Law and Gender Commons^™

Oliari And The European Court Of Human Rights: Where The Court Failed, Vito John Marzano

Pace International Law Review

The European Court of Human Rights revisited the issue of legal recognition for same-sex partnerships on July 21, 2015 when it decided Oliari and Others v. Italy. This Note explores the implications of that decision and what it may mean for same-sex couples within Italy and throughout the Council of Europe. Through a careful analysis of the decision, this Note concludes that Oliari provides slight yet important movement on the issue of a Contracting State’s obligation to afford legal recognition for same-sex partnerships, but a practical implementation of the Court’s holding likely will yield little additional movement in more conservative …

Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission: Brief Of Amici Curiae Public Accommodation Law Scholars In Support Of Respondents, Samuel Bagenstos

Appellate Briefs

Amici are legal scholars with expertise in the historical and contemporary applications of the public accommodation laws. This brief argues that the First Amendment exemption Masterpiece claims would subvert the historic purpose of these laws: to promote equal dignity in the marketplace.

For more than half a century, state public accommodation laws across the country have protected against denials of dignity and equal treatment in the public marketplace. Throughout that period, this Court has consistently rejected arguments that businesses open to the general public have a constitutional right to provide less than the full and equal services required by such …

Gender And Nation-Building: Family Law As Legal Architecture, Tracy E. Higgins, Rachel P. Fink

Maine Law Review

In considering the legal architecture of nation-building, we might most readily think of public law as our subject insofar as it governs the relationship between the individual and the state, and establishes the institutions of governance and the sources and limits of their power. The essays in this volume, in large part, track this instinct in that they concern themselves with fields such as constitutional law, criminal law, and public international law. Closer to the margin of public and private law are essays dealing with various dimensions of the modern regulatory state, including banking and commercial transactions. In each of …

Women In The Legal Profession From The 1920s To The 1970s: What Can We Learn From Their Experience About Law And Social Change?, Cynthia Grant Bowman

Maine Law Review

I work in a law school building that is named for Jane M.G. Foster, who donated the money for its construction. It’s a lovely building, and my office overlooks a gorge so that I can hear the water fall as I write. So I’m grateful to Jane Foster. And curious. Who was she? Jane Foster graduated from Cornell Law School in 1918, having served as an editor of the law review and being elected to the Order of the Coif. But no law firm wanted her services. She obtained employment not as a lawyer but as a legal assistant in …

All Employers Must Wash Their Speech Before Returning To Work: The First Amendment & Compelled Use Of Employees’ Preferred Gender Pronouns, Tyler Sherman

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Let’S Talk About Sexual Assault: Survivor Stories And The Law In The Jian Ghomeshi Media Discourse, Dana Phillips

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The recent allegations against former Canadian radio host Jian Ghomeshi catalyzed an exceptional moment of public discourse on sexual assault in Canada. Following public revelations from several women who described being attacked by Ghomeshi, many others came forward with accounts of sexual violence in their own lives. Affirming feminist critiques of sexual assault law reform, many survivors drew on their experiences to expose the criminal justice system’s ongoing flaws in processing sexual assault cases. While some held out hope for the criminal law’s role in addressing sexual violence, most rejected its individualizing and retributive aspects. Instead, survivors emphasized the need …

Constitution Day Lecture: Constitutional Law And Tort Law: Injury, Race, Gender, And Equal Protection, Jennifer B. Wriggins

Maine Law Review

The focus of today’s annual Constitution Day lecture at the University of Maine School of Law is on the Fourteenth Amendment and specifically how the Equal Protection Clause relates to tort law. First, I will talk about the Equal Protection Clause in general—what it says, and some of what it has been held to mean—particularly where government makes distinctions based on race and gender. Second, I will discuss two historical tort cases that violate equal protection on the basis of race. In doing so, I uncover the racial history of tort law that has been hidden in plain sight. I …

Gender Wage Inequality: Is More Legislation The Answer?, Nicole Michele Barnhart

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment examines the unfortunate truth of gender wage inequality, focusing primarily on the California Fair Pay Act—one of the toughest equal pay laws in the United States. Part I examines the gender pay gap and how it is calculated. Part II provides an overview of the different laws aimed at protecting women from wage inequality both at a federal and state level. Part III discusses the negative, unintended consequences that may arise from the California Fair Pay Act by closely examining the plain language of the legislation. Part IV analyzes the underlying factors that contribute to wage inequality between …

Book Review: Deborah Rhode, Women And Leadership, Vaughn Hokanson

ConLawNOW

In this essay, the student author reviews the book Women & Leadership by Deborah Rhode, which offers potential solutions to the all-too-common challenges faced by those seeking to increase the number of women in top leadership positions.

Lgbt Rights Are Human Rights: Conditioning Foreign Direct Investments On Domestic Policy Reform, Dara P. Brown

Cornell International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Remembering An Abolitionist, Ambassador John R. Miller (May 23, 1938-October 4, 2017), Eleanor Kennelly Gaetan, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

A memorial for Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, John R. Miller (May 23, 1938-October 4, 2017). Ambassador Miller believed modern-day slavery, encompassing sex trafficking and forced labor, requires a principled global offensive that the United States is morally obligated to lead. In the four formative years he led the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, 2002 to 2006, John Miller set the office’s course as diplomatically aggressive and programmatically creative. He made the annual Trafficking in Persons report more than a bureaucratic submission, putting daring heroes at the center, and insisting on compelling …

The Violent State: Black Women's Invisible Struggle Against Police Violence, Michelle S. Jacobs

UF Law Faculty Publications

Black women have a very specific history with the state and law enforcement that is not replicated among other women’s communities, and it is that unique situation that is the focus of this Article. Part I of this Article explores the historical roots of Black women’s interaction with the state. Part II of this Article is broken into two sections. The first will cover police killings of Black women. The second part of the section will explore the conditions under which Black women are physically assaulted by the police. Part III of the Article seeks to highlight when the police …

Justice Blackmun And Individual Rights, Diane P. Wood

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Of the many contributions Justice Blackmun has made to American jurisprudence, surely his record in the area of individual rights stands out for its importance. Throughout his career on the Supreme Court, he has displayed concern for a wide variety of individual and civil rights. He has rendered decisions on matters ranging from the most personal interests in autonomy and freedom from interference from government in life’s private realms, to the increasingly complex problems posed by discrimination based upon race, sex, national origin, alienage, illegitimacy, sexual orientation, and other characteristics. As his views have become well known to the public, …

The Search For Third Options In A Two-Bathroom Society, Sharon R. Cruz

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note examines the systemic discrimination faced by transgender individuals, particularly in access to bathrooms and prison housing, arguing that such treatment reflects broader societal and legal failures to recognize and protect gender identity. It critiques binary policies that perpetuate harm and advocates for inclusive measures to ensure equal rights and safety. The analysis underscores the legal system's evolving understanding of gender identity and the urgent need for enforceable protections.

Bathroom Laws As Status Crimes, Stephen Rushin, Jenny Carroll

Fordham Law Review

A growing number of American jurisdictions have considered laws that prohibit trans individuals from using bathroom facilities consistent with their gender identities. Several scholars have criticized these so-called “bathroom laws” as a form of discrimination in violation of federal law. Few scholars, though, have considered the criminal justice implications of these proposals. By analyzing dozens of proposed bathroom laws, this Article explores how many laws do more than stigmatize the trans community—they effectively criminalize it. Some of these proposed laws would establish new categories of criminal offenses for trans individuals who use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Others would …

Saving Title Ix: Designing More Equitable And Efficient Investigation Procedures, Emma Ellman-Golan

Michigan Law Review

In 2011, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance on Title IX compliance. This guidance has resulted in the creation of investigative and adjudicatory tribunals at colleges and universities receiving federal funds to hear claims of sexual assault, harassment, and violence. OCR’s enforcement efforts are a laudable response to an epidemic of sexual violence on college campuses, but they have faced criticism from administrators, law professors, and potential members of the Trump Administration. This Note suggests ways to alter current Title IX enforcement mechanisms to placate critics and to maintain OCR enforcement as a bulwark against …

Reinvigorating Commonality: Gender And Class Actions, Brooke D. Coleman, Elizabeth G. Porter

Articles

In this Article, we examine the interplay of Rule 23(b)(2) class actions, feminism, and Title VII sex discrimination doctrine over the past fifty years to show that the theoretical concept of commonality—cohesion, unity—in the women’s movement has had a significant impact on the ability of women to seek collective redress for workplace discrimination through class actions. We describe how the four "waves” of feminism since the 1960s find corresponding analogues in the development of Title VII class action law. Beginning in the civil rights era, feminism became an entrenched part of mainstream America Over time, however, feminism’s influence waned as …

Left Behind: How The Absence Of A Federal Vacatur Law Disadvantages Survivors Of Human Trafficking, Jessica Emerson, Alison Aminzadeh

All Faculty Scholarship

After a hamstring injury in October of 2004 forced her to surrender her athletic scholarship at St. John's University, Shamere McKenzie chose to spend her winter break working in order to save the money she needed to pay the remainder of her tuition. In January of 2005, Shamere met a man named Corey Davis, who expressed an interest in dating her. After getting to know him for several weeks, she eventually shared with him the challenges she was having earning the money she needed to continue her enrollment in college. Davis encouraged her to consider exotic dancing as a way …

Coverage In Transition: Considerations When Expanding Employer-Provided Health Coverage To Lgbti Employees And Beneficiaries, Kathryn J. Kennedy

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The rights of transgender individuals has been in the headlines during 2017 - ranging from President Trump's tweet to announce a ban on transgender individuals from serving in the military due to the "tremendous medical costs" to a nationwide injunction imposed by a federal district court on the HHS regulations that prohibit health-care discrimination against transgender individuals under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

There are three important reasons why transgender rights are in the news. First, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, designed to promote the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, scores employers in its Corporate Equality …

Living Apart Together, Women, And Family Law, Cynthia Grant Bowman

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

"Living Apart Together, " or "LAT, " describes an intimate relationship in which a committed unmarried couple live in separate residences. This Article discusses whether this lifestyle is particularly attractive to women today. After exploring information available about women and LAT in secondary literature from other parts of the world, the author presents new empirical data about LATs in the United States, based on two surveys and a series of qualitative interviews from 2016 and 2017. She examines whether the women respondents and interviewees offer different reasons for living apart than the men do and discusses whether they choose LAT …