Gender and the Law provides an ideal introduction to gender and feminist theory for students. Beginning with an overview of traditional notions of gender, the book establishes the key feminist and queer legal theories. It provides a basic structure and overview upon which students can build their understanding of some of the complex and controversial topics and debates around gender. Structured thematically, the book explores many fascinating and controversial legal issues, including issues of transgender rights; equal pay and equality in the workplace; societal changes and challenges within the regulation of personal relationships; the law surrounding consent and sexual offences; the role of gender norms in the criminal courts; legal regulation of prostitution and pornography; and the ways in which the law has responded to societal changes surrounding reproduction. With ‘thinking points’ and ‘further reading’ suggestions within each chapter, the authors encourage an engagement with critique and theory in order to understand this dynamic and challenging field.

The legal status of women has changed more rapidly in the last 20 years than in the previous 200, Hoff argues, but these changes have become less important over time. The American power structure has relinquished rights to women and minorities only after these rights have been diminished by a white-male-dominated legal system. She calls for a reinterpretation of legal texts to create a feminist jurisprudence. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The law is a well-known tool in fighting gender inequality, but which laws actually advance women’s rights? This book unpacks the complex nuances behind gender-responsive domestic legislation, from several of the world’s leading experts on gender equality. Drawing on domestic examples and international law, it provides a primer of theory alongside tangible and practical solutions to fulfil the promise of the law to deliver equality between men and women. Part I outlines what progress has been made to date on eradicating gender inequality, and insights into the law’s potential as one lever in the global struggle for equality. Parts II and III go on to explore concrete areas of law, with case studies from multiple jurisdictions that examine how well domestic legislation is working for women. The authors bring their critical lens to areas of law often considered from a gender perspective – gender-based violence, women’s reproductive health, labour and gender equality quotas – while bringing much-needed analysis to issues often ignored in gender debates, such as taxation, environmental justice and good governance. Part IV seeks to move from a theoretical goal of greater accountability to a practical one. It explores both accountability for international women’s rights norms at the domestic level and the potential of feminist approaches to legislation to deliver laws that work for women. Written for students, academics, legislators and policymakers engaged in international women’s rights law, gender equality, government accountability and feminist legal theory, this book has tremendous transformative potential to drive forward legal change towards the eradication of gender inequality.

Gender Law and Policy, Fourth Edition, by Katharine T. Bartlett, Deborah L. Rhode, Joanna L. Grossman, Deborah L. Brake, and Frank Rudy Cooper provides the theoretical frameworks, legal cases, and policy background necessary for analyzing a broad range of gender issues in the law. It is an ideal text for undergraduate courses in Women’s Studies, Political Science, and other fields focusing on gender law and policy, including Women and the Law and Gender Law and Policy. This text features lucid introductions in each chapter that illuminate the issues significant to each topic, alternative theoretical perspectives that facilitate open-minded problem-solving, and incisive commentary by leading scholars and policymakers. Timely coverage of foundational and cutting-edge issues includes constitutional law, employment law, Title IX and education (including sports), family law, sexual harassment, sexual violence, pornography, prostitution, global trafficking, LGBT issues, and women’s sexual and reproductive health. Features of the Fourth Edition: Organized in five chapters focusing on different theoretical frameworks to enable students to grasp different conceptualizations of equality and justice. Introductory chapter with a broad overview of the theoretical frameworks, as well as the adjacent critical theories with the most relevance to the study of gender and law—intersectionality, queer theory, and masculinities studies. Includes more than 200 “Putting Theory into Practice” Problems, most based on real-life, unresolved problems, to keep a consistent, stimulating focus on the relationship between theory and practice. Coverage of latest developments in the field, including Supreme Court decisions on abortion and LGBT discrimination. Features boxed definitions of terms and explanations of the legal process that are important for understanding the cases and a glossary where students can look up unfamiliar terms and concepts. Provides timelines and charts for graphic enhancement of important information. Offers clear introductions to each chapter, subject matter, and lead case, along with reading questions, so that students can focus on the implications of the law rather than figure out the content of the law. Tailors cases to undergraduate use, almost entirely omitting procedural issues but preserving detailed facts necessary for analysis. New or enhanced coverage of the #MeToo movement, reproductive justice, campus sexual assault, trans athlete bans, and intimate partner violence. Professors and students will benefit from: Adaptation of the best-selling law school gender and law textbook for undergraduate use for courses in gender, law, and policy. Intersperses theoretical and practice materials: excerpted legal cases, statutes, and law review articles form an ongoing dialogue within the book to stimulate thought and discussion. Provides complete, up-to-date coverage of conventional “women and the law” issues, including constitutional law, employment law, affirmative action, sexual harassment, reproductive rights, domestic violence, Title IX, and poverty and race, along with analysis of cutting-edge issues relating to LGBTQ and nonbinary individuals.

This volume examines the role of law as a tool for advancing women’s rights and gender equity in local, national, and global contexts. Many feminist scholars note a marked failure of law to achieve goals connected to women’s rights and gender equality. Despite its limitations, law provides aspirational norms that can be mobilized to hold institutions accountable and to provide material benefit to those excluded from systems of power. In conversation with each other, the chapters in this volume help to advance understanding of both the limitations and the potential of law as a tool for advancing democratic participation, rights, and justice around issues related to gender and sexuality. Contributors acknowledge, to varying degrees, that law has important symbolism and may be used as a lever to mobilize change. At the same time, some offer cautionary notes about the potential downside risks and unintended consequences of relying upon law in pursuit of women’s rights and gender equity. Collectively, the chapters in this volume explore the disjuncture between the promise and expectation of legal reform and the lived experience of those laws by people intended as the beneficiaries of legal change. This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Discourse.

Law is often perceived as an instrument that can effect social change. While this might be so, it must be complemented by the necessary financial and human resources to make the law effective. Natalie Persadie explains that, among developing countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, the achievement of legal advances for women--at either the international or national levels--is particularly difficult where practical measures are not subsequently implemented. This is, perhaps, attributable to a lack of political will. Important issues such as gender equality and domestic violence are not given priority and laws aimed at protecting women and promoting women's rights are ineffective, scant, or unenforced. Gender justice can only be realized through a multilevel approach from above and, more importantly, from below, as women have the potential to effect real national and international legal and institutional change to ensure gender equality at both levels.

A wide-ranging and comprehensive survey of modern legal scholarship and the evolution of law in America What do Catharine MacKinnon, the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, and Lani Guinier have in common? All have, in recent years, become flashpoints for different approaches to legal reform. In the last quarter century, the study and practice of law have been profoundly influenced by a number of powerful new movements; academics and activists alike are rethinking the interaction between law and society, focusing more on the tangible effects of law on human lives than on its procedural elements. In this wide-ranging and comprehensive volume, Gary Minda surveys the current state of legal scholarship and activism, providing an indispensable guide to the evolution of law in America.

Women constitute a large portion of the economically active population engaged in agriculture. International instruments on human rights, the environment and sustainable development reaffirm the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. Yet women often face gendered obstacles in realizing their rights and feeding their families. The right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, may thus not be fulfilled. These obstacles may stem from directly or indirectly discriminatory norms or from entrenched socio-cultural practices, or both. This study analyses the gender dimension of agriculture-related legislation in a selection of different countries around the world, examining the legal status of women in three key areas: rights to land and other natural resources; rights of women agricultural workers; and rights concerning women's agricultural self-employment activities, ranging from women's status in rural cooperatives to their access to credit, training and extension services.

Instructors choose Gender and the Law: Theory, Doctrine, Commentary for: - a thorough analysis of gender and law through several distinct perspectives, which include formal equality, substantive equality, nonsubordination theory, difference theory, autonomy, and non-essentialism - going far beyond traditional gender issues to draw cases, theory, and commentary from many different areas of the law, such as employment law, criminal law, constitutional law, family law, civil procedure, legal ethics, property law, and contracts - explaining to students the complex ways in which laws are said to be gendered - unique Putting Theory into Practice problems at the end of each section, which allow students to apply the legal and theoretical tools to cutting-edge issues The Fourth Edition keeps pace with important developments: - updated material on women in the legal profession and legal education - the text contains updates of most important new cases and theoretical insights relating to employment law, Title IX, criminal sentencing, welfare and Social Security reform, affirmative action, teenage pregnancy, gay and lesbian rights - cases, statistics, commentary, and empirical studies of the law in action appear in the materials on sexual harassment, domestic violence, and rape - important cases include Goodridge v. Mass., Nevada v. Hibbs, Lawrence v. Texas, and Jespersen v. Harrah's - more material on international law in the area of rape and global trafficking