Law and Gender Commons^™

Roe's Race: The Supreme Court Decision, Legal History, And The Racial Politics Of Abortion, Mary Ziegler

Scholarly Publications

Questions of race and abortion have shaped current legal debates about defunding Planned Parenthood and banning race-selection abortion. In these discussions, abortion opponents draw a close connection between the eugenic or population-control movements of the twentieth century and the contemporary abortion-rights movement. In challenging legal restrictions on abortion, abortion-rights activists generally insist that their movement and its predecessors have primarily privileged reproductive choice.

Notwithstanding the centrality of race to abortion politics, there has been no meaningful history of the racial politics of abortion that produced or followed Roe v. Wade. This Article bridges this gap in the abortion discussion by …

An Incomplete Revolution: Reexaming The Law, History, And Politics Of Marital Property, Mary Ziegler

Scholarly Publications

Did the divorce revolution betray the interests of American women? While there has been considerable disagreement about the impact of divorce reform on women’s standard of living, many agree that judicial practices involving the division of marital property and the allocation of alimony have systematically disadvantaged women. Most often, in the courts and the academy, commentators see these practices as evidence of the need for family law reform.

These conclusions rely on a shared account of the history of divorce reform. According to this account, the transformation of divorce law in the 1970s and 1980s was a “silent revolution,” a …

Save Our Children: Overcoming The Narrative That Gays And Lesbians Are Harmful To Children, 21 Duke J. Gender L. & Pol'y 125 (2013), Anthony Niedwiecki

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

This paper focuses on how gay rights activists had no real choice but to use the court system to advance marriage rights for same-sex couples because they were unable to use the political process to effectively rebut the claim that gays and lesbians were harmful to children. Part I begins with an overview of the ways in which the initiative process has been used to limit gay rights and prevent marriage equality. It then details how, in contrast to the political process, courts have been more receptive to advancing marriage rights for same-sex couples. Part II details Walter Fisher's narrative …

Talk Delivered February 6, 2012, To Professor D. Kelly Weisberg’S Domestic Violence Class, Rolanda Pierre Dixon

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Ms. Pierre Dixon’s speech delivered to Professor Weisberg’s Domestic violence class on her life’s work which included establishing and supervising the Santa Clara County Domestic Violence Task Force from 1991 until 2006. This issue features a transcription of that talk in which Ms. Pierre Dixon describes the challenges she faced in establishing the Task Force and the ongoing challenges prosecutors and domestic violence victims face.

Domestic Violence As A Basis For Asylum: An Analysis Of 206 Case Outcomes In The United States From 1994 To 2012, Blaine Bookey

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

The recent granting of asylum in the United States to the women in the highly publicized Matter of R-A- and Matter of L-R- cases has opened doors for other women fleeing horrific violence at the hands of their husbands and partners. Some immigration judges have begun to accept domestic violence as a basis for asylum as a result of the U.S. government’s approach in these cases. However, the absence of binding jurisprudential and regulatory norms remains a major impediment to fair and consistent outcomes for women who fear returning to countries where they face heinous abuse, or even death. While …

Remarks Delivered April 5, 2012, To Cutting Edge Topics In Domestic Violence Symposium, Katherine Dowling

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Ms. Dowling’s speech delivered at the Journal’s Spring 2012 symposium entitled: “Cutting Edge Topics in Domestic Violence” is transcribed here for the benefit of our readers. Ms. Dowling describes the ways in which domestic violence has implications on interstate commerce, the basis for the Violence Against Women Act.

Limitations On Choice: Abortion For Women With Diminished Capacity, Elizabeth Ann Mccaman

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Abortion for women with diminished capacity is a complex, highly charged issue. Because many women with diminished capacity cannot give informed consent, an abortion cannot be performed without some form of legal intervention. Florida requires women with diminished capacity obtain a court order to authorize the procedure. New York allows a parent or guardian to consent directly on behalf of the woman. In California, conservators have general authority to consent to surgery on behalf of the woman so long as she does not object. In developing these state-specific legal interventions, it is important to balance the desire for reproductive freedom …

Professional Responsibility In Civil Domestic Violence Matters, Julie Saffren

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Professional Responsibility in Civil Domestic Violence Matters explores the fundamental ethical duties that arise in civil domestic violence practice. The article stresses the importance of an attorney having a comprehensive knowledge of domestic violence dynamics and describes how these complex dynamics impact the attorney-client relationship. Knowledge of domestic violence and its impact on the victim is required if the attorney is to fulfill their duty of competence, including providing legal services in a culturally competent and trauma-informed manner. The importance of safety and specific ethical responsibilities in the face of high lethality cases are also discussed. The author examines attorney …

A Bibliography Of Title Ix Of The Education Amendments Of 1972, Christine Iaconeta Dulac

Faculty Publications

It has been thirty-five years since the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972. Title IX provides that no person shall be excluded from participation in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding. This legislation is credited with bolstering the participation rates of girls and women in athletics. Although athletics are not explicitly addressed in the statutory language, Title IX requires schools to offer male and female students equal opportunities to play sports, to give male and female athletes their fair share of athletic scholarship money, and to treat male and female athletes equally in …

The Rise Of The Transgender Child: Overcoming Societal Stigma, Institutional Discrimination, And Individual Bias To Enact And Enforce Nondiscriminatory Dress Code Policies, Holly V. Franson

University of Colorado Law Review

School districts are often called upon to adapt school policies in response to changing student populations, and transgender students appear to be an emerging student population. Schools should adopt nondiscriminatory and inclusive dress code policies to accommodate transgender students. Recently, awareness and advocacy on behalf of children who can be classified as transgender have increased. Unfortunately, despite this increase in awareness and advocacy, transgender students continue to face unique obstacles in the school environment, including bullying, as a result of being transgender. Because the primary means through which transgender students express their identified genders is through their dress, schools should …

Popular Legal Journalism In The Writings Of Maria Vérone, Sara L. Kimble

School of Continuing and Professional Studies Faculty and Staff Works

No abstract provided.

'May It Please The Court?': A Short Story, Angela Mae Kupenda

Journal Articles

This story tells a fictional account of a black woman lawyer who is about to try the biggest case of her life. While many black women lawyers seek to express their individuality and bring the best of themselves into their work and lives, conventions and norms about race and gender force them to give huge attention to things that likely matter little in the long run. In this story, we go on a journey of self-discovery with the protagonist, Angel, in hopes that she will be able to please the court in this—her trial of a lifetime.

Similarities Between Early Irish Marital Property Law And California Community Property: The Economic Significance Of A Wife's Labor, Caroline Bermeo Newcombe

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article presents a comparative analysis of two marital property systems: California's community property system and the ancient Irish Brehon law. Despite their temporal and cultural differences, both systems remarkably recognize women's rights to own property, allow unilateral divorce, and value the economic contribution of wives. This comparison highlights progressive legal ideas and critiques the impact of colonialism on legal frameworks, particularly the erosion of Brehon law through cases like Gavelkind, which replaced it with English common law and undermined women's rights.

A Dilemma Of Doctrinal Design: Rights, Identity And The Work-Family Conflict, Lauren Sudeall Lucas

Faculty Publications By Year

This symposium article suggests that with regard to the work-family conflict, we may have exhausted doctrine’s potential in setting a constitutional foundation for women to be treated as equals in the workplace and requiring that they not be discriminated against in the event that they decide to start a family. For purposes of this piece, those accomplishments constitute the first phase or “first generation” of progress. This article is concerned with how doctrine relates to “second generation” issues arising from the work-family conflict: how to balance work and family once some initial level of equality has been achieved; how to …

Constitutional Limitations On Closing The Gender Gap In Employment, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

Despite our country’s efforts to eliminate it, there remain pay and achievement gaps between men and women in the workplace. This article summarizes legal approaches to close the gap, constitutional developments that have slowed government’s power to address the inequality, worrisome trends in recent cases, and the implications of these. This article proposes a future of utilizing congress’s taxing power to address inequalities.

Gilbert Redux: The Interaction Of The Pregnancy Discrimination Act And The Amended Americans With Disabilities Act, Deborah Widiss

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Pregnancy — a health condition that only affects women — raises complicated questions regarding the interaction of employment policies addressing sex discrimination and those addressing disability. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), enacted in 1978, mandates that employers “shall” treat pregnant employees “the same for all employment-related purposes” as other employees “similar in their ability or inability to work.” Despite the clarity of this language, some courts permit employers to treat pregnant employees less favorably than employees with other health conditions, so long as the employer does so pursuant to a “pregnancy-blind” policy such as accommodating only workplace injuries or disabilities …

U.S. Global Aids Funding And Its Discontents: Why The Supreme Court Must Strike Down The Anti-Prostitution Pledge, Chi Adanna Mgbako

Faculty Scholarship

This op-ed recommends that the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the "anti-prostitution pledge," a Congressional requirement forcing organizations receiving U.S. global AIDS funding to adopt policies "opposing prostitution and sex trafficking."

Symposium Dialogue: Keynote Speaker Senator Barbara Mikulski, Barbara Mikulski

University of Baltimore Law Review

MODERATED BY PROFESSOR MARGARET E. JOHNSON

The following is an adaptation of the Dialogue that took place on the campus of the University of Baltimore School of Law during the 2012 Applied Feminism and Democracy: 2012 Feminist Legal Theory Conference, on March 2, 2012. In an effort to present this dialogue in an academically appealing manner, minor formatting and grammatical adaptations were made, while maintaining the substance of the Dialogue. -EDS.

Symposium Foreword: Applied Feminism And Democracy

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Seduction: Lessons Learned About Rape, Politics, And Power From Dominique Strauss-Kahn And Moshe Katsav, Hannah Brenner

Faculty Scholarship

In the last decade, two influential international political figures, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, and Moshe Katsav, former President of Israel, were accused of engaging in extreme and ongoing patterns of sexual violence. The collection offormal charges against the two men included rape, forcible indecent assault, sexual harassment, and obstruction of justice. The respective narratives surrounding the allegations against Katsav and Strauss-Kahn have their own individual characteristics, and each of the cases unfolded in diverging ways. Yet, the actions of these two men taken together, and the corresponding response of the legal systems in France, Israel, …