Women, Gender, and Sex

"This is the first ethnography of American midwives and their clients and advocates. The culmination of more than a decade of participant-observation, interviews, and archival research, this project specifically interrogates the potential and pitfalls of legal and political campaigns for reproductive autonomy"--

During her lifetime, Myra Bradwell (1831-1894) - America's "first" woman lawyer as well as publisher and editor-in-chief of a prestigious legal newspaper - did more to establish and aid the rights of women and other legally handicapped people than any other woman of her day. Her female contemporaries - Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone - are known to all. Now it is time for Myra Bradwell to assume her rightful place among women's rights leaders of the nineteenth century. With author Jane Friedman's discovery of previously unpublished letters and valuable documents, Bradwell's fascinating story can at last be told.

Beginning with the introduction of abortion law in the nineteenth century, this reader includes important documents from nearly two hundred years of debate over abortion. These legal briefs, oral arguments, court opinions, newspaper reports, opinion pieces, and contemporary essays are introduced with headnotes that place them in historical context. Chapters cover the birth control movement, changes in abortion law in the 1960s, Roe v. Wade, the Hyde Amendment and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, state and federal regulation of abortion practices, and the freedom of speech cases surrounding anti-abortion clinic protests. The first section of each chapter sets the stage and explains the choice of documents. This rich, balanced collection is an indispensable reference tool for the study of one of the most passionate debates in American history. It brings together the writings of doctors, lawyers, scientists, philosophers, elected officials, judges, and scholars as few other legal readers do, and it is essential reading for those engaged in the ongoing debate about abortion law in the United States.

Kathryn Rubino talks with Linda Coberly, Chicago Office Managing Partner for the law firm of Winston & Strawn and Chair of the ERA Coalition’s Legal Task Force, about the ongoing fight for the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment.   Episode Resources     Episode Highlights The adoption of the ERA - 0:47 The right to vote - 2:07 The proposal of the ERA - 4:36 There are protections against discrimination - 5:30 The ERA inside the Constitution - 14:48 Working cases - 22:23 Expectations about a case - 23:23 The Congress and the Department of Justice - 26:40   Subscribe, Share and Review To get the next episode subscribe with your favorite podcast player. Subscribe with Follow on Leave a review on

In this special bonus episode, Melissa and Kate are joined by co-editor Reva Siegel to discuss their book "Reproductive Rights & Justice Stories," in a conversation moderated by Rebecca Traister and hosted by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

In recent years, states have enacted escalating numbers of restrictions on women's reproductive health care, many in the form of targeted regulation of abortion provider (TRAP) laws that shut clinics under the pretense of safeguarding health. In addition, religious objectors are increasingly demanding exemptions from laws protecting access to reproductive health care, including health insurance coverage for contraception. Together these restrictions are dramatically altering women's access to health care. How can advocates challenge these new restrictions under Planned Parenthood v. Casey? What other modes of advocacy are needed, in addition to litigation? Speakers: Caitlin Borgmann, Professor of Law, The City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law Khiara M. Bridges, Associate Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law; Associate Professor of Anthropology, Boston University Kathleen Clyde, State Representative, Ohio House of Representatives, 75th District Louise Melling, Deputy Legal Director, ACLU; Director, ACLU Center for Liberty Julie Rikelman, Litigation Director, Center for Reproductive Rights

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law signed by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress when prosecutors chose to not prosecute cases. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the U.S. Department of Justice.

This guide will mainly focus on the traditional “women’s rights” areas, and discuss the variety of opportunities, issue areas, and practice settings to advocate for women’s rights. However, there are an infinite number of women’s issues to fight for, and an equally large number of avenues in which to advocate for equal justice. Be creative in your thinking, spread wide your research, and find the issue and practice area in which you can most effectively achieve your goals.

Welcome to the Women's Legal History (WLH) website! The website is the home of a searchable database of articles and papers on pioneering women lawyers in the United States. Also located here are the Indexes and Bibliographic Notes for Barbara Babcock, "Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz. ...

The UCLA Journal of Gender and Law is an academic legal journal that uses the power of language to educate people and make women's voices heard.

Rolando T. Acosta, Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, discusses the Equal Rights Amendment, which has yet to be incorporated into the U.S. Constitution. New York was one of the first states to ratify the proposed federal ERA in 1972, but has yet to pass a state ERA. He writes: Given the uncertain future of the ERA as an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, women’s rights need to be protected under the New York Constitution.

This bibliography references a selection of English language books and journal articles which link, explicitly or implicitly, women's health and human rights. The works selected articulate a connection between these concepts, as highlighted by the annotations.

This bibliography references select works on the development, interpretation and implementation of women's international human rights as established by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and other international and regional human rights conventions. This bibliography is confined to international law and does not include materials on national or comparative sex discrimination laws, except to the extent that such articles integrate domestic human rights issues with a discussion international women's human rights law.

New research examines gender bias within four industries with more female than male workers — law, higher education, faith-based nonprofits, and health care. Having balanced or even greater numbers of women in an organization is not, by itself, changing women’s experiences of bias. Bias is built into the system and continues to operate even when more women than men are present. Leaders can use these findings to create gender-equitable practices and environments which reduce bias. First, replace competition with cooperation. Second, measure success by goals, not by time spent in the office or online. Third, implement equitable reward structures, and provide remote and flexible work with autonomy. Finally, increase transparency in decision making.

Harvard Law Review

Sexual and reproductive health and rights have increasingly been recognized in the international arena, but their evolution and the definition of their scope and content have not been received without controversy. From population control to human rights, from demographers’ competence to governmental prerogative, from couples’ rights to universal rights, this article will present an overview of the evolution of sexual and reproductive rights in the international arena. The development of these rights cannot be read in isolation but must be analyzed together with the broader landscape that hosts social and political movements, ideologies, religions, and revolutions. Understanding sexual and reproductive health and rights as historical creations, rather than timeless givens, enables us to devise historically informed instruments and policies that are more likely to succeed. This article contributes to the scholarly literature by providing an overview of past trends and of the conditions under which they occurred. Retracing the history of these rights enables us to clarify the scope of the state’s obligations to realize the right to sexual and reproductive health, to improve monitoring opportunities, and to ensure accountability for violations. This article explores these (and forthcoming) developments contributing to identify the existing obligations, the relevant actors, and the challenges that lie ahead.

The Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, a continuation of Berkeley Women’s Law Journal, was founded in 1984 by a group of students at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law who came together with a vision of “preserving our voices of diversity and maintaining our commitment to social change within the often-stifling confines of a law school environment.” Now in its thirtieth year of publication, BGLJ is guided by an editorial policy that distinguishes us from other law reviews and feminist journals. Our mandate is to publish feminist legal scholarship that critically examines the intersection of gender with one or more axis of subordination, including, but not limited to, race, class, sexual orientation, and disability. Because conditions of inequality are continually changing, our mandate is also continually evolving. Pieces may come within the mandate because of their subject matter or because of their analytical attention to differences in social location among women.

The ABA Journal is read by half of the nation's 1 million lawyers every month. It covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Discover the inspiring stories of history's most famous female lawyers who broke barriers, fought for justice, and paved the way for future generations

Women’s History Month has been recognized in the United States since President Reagan issued Presidential Proclamation 5619 on March 16, 1987, with all the succeeding presidents echoing those sentiments annually.

Corporate America is at a crossroads. The choices companies make today will impact women in the workplace for decades to come.

There may be one thread that runs through Michele Kilpatrick’s life and career: A dedication to making public policy and politics work for…

Retired federal appellate judge and law professor Richard Posner is the most cited U.S. legal scholar on record, followed by Harvard University law professor Cass Sunstein, and the late New York University law professor Ronald Dworkin.

Yale Law Women survey highlights that only 20% of equity partners are women