Please Note: Since Barbara McManus has retired and is no longer teaching this course, it will remain on the web solely for archival purposes. External links on the syllabus and assignment pages will not be updated.

Description:

An examination of legal theory and the contemporary American legal system from a feminist perspective; a consideration of the effects of the law on women's lives. Topics include women's participation in the legal profession and their varied roles in relation to the legal system, as well as feminist challenges to mainstream legal thought and processes. The course will examine in detail several controversial issues to exemplify and clarify the nature of these challenges in more depth.

Objectives:

1. comprehension of the fundamentals of the legal system in contemporary America
2. understanding of gender as a social and cultural construction that interacts with other constructions such as race, ethnicity, and class to exert a frequently unacknowledged influence on the structure and interpretation of laws
3. ability to use the perspectives of feminist theory to analyze and critique contemporary legal theories and practices
4. comprehension of the feminist critique of several controversial legal issues that strongly influence the lives of women in contemporary America, with special attention to changes that might improve the situation of women vis à vis the law
5. comprehension of a number of alternative viewpoints from which scholars and lawyers critique feminist challenges to legal theory
6. understanding of the nature and scope of women's participation in the contemporary American legal profession

Texts:

Weisberg, D. Kelly, ed. Applications of Feminist Legal Theory to Women's Lives: Sex, Violence, Work, and Reproduction. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.

Additional readings from primary and secondary sources (see schedule of topics and assignments).

Requirements:

Class Participation: As an Honors Seminar, this course is both interdisciplinary and discussion based, requiring no prior knowledge of legal theories and practices or of feminist theory. In order for this course to succeed, it is essential that students complete all readings in a timely fashion, attend class regularly, and participate fully in class discussions. Therefore, any student who misses more than 2 classes without an approved excuse will lose 3 points on the class participation portion of the grade for every class missed. [all course objectives]

Weekly Written Assignments: After the first week, there will be one written assignment per week (e.g., written responses to several questions relating to the readings; analysis of a case from the perspective of the readings; comparison of two theoretical perspectives on a given topic; etc.). Every student may omit two of these assignments in the course of the semester; she may choose which two assignments to omit based on her own priorities and time constraints, but she must turn in a statement that she wishes to omit a particular assignment when that assignment is due. [objectives 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Debates: Each student will participate in a formal debate centered upon one of the specific issues covered in class; click here for detailed instructions). [objectives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Critical Paper: Every student will write one critical research paper that will be due on April 28; click here for detailed instructions). [objectives 2, 3, 4]

Panel: In conjunction with the course unit on women in the legal profession, on April 28 at 7:00 pm students will be required to attend a panel of CNR alumnae who are currently in law school or practicing law in the metropolitan area; the weekly written assignment for that week will be related to this panel. [objectives 2, 3, 6]

Final Examination: During finals week, all students will complete a take-home examination. [all course objectives]

Grading:

• 30%--class participation
• 35%--written assignments and debate
• 20%--critical paper
• 15%--final take-home examination

Office Hours:

Useful Legal Web Sites

Legal Super Sites

• Cornell Legal Information Institute, especially useful for explanation and texts of historic Supreme Court decisions; see also their index of topics grouped by subject
• FindLaw provides a comprehensive search engine for locating online legal resources
• Oyez, Oyez, Oyez is a US Supreme Court database, including information about the court, justices, constitutional cases, and even audio versions of some important oral arguments before the court
• Georgia State University Law OnLine provides a Meta-Index allowing you to conduct searches in many different online legal indexes

Legal Sites for Non-specialists

• Court TV Online offers various resources associated with the television channel, including program guide, information about famous trials, and a useful glossary of legal terms
• The Self-Help Law Center of Nolo Press provides a useful legal encyclopedia for non-lawyers, as well as brief articles commenting upon current legal issues
• The 'Lectric Law Library offers non-specialist articles, a glossary, and various other law-related resources, including a section on humor

Feminist Legal Sites

• The U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights: Gender. Contains a large number of links to cases, articles, web pages dealing with issues concerning gender and the law
• Feminist Theory and Feminist Jurisprudence on the WWW is a page of links to various types of online feminist resources
• Gender and the Law is the site of Vernellia R. Randall, a law professor particularly interested in legal issues relating to women of color and other marginalized groups
• The Feminist Jurisprudence E-mail Discussion List maintains an archive of messages posted to the list

Outline of Course Topics

Part I: Overall Conceptual Framework

• Introduction to the judicial system and legal principles, including historical background and key cases (readings)
• Introduction to feminism and feminist legal theory, including historical background and major issues and controversies--equality and difference; gender neutrality vs. special protection; public vs. private (readings and assignments)

Part II: Specific Issues

• Family Issues
  • Marriage and Divorce (readings and assignments)
  • Motherhood, Parenthood, and Custody Issues (readings and assignments)
  • Abortion
  • Surrogacy
• Employment and Workplace Issues
  • Occupational Segregation (readings and assignments)
  • Comparable Worth (readings, assignments, links)
  • Sexual Harassment (readings, assignments, links)
• Violence Against Women
  • Rape (readings, assignments, links)
  • Domestic Violence (readings, assignments, links)
  • Pornography (readings, assignments, links)

Part III: Women in the Legal Profession

• Panel Discussion (readings, assignments, links)