Gender Justice - Fall 2018

Gender Justice - Fall 2018

L6506: Gender Justice

This course will provide an in-depth exposure to current advocacy efforts to advance Gender Justice.  The course will be held once a week for three hours.  In the first half of each class, we will have a guest speaker who is a gender justice advocate working on an issue such as domestic violence, transgender rights, reproductive justice, migrants’ rights, the criminalization of pregnancy, gender and the Movement for Black Lives, or the decriminalization of sex work.  In the second half of the class will will discuss the topic further (without the presence of the speaker), exploring questions such as: which gender justice problems are best addressed by litigation-based vs. other advocacy tactics; how advocacy in this area has shifted in the current political climate; to what degree the interests of people of color, low-income people, and gender non-conforming people, among other marginalized members of the community, have been either centered or neglected in advocacy strategies; the possibilities and limits of law-based advocacy; and how we might distinguish between forms of work that aim to make change in incremental ways vs. transformative/radical ways.  

  • Students will be evaluated by a final take-home exam.
  • No Laptops will be permitted in class, with exceptions made only for students with documented accessibility needs.

Course Readers may be downloaded at the Following Links

Course Schedule:

Monday, September 10

Introduction to the class - Rosh Hashanah (class will be recorded)

  • Nancy Levit and Robert R.M. Verchick, Feminist Legal Theories, in Feminist Legal Theory, 11 (New York University Press, 2016).

  • Chloe Malle, Imperial Pink? The Wing Gears Up to Go Global, Vogue Magazine, August 8, 2018.

Monday, September 17

Lecture on Gender Justice

  • Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Racism, Civil Rights, and Feminism, in Critical Race Feminism: A Reader (Wing, ed. 1997).

  • Gayle Rubin, Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality, in Pleasure and Danger 267 (Carole S. Vance ed., 1984).
Monday, September 24

Gender and Mass Incarceration

Kathy Boudin and Cheryl Wilkins, co-Directors, Columbia Center for Justice

  • Hazel V. Carby. “Policing the Black Woman’s Body in an Urban Context”. Critical Inquiry 18, no. 4 (1992): 738-55
     
  • Breea C. Willingham, “Black Women's Prison Narratives and the Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexuality in US Prisons”. Critical Survey Number 3, 201 1: 55-66
     
  • Kathy Boudin, “The Resilience of the Written Off: Women in Prison as Women of Change”. Women’s Rights Law Reporter 20, no.1 (2007): 15-22
     
  • Priscilla A. Ocen, “Punishing Pregnancy: Race, Incarceration, and the Shackling of Pregnant Prisoners”. 100 Cal.L.Rev. 1239 (2012)
     
  • Laura McTighe, with Deon Haywood. “‘There is NO Justice in Louisiana’: Crimes Against Nature and the Spirit of Black Feminist Resistance.” Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Culture, Politics and Society 19, no. 3 (2017): 261-285
Monday, October 1

Reproductive Justice and Religious Liberty

Brigitte Amiri, Deputy Director, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project

  • The Law, Rights, and Religion Project and Public Health Solutions, “Bearing Faith: The Limits of Catholic Health Care for Women of Color.” New York, 2018.
     
  • Complaint, in ACLU v. HHS. Case 3:17-cv-05772. Document 1. Filed October 6, 2017 in The United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.
     
  • Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment and Memorandum in Support, ACLU v. HHS v. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Case No. 3:16-cv-3539-LB.  Document 116. Filed April 20, 2018 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.
     
  • Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Plaintiff Chamorro’s Ex Parte Application for Temporary Restraining Order and Order to Show Cause, Chamorro v. Dignity Health; Case No. CGC 15-549626. Superior Court of the State of California for the County of San Francisco.
Monday, October 8

Sex Workers' Rights

Rosie Wang, Director of Legal Advocacy and Services, Sex Workers Project

  • Un-Meetable Promises: Rhetoric and Reality in New York City’s Human Trafficking Intervention Courts. A Report by the Global Health Justice Partnership of the Yale Law School and Yale School of Public Health in Collaboration with The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center. September 2018.
     
  • Sex Workers Project Statement on Backpage.com Seizure. Press Release. Urban Justice Project. April 10, 2018.
     
  • Martine de Bourmont. New U.S. Policy Raises Risk of Deportation for Immigrant Victims of Trafficking. Foreign Policy. July 9, 2018.
     
  • Matter of Hranka 16 I&N Dec. 491 (BIA 1978).
Monday, October 15

Human Rights Commissions

Carmelyn Malalis, Commissioner, New York City Commission on Human Rights

Monday, October 22

Gender and Climate Change

Colette Pichon Battle, Executive Director, Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy

  • Barrios, Roberto and Pichon Battle, Colette. Equity in Disaster Recovery, Mitigation and Adaptation. White paper. 2018.
     
  • The World Health Organization. Gender, Climate Change and Health. WHO, 2014. ISBN: 978 92 4 150818 6.
     
  • Harris, Rachel. “Case Study 5.7: Gender Aspects of Climate Change in the US Gulf Coast Region.” In Gender and Climate Change: An Introduction.  Earthscan, 2010. 152-158.
     
  • Rojas-Cheatham, Ann, et al. “Case Study 5.8: Women at Work: Mitigation Opportunities at the Intersection of Reproductive Justice and Climate Justice – Examples from Two Industrial Sectors in the US.” In Gender and Climate Change: An Introduction.  Earthscan, 2010. 159-170.
Monday, October 29

No Class

Monday, November 5

Gender and Migration

Chaumtoli Huq, Founder of Law at the Margins, Associate Professor of Law, CUNY Law School

  • VIDEO – Watch: “Naree Shongothok/Women Organizers,” created by Chaumtoli Huq, Founder of Law@TheMargins. 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYgKhhSMkMQ.
     
  • Huq, Chaumtoli. “Workers’ rights through a gender lens.” The Daily Star. March 25, 2015.
     
  • Boyd, Monica and Grieco, Elizabeth. “Women and Migration: Incorporating Gender into International Migration Theory.” Migration Policy Institute. March 1, 2003.
     
  • Musalo, Karen. “Personal Violence, Public Matter: Evolving Standards in Gender-Based Asylum Law.” Harvard International Review. Volume 36. No. 2. 45-48. 2014.
     
  • Anani, Ghida. “Dimensions of gender-based violence against Syrian refugees in Lebanon.” Forced Migration Review. Volume 44. 75-78. 2013. https://www.fmreview.org/sites/fmr/files/FMRdownloads/en/detention/anani...
Monday, November 12

The Future of Queer and Trans Rights

Chinyere Ezie, Staff Attorney, The Center for Constitutional Rights

  • EEOC v. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., 884 F3d 560 (6th Cir. 2017)
     
  • Alliance Defending Freedom, petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc. v. EEOC. July 20, 2018
     
  • ACLU, brief in opposition to certiorari, in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, Inc., v. EEOC. October 24, 2018
Monday, November 19

Criminalization of Pregnancy

Nancy Rosenbloom, Director of Legal Advocacy, National Advocates for Pregnant Women

  • “The dangerous state laws that are punishing pregnant people.” ThinkProgress.org. September 28, 2016.  
     
  • Paltrow, Lynn, and Katherine Jack. “Pregnant Women, Junk Science, and Zealous Defense.” www.nacdl.org. May, 2010.
     
  • “Federal Court of Appeals Decision Prevents Pregnant Woman’s Challenge to Wisconsin’s ‘Unborn Child Protection Act’.” National Advocates for Pregnant Women. June 18, 2018.
     
  • “Arkansas Court of Appeals Overturns Criminal Conviction for Concealing a Birth.” National Advocates for Pregnant Women. March 14, 2018.
     
  • Goldberg, Michelle. “Personhood Ballot Initiative in Mississippi Could Ban Some IVF Practices.” The Daily Beast. October 24, 2011.
     
  • Anne O’Hara Bynum v. State of Arkansas. Arkansas Court of Appeals. Opinion Delivered, March 14, 2018.
     
  • Concurrence in Anne O’Hara Bynum v. State of Arkansas. Arkansas Court of Appeals. Opinion Delivered, March 14, 2018.
     
  • Opinion and Order. Loertscher v. Anderson, Schimel, and Taylor County. United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Opinion Delivered April 28, 2017.
     

VIDEOS – From National Advocates for Pregnant Women

Monday, November 26

Engendering Race

Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund

  • McLellan, Cara. “Our Girls, Our Future: Investing in Opportunity & Reducing Reliance on the Criminal Justice System in Baltimore.” NAACP LDF, Thurgood Marshall Institute. 2018.
    https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/Baltimore_Girls_Report_FINAL_6_26_18.pdf
     
  • NAACP LDF and the National Women’s Law Center. “Unlocking Opportunity for African American Girls: A Call to Action for Educational Equity.” NAACP LDF. 2014
    https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/Unlocking-Opportunity-for-African-American_Girls_0_Education.pdf
     
  • Brief of NAACP LDF as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondent in Gloucester County School Board v. Gavin Grimm. Supreme Court of the United States, 16-273. Filed 3/2/2017.
     
  • Press Release - NAACP LDF Files Amicus Brief in Ninth Circuit Tracing Bigoted Roots of Transgender Military Ban. NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. July 3, 2018. ​
     
  • OPTIONAL 
     
  • Brief of NAACP LDF as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees and Affirmance in Jane Doe 2 et al. v. Donald J. Trump. US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, 18-5257. Filed 10/29/2018.
Monday, December 3
Review