Women's Movements & the Law

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. International Women’s Day is also celebrated within Women's History Month on March 8th every year. The origins of this holiday can be traced back to the early 1900s where National Women’s Days were observed in the U.S., Europe and Russia surrounding women’s suffrage. Finally, in 1977 the United Nations officially commemorated International Women’s History Day in honor of the women’s labor movements taking place across the globe and a nod to the historical events that sought gender equality.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill banning medication abortions into law on Friday, becoming the first state to do so.

After the women’s rights champion died in 2020, the US Supreme Court saw its conservative majority expand further.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's image as the "Notorious RBG" is familiar from a variety of merchandise, from T-shirts to scented candles. Her vigorous dissents on behalf of liberal values are celebrated. Her inspiring life story and formidable work ethic are well known from films and biographies for adults and children; even her workouts have been analyzed, as her fans absorb every detail of her life. But how much do most of us know about the ways her viewpoint has shaped the development of law in the United States from the 1970s onward? This collection of Justice Ginsburg's groundbreaking arguments, opinions, and dissents-from the 1970s through the Supreme Court's most recently completed term-celebrates Justice Ginsburg's enduring intellectual legacy and makes it more accessible for the reader who has not attended law school. Included are a broad range of her legal writings, from early arguments before the Supreme Court that demolished barriers to legal equality between men and women, to her most recent opinions and dissents on matters as diverse as the First Amendment's establishment clause and the rules concerning birthright citizenship. A summary of Ginsburg's life opens the book, and introductions to her writings explain the background, issues, and laws involved in each case. Justice Ginsburg has often chosen to speak from the bench when a decision is handed down in the Supreme Court, in a simplified version of her written opinion or dissent. These bench announcements are included for most of the cases in the book.

"Sylvia Jane Burrow explores self-confidence as integral to autonomy development within everyday contexts threatening gender violence, arguing that self-defense training is significant to resistance and resilience"--;"In often mundane but sometimes quite obvious ways, persons belonging to groups routinely threatened with harm on the basis of gender and sexuality suffer restrictions to choice and action, impairing autonomy. Gender Violence: Resistance, Resilience, and Autonomy shows that resistance to, and cultivating resiliency within, a culture of gender violence is key to fostering autonomy. Building on decades of research philosophically interrogating autonomy and its limits, and with a martial arts background spanning over twenty-five years, Professor Burrow develops a novel approach to autonomy development under everyday threats of violence. Appealing to empirical research to ground its philosophical analysis, the theory presented in this book establishes that cultivating self-confidence through self-defense training is a significant strategy contributing to resistance and resilience under threats of violence and hence, autonomy development." -- Publisher's description

North Dakota's Supreme Court on Thursday refused to revive a strict abortion ban previously blocked by a lower court, finding that the ban runs afoul of a right under the state constitution to abortion if it is needed to preserve the mother's life or health. The ruling means that abortion remains legal in North Dakota for now.

As women continue to die due to pregnancy or childbirth each year in the United States, new federal data shows that the nation's maternal death rate rose significantly yet again in 2021, with the rates among Black women more than twice as high as those of White women.

National Center for Health Statistics

Over the course of about four hours of arguments, a federal judge in Texas asked questions that suggested he is seriously considering undoing the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of a medication abortion drug and the agency's moves to relax the rules around its use.

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Despite Goldman Sachs’ attempt to avoid a 12-year-old gender bias class action lawsuit, a federal judge said Monday the case will head to trial next June.

In a recent article from Legal IT Insider, Caroline Hill wrote about how "63% of all legal contracts are gender-biased" based on a report from Genie AI.

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We look at today’s hearing by a federal judge in Texas who could restrict medication abortions throughout the United States and revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of mifepristone, the abortion medication used in a majority of pregnancy terminations across the country. The Trump-appointed judge has ruled against the Biden administration in numerous cases and is widely expected to favor the anti-abortion side in the case, though an appeal of any ruling is all but certain. Amy Littlefield, The Nation's abortion access correspondent, says that while medication abortions are still possible without mifepristone, it can be less effective and more painful. “We're talking about imposing suffering on medication abortion patients across the country,” Littlefield says.

If the case succeeds, it could have sweeping repercussions — for abortion clinics and patients across the nation, as well as for the FDA's drug-approval process.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that it will promote greater equity and inclusion for members of the LGBTQI+ community by giving individuals the option to select a nonbinary “X” gender marker during the voluntary self-identification questions that are part of the intake process for filing a charge of discrimination. This announcement comes on Transgender Day of Visibility, which recognizes the resilience and accomplishments of the transgender community.

The ruling reverses a 2021 decision that previously blocked the law.

Legal historian Mary Ziegler has chronicled the legal, political and cultural battles around abortion, and says the debate is far from over: "We're at a moment of almost unprecedented uncertainty in the United States when it comes to abortion," Zielger says. Her book is Roe: The History of a National Obsession.

A baseless lawsuit targeting mifepristone could effectively ban the most commonly used method of abortion — very soon.

The Equal Rights Amendment, which would codify gender equality in the U.S. Constitution, has been introduced in every session of Congress since 1923. It was finally passed in 1972, and yet never ratified. This week, the ERA will get its first hearing in 40 years when, on Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee meets to discuss a joint resolution to finally affirm the ERA. We speak to Zakiya Thomas and Linda Coberly of the ERA Coalition for more on the historic significance of this hearing and the century-long fight for constitutional protections against sex discrimination.

The Equal Rights Amendment is a constitutional amendment that will guarantee legal gender equality for women and men. This website is dedicated to educating and inspiring citizens to ratify the ERA, which was written by equal rights activist Alice Paul in 1923.

In the shift from #MeToo to Time’s Up, movement leaders are strategically framing sexual violence as a social and cultural problem, rather than an individual problem. Doing so helps people think about the broad range of actions we can take to systemically prevent sexual violence.

Gender-Based violence refers to harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender. It is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and

Gender-based violence is a phenomenon deeply rooted in gender inequality, and continues to be one of the most notable human rights violations within all societies. Gender-based violence is violence directed against a person because of their gender.

Gender-based violence reaches every corner of the globe. In emergency settings, GBV soars.

At Women for Women International we use a lot of field based vocabulary that often has a much deeper meaning and greater implications than a simple definition. In this series, we will be addressing some of these terms in the hopes of giving YOU the tools you need to have conversations about women’s empowerment and gender equality. In this blog, we’ll be discussing gender-based violence.

Availability of data on violence against women and girls has increased significantly in recent years. Here are some facts and figures.

Gender-based violence can take the form of partner relationship violence, child marriage, and more. CARE works to stop violence against women.