Feminist Legal History : Essays on Women and Law

Attuned to the social contexts within which laws are created, feminist lawyers, historians, and activists have long recognized the discontinuities and contradictions that lie at the heart of efforts to transform the law in ways that fully serve women's interests. At its core, the nascent field of feminist legal history is driven by a commitment to uncover women's legal agency and how women, both historically and currently, use law to obtain individual and societal empowerment. Feminist Legal History represents feminist legal historians' efforts to define their field, by showcasing historical research and analysis that demonstrates how women were denied legal rights, how women used the law proactively to gain rights, and how, empowered by law, women worked to alter the law to try to change gendered realities. Encompassing two centuries of American history, thirteen original essays expose the many ways in which legal decisions have hinged upon ideas about women or gender as well as the ways women themselves have intervened in the law, from Elizabeth Cady Stanton's notion of a legal class of gender to the deeply embedded inequities involved in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, a 2007 Supreme Court pay discrimination case. Contributors: Carrie N. Baker, Felice Batlan, Tracey Jean Boisseau, Eileen Boris, Richard H. Chused, Lynda Dodd, Jill Hasday, Gwen Hoerr Jordan, Maya Manian, Melissa Murray, Mae C. Quinn, Margo Schlanger, Reva Siegel, Tracy A. Thomas, and Leti Volpp Courts And Temperance Ladies / Richard H. Chused -- Women Behind The Wheel : Gender And Transportation Law, 1860-1930 / Margo Schlanger -- Expatriation By Marriage : The Case Of Asian American Women / Leti Volpp -- Made With Men In Mind : The Gi Bill And Its Reinforcement Of Gendered Work After World War Ii / Melissa Murray -- Fighting Women : The Military, Sex, And Extrajudicial Constitutional Change / Jill Elaine Hasday -- Irrational Women : Informed Consent And Abortion Regret / Maya Manian -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton And The Notion Of A Legal Class Of Gender / Tracy A. Thomas -- Them Law Wimmin : The Protective Agency For Women And Children And The Gendered Origins Of Legal Aid / Gwen Hoerr Jordan -- Legal Aid, Women Lay Lawyers, And The Rewriting Of History, 1863-1930 / Felice Batlan -- Sisterhood Of Struggle : Leadership And Strategy In The Campaign For The Nineteenth Amendment / Lynda Dodd -- Feminizing Courts : Lay Volunteers And The Integration Of Social Work In Progressive Reform / Mae C. Quinn -- Sexual Harassment : Law For Women, By Women / Carrie N. Baker -- Ledbetter's Continuum : Race, Gender, And Pay Discrimination / Eileen Boris. Edited By Tracy A. Thomas And Tracey Jean Boisseau. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Introduction : law, history, and feminism / Tracy A. Thomas and Tracey Jean Boisseau Courts and temperance "ladies" / Richard H. Chused Women behind the wheel : gender and transportation law, 1860-1930 / Margo Schlanger Expatriation by marriage : the case of Asian American women / Leti Volpp Made with men in mind : the GI bill and its reinforcement of gendered work after World War II / Melissa Murray Fighting women : the military, sex, and extrajudicial constitutional change / Jill Elaine Hasday Irrational women : informed consent and abortion regret / Maya Manian Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the notion of a legal class of gender / Tracy A. Thomas Them law wimmin : the Protective Agency for Women and Children and the gendered origins of legal aid / Gwen Hoerr Jordan Legal aid, women lay lawyers, and the rewriting of history, 1863-1930 / Felice Batlan Sisterhood of struggle : leadership and strategy in the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment / Lynda Dodd Feminizing courts : lay volunteers and the integration of social work in progressive reform / Mae C. Quinn Sexual harassment : law for women, by women / Carrie N. Baker Ledbetter's continuum : race, gender, and pay discrimination / Eileen Boris. An exploration of feminist legal history in America, covering two centuries of American history