attend daycare or school. Mothers tried valiantly to combine a full day’s work on top of caring for young children and helping school-aged children with remote school. But many found this balance difficult, leading to women’s lowest workforce participation rate in over forty years. And even women who did not quit …

Court Rejects Web Designer’S Challenge To Colorado Anti-Discrimination Law, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Barriers To Tribal Jurisdiction Over Violence Against Women In Maine: Developments And Paths Forward, Nina J. Ciffolillo

Maine Law Review

After claiming title to the land now widely known as the United States, colonizers and settlers imposed a legal system that denies Indigenous nations agency. The United States government has launched a steady attack on attributes of Tribal sovereignty since its inception. The sexism entangled with colonialism encourages violence against women, and limitations on Tribal jurisdiction leave Indigenous nations without adequate recourse for violence against women on their land. Violence against women has become an epidemic in Indian Country, and most aggressors come from outside the territory. In 2013 when Congress granted tribes limited criminal jurisdiction over nonmembers on Tribal …

What An Ethics Of Discourse And Recognition Can Contribute To A Critical Theory Of Refugee Claim Adjudication, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Thanks to Axel Honneth, recognition theory has become a prominent fixture of critical social theory. In recent years, he has deployed his recognition theory in diagnosing pathologies and injustices that afflict institutional practices. Some of these institutional practices revolve around specifically juridical institutions, such as human rights and democratic citizenship, that directly impact the lives of the most desperate migrants. Hence it is worthwhile asking what recognition theory can add to a critical theory of migration. In this paper, I argue that, although its contribution to a critical theory of migration is limited, it nonetheless carves out a unique body …

What An Ethics Of Discourse And Recognition Can Contribute To A Critical Theory Of Refugee Claim Adjudication: Reclaiming Epistemic Justice For Gender-Based Asylum Seekers, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Abstract: Using examples drawn from gender-based asylum cases, this chapter examines how far recognition theory (RT) and discourse theory (DT) can guide social criticism of the judicial processing of women’s applications for protection under the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and subsequent protocols and guidelines put forward by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). I argue that these theories can guide social criticism only when combined with other ethical approaches. In addition to humanitarian and human rights law, these theories must rely upon ideas drawn from distributive, compensatory, and epistemic justice. Drawing from recent …

The Powers Of The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights Towards The Implementation Of Gender Justice Laws At The National Level In South America, Kiana Therrien-Tomas Miss

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Although South America is earning international attention as an innovative global leader in various fields, it currently remains a nation steeped in traditional beliefs and practices. Despite prevailing laws against domestic violence, countless Latin American women proceed to be failed by the legal system. As South American society produces its own theory of gender justice, apprised by local realities and universally accepted norms, women's rights advocates and the Supreme Court can represent a decisive role in forming the discourse. Throughout this work, I aim to contemplate the powers of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) towards the implementation of …

Scotus Denies Review To Florist Who Refused To Serve Same-Sex Couple, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Pathways To Just, Equitable And Sustainable Trade And Investment Regimes, Tomaso Ferrando, Nicolas Perrone, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Kangping Du

Reports & Public Policy Documents

In this report we discuss what a Fair, Just and Equitable approach to the global, liberalized and hyper-competitive system of global trade and investments should be. The global market for goods and capital affect the life of producers and workers, stimulates the run towards cheaper products and puts farmers and workers against each other. The current vision of trade and investments is based on the silencing of gendered and reproductive labour and is responsible for the increase in inequality and relative poverty. Furthermore, it stimulates the extraction of commodities and contributes to the degradation of the planet, it has a …

Sexual Harassment: A Doctrinal Examination Of The Law, An Empirical Examination Of Employer Liability, And A Question About Ndas— Because Complex Problems Do Not Have Simple Solutions, Michael Heise, David S. Sherwyn

Indiana Law Journal

The #MeToo movement casts critical light on the pervasive nature of sexual harassment, particularly in the employment context, and continues to motivate a number of initiatives that address important social and workplace ills. The problems this movement has uncovered, however, run much deeper and likely exceed the scope and capacity of many of the proposed “fixes” it has inspired. Worse still, however, is that some of the proposed fixes may prove counterproductive. This Article examines the history and development of the relevant employment laws, empirically assesses judicial holdings on the employers’ affirmative defense to liability, and argues that many employees …

Unilateral Burdens And Third-Party Harms: Abortion Conscience Laws As Policy Outliers, Nadia Sawicki

Indiana Law Journal

Most conscience laws establish nearly absolute protections for health care providers unwilling to participate in abortion. Providers’ rights to refuse—and relatedly, their immunity from civil liability, employment discrimination, and other adverse consequences—are often unqualified, even in situations where patients are likely to be harmed. These laws impose unilateral burdens on third parties in an effort to protect the rights of conscientious refusers. As such, they are outliers in the universe of federal and state anti-discrimination and religious freedom statutes, all of which strike a more even balance between individual rights and the prevention of harm to third parties. This Article …

Deportation And Depravity: Does Failure To Register As A Sex Offender Involve Moral Turpitude?, Rosa Nielsen

Washington and Lee Law Review

Under U.S. immigration law, non-citizens are subject to deportation following certain criminal convictions. One deportation category is for “crimes involving moral turpitude,” or CIMTs. This category usually refers to crimes that involve fraud or actions seen as particularly depraved. For example, tax evasion and spousal abuse are CIMTs, but simple assault generally is not. For a crime to qualify as a CIMT, it must include depraved conduct and some level of intent.

The CIMT framework has been criticized for a variety of reasons. Not only is it defined ambiguously with outdated language, but the moral values it enshrines can sometimes …

Eyes Wide Shut: Using Accreditation Regulation To Address The “Pass-The-Harasser” Problem In Higher Education, Susan Saab Fortney, Theresa Morris

Faculty Scholarship

The #MeToo Movement cast a spotlight on sexual harassment in various sectors, including higher education. Studies reveal alarming percentages of students reporting that they have been sexually harassed by faculty and administrators. Despite annually devoting hundreds of millions of dollars to addressing sexual harassment and misconduct, nationwide university officials largely take an ostrich approach when hiring faculty and administrators with little or no scrutiny related to their past misconduct. Critics use the term “pass the harasser” or more pejoratively, “pass the trash” to capture the role that institutions play in allowing individuals to change institutions without the new employer learning …

Gavin Grimm Triumphs In Battle With Virginia School Board, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Mommy, Baby And Rapist Makes Three? Amid Abortion Bans, The Pressing Need For A Nationwide Lower Standard To Strip Parental Rights, Regardless Of A Rape Conviction, Melanie Dostis

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

Among the fundamental rights recognized in the Constitution are the rights of parents to raise their children. While never interpreted as an absolute legal privilege, courts have exercised wide discretion in preserving this right and historically ignored the reality that not all parents are deserving of this right. Even though the family law system has protections in place to terminate parental rights for atrocities like abuse, it largely neglects an uncomfortable area of parental origin: parental rights regarding children conceived by rape. This is not only to the detriment of children, but, as this Note argues, at the peril of …

Taking The Lead: A Strategic Analysis Of Stealthing And The Best Route For Potential Civil Plaintiffs To Recover, Mckenney Cornett

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

A pervasive trend invading the sexual interactions between men and women, and homosexual men, is “stealthing” or “nonconsensual condom removal.” Stealthing garnered national and legal attention following Alexandra Brodsky’s article and study concerning the practice published in 2017. A typical stealthing case involves an initial, consensual sexual relationship between two parties predicated on the use of contraception. During the act, the partner removes the condom without the knowledge or consent of their sexual partner.

Despite its widespread impact, there has yet to be a criminal or civil case concerning nonconsensual condom removal brought in the United States, and the legislature …

Increasing Accountability For Rape In Liberia: The Need For A Forensic System To Increase The Success Rates Of Prosecution, Pela Boker Wilson

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

The need for a fully functioning forensic system has been identified by the Liberian government and international partners, but it has not been addressed. This Article argues that despite a robust framework put in place to create accountability for rape, Liberia needs a system of collecting and processing forensic evidence to increase the success rate of prosecutions that currently fail due to the inadequacy of non-forensic evidence.

Gender-Based Violence In International Human Rights Law: Evolution Towards A Binding Post-Binary Framework, Tatsiana Ziniakova

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

The present Article seeks to analyze the notion of gender-based violence, in light of the evolving gender discourse, and identify the problems associated with effectively addressing it in international human rights law. It analyzes the definitions of gender, enshrined in various human rights documents, and suggests using performative theory of gender to form a comprehensive view on gender-based violence. It also critically addresses three aspects of regulating gender-based violence: inclusivity, patriarchy, and normativity. It concludes that, in the long term, the commitment to eradicate gender-based violence should be strengthened by framing it as a binding treaty obligation on the universal …

Shelter From The Storm: Human Rights Protections For Single-Mother Families In The Time Of Covid-19, Theresa Glennon, Alexis Fennell, Kaylin Hawkins, Madison Mcnulty

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

COVID-19’s arrival, and the changes it has unleashed, reveal how longstanding legal and policy decisions produced structural inequalities that have left so many families, and especially single-parent families with children, all too insecure. The fragility of single-mother families is amplified by the multifaceted discrimination they face. While all single parents, including single fathers and other single relatives who are raising children, share many of these burdens, this Article focuses on the challenges confronting single mothers.

Federal policy choices stand in sharp contrast to the political rhetoric of government support for families. Social and economic policy in the twentieth century developed …

Confronting Eugenics Means Finally Confronting Its Ableist Roots, Robyn M. Powell

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

In September 2020, a whistleblower complaint was filed alleging that hysterectomies are being performed on women at an immigration detention center in alarmingly high rates. Regrettably, forced sterilizations are part of the nation’s long-standing history of weaponizing reproduction to subjugate socially marginalized communities. While public outrage in response to the whistleblower complaint was swift and relentless, it largely failed to acknowledge how eugenic ideologies and practices, including compulsory sterilizations, are ongoing and deeply entrenched in ableism. Indeed, a conversation that recognizes the ways in which eugenics continues to target people with disabilities is long overdue.

This Article contextualizes how eugenics …

Bostock’S Paradox: Textualism, Legal Justice, And The Constitution, Marc Spindelman

Buffalo Law Review

The Supreme Court’s opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia—recognizing that anti-gay and anti-trans discrimination are forms of sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act—has already gained a steady reputation as a textualist statutory interpretation decision. The reality of the ruling is far more complicated than that. Bostock is a textualist decision, but, as the argument here shows, Bostock also offers a construction of Title VII’s sex discrimination rule that sounds in a rule-of-law norm of legal justice about LGBT equality that itself traces roots to the Supreme Court’s constitutional LGBT rights jurisprudence. Bostock’s rule-of-law norm …

Adjudicating Patriarchy In The Nationality Law, Muhammed Samy Ahmed Mr.

Theses and Dissertations

The Egyptian legal structure has long discriminated against women. Taking nationality law as an example, it is obvious that all consecutive nationality laws have ignored women’s right concerning passing on and acquiring nationality. Even after its amendment in 2004, major gender discrimination still exists. This is caused by the fact that the nationality law is only a part of the legal system. Consequently, its essence will not deviate from the patriarchal composition of the overall nature of the legal system. This paper argues that the existing forms of discrimination in the nationality law correlate with the broader legal environment. Hence, …