Gender & Law: Theory, Doctrine, Commentary, Fifth Edition

The Fifth Edition of Gender and Law: Theory, Doctrine, Commentary presents a comprehensive and thoroughly updated examination of issues concerning gender and the law. This highly regarded casebook artfully merges theoretical and practical approaches, and includes an extensive teacher’s manual with links to media and other innovative materials.

Features of this classroom-tested casebook include:

• Complete, up-to-date coverage of conventional “women and the law” issues, including employment law, affirmative action, sexual harassment, family, reproductive rights, sexuality, LGBT issues, domestic violence, rape, pornography, international women’s rights, global trafficking, women’s health, Title IX, and poverty and race.
• In depth discussion of the complex ways in which gender permeates the law , including issues relating to property, ethics, contracts, sports, and criminal law.
• A theoretical frameworks organization that enables student to grasp different conceptualizations of equality and justice, and the difference these frameworks make to the resolution of concrete legal problems.
• Skillfully chosen excerpts from legal cases, statutes, and law review articles that form an ongoing dialogue within the book to stimulate thought and discussion

New to the Fifth Edition, which has been thoroughly and carefully edited:

• Comprehensive updating to include a number of timely issues, ranging from same-sex marriage and gays in the military, to sexual harassment, work and family balance, appearance discrimination, women in the legal profession, rape, curtailments of the right to choose an abortion, reproductive technologies, and transgendered individuals.
• New principal cases, including
  • Gonzales v. Carhart (challenge to “partial-birth” abortion)
  • State v. Alberts (application of rape shield law)
  • Witt v. Department of the Air Force (challenge to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy)
  • In re Marriage Cases (California same-sex marriage case)
  • Schroer v. Billington (recognition of Title VII claim by transsexual)
  • Bah v. Mukasey (grant of asylum claim based on history of mandatory female “circumcision”)
• Many more “Putting Theory into Practice” problems at the end of each section. These problems keep students grounded in concrete, real-life issues and develop their ability to think critically and from different analytical perspectives.
• A complete reorganization of Chapter 6, renamed “Identity,” that makes it more accessible and more teachable. Revamped Chapter 6 covers issues relating to gender identity, including problems of multiple, “intersecting” bases of discrimination such as sex discrimination combined with race, age, appearance, disability or religion discrimination; expectations associated with men and masculinity; difficulties of biological definition of sex and gender; the clash between U.S. feminist values and cultural practices; and critiques of paranoia, bad faith, and moral perfectionism in feminism.

Gender and Law: Theory, Doctrine, Commentary, Fifth Edition, is a thoughtful and skillful examination of gender and the law issues that face us all in the twenty-first century.