Disputed Conceptions of Motherhood

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer S. Hendricks
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Reproductive Technology ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
The Law ◽  
Gender Neutrality ◽  
Gendered Harm ◽  
Pregnancy And Birth

This article examines feminist efforts to disentangle womanhood, biological motherhood, and social motherhood in order to promote equality in the law. It argues that this approach has produced important feminist influence and results in some areas of law but has led to a lack of feminist influence in areas where biological and social motherhood overlap, such as parental rights, reproductive technology, and surrogacy. Just as the law needed a theoretical boost that went beyond gender neutrality to see the gendered harm of sexual harassment at work, it needs a feminist account of pregnancy and birth that recognizes that these biological processes have social, relational dimensions.

scholarly journals Can Law Address Intersectional Sexual Harassment? The Case of Claimants with Personality Disorders

Laws ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen O’Connell
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Personality Disorders ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Feminist Perspective ◽  
Prevalence Rates ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
The Law

Sexual harassment across multiple grounds, including race, disability, sexuality and age, remains an entrenched problem that is poorly dealt with in law. Prevalence rates for intersectional sexual harassment are higher for certain groups, while legal redress is low. This paper examines case law on sexual harassment in Australia where there are intersectional factors and asks whether the “intersectionality” section inserted into the federal Sex Discrimination Act in 2011 has impacted legal practice and decision-making. In particular, it considers the situation of sexual harassment claimants with behavioural and personality traits that are considered “disordered” and the specifically gendered disability stereotypes that shape their treatment in law. Recent cases in Australia dealing with the sexual harassment of people with personality disorders show that intersectionality provisions of sexual harassment laws may in fact be used to undermine a legal claim by a person with disability rather than strengthen it. This article argues that an intersectional legal feminist perspective on harassment is needed for the law to work.

scholarly journals Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Act: Providing Redress or Maintaining Status Quo?

Social Change ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004908572095775
Author(s):  
Pallavi Gupta ◽  
Nikhat Fatima ◽  
Sandeep Kandikuppa
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Chief Justice ◽  
The Law ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Do So

Despite a law against sexual harassment of women at the workplace, persons holding high offices, including senior judges, seem to enjoy impunity. By critically examining the allegations made against Justice Ranjan Gogoi (retd), former Chief Justice of India, and analysing five other cases of sexual harassment, we highlight how women are routinely denied justice. In doing so, we ask: are women actually able to file complaints of sexual harassment without the fear of facing a backlash? And do they ultimately get justice when they do so? We argue that the implementation of the law against sexual harassment is mediated by caste, class and gender, both of the survivor and of the perpetrator. We point to a changing polity that makes laws, guarantees and protections for women, but stumbles in implementing them in a fair and non-arbitrary manner.

scholarly journals Negotiating Respect: Sexual Harassment and the Law in Hong Kong

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 127-168
Author(s):  
Carole J. Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Current Model ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Public Hearing ◽  
Power Imbalance ◽  
Equal Opportunities ◽  
Statutory Duty ◽  
Systemic Impact ◽  
The Law

This article critiques the sexual harassment provisions of Hong Kong's Sex Discrimination Ordinance , as well as the enforcement model. Although the judiciary has had some opportunity to interpret the Ordinance, most complaints never reach the courts because the Equal Opportunities Commission has a statutory duty to attempt to conciliate a complaint before granting legal assistance. When the Ordinance was enacted it was widely assumed that Chinese women would prefer confidential conciliation to a public hearing. However, interviews with past complainants and representatives of women's organizations reveal that many complainants find conciliation conferences to be extremely stressful. They also feel demeaned and disempowered by what is effectively an obligation to negotiate with the respondent. The author concludes that the current model exacerbates the power imbalance between complainants and respondents and limits the systemic impact of the law. She argues that an informal and inexpensive Equal Opportunities Tribunal should be created. This would allow those complainants who are willing to try their complaints to proceed directly to a hearing, without any obligation to first participate in conciliation.

scholarly journals We Can Thank Harvey Weinstein for Doing What Congress and the Supreme Court Failed to Do

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sherwyn ◽  
Paul Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Popular Press ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Law

While the years 2017 and 2018 will be remembered for numerous geo political and social movements, any retrospective of this time will include the issue of sexual harassment and the corresponding “Me Too” movement. In this time, sexual harassment has transformed from a workplace legal concept to an issue that is defining the fabric of the country. While no one could persuasively argue that sexual harassment has not expanded from its legal roots to a movement that transcends the law, the fact is that the concept is rooted and adjudicated in law. Sadly, the commentators and the popular press often ignore or misstate the law. This creates a dangerous culture where the public is misinformed of their rights and responsibilities. More troubling, is the fact that there are serious problems with the law that need to be understand and, we contend, changed, in order for the entire problem to be eliminated, or, at least, mitigated. This paper explains the law with regard to what constitutes sexual harassment and when the employer is liable, identifies the problems, and proposes a fix so that we can create a future workplace where the authors’ five daughters (between them) and the rest of their generation will be able to honestly not raise their hands and not have to say: “Me Too!”

A new chapter in the law of sexual harassment in Malaysia: The emergence of the torts of harassment and sexual harassment

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 191-207
Author(s):  
Abdul Majid ◽  
Sri Yogamalar ◽  
Audrey Kim Lan Siah ◽  
Jane L Y Terpstra-Tong ◽  
Luc Borrowman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Law ◽  
First Time

In a landmark case in 2016, Malaysia’s apex court, the Federal Court, explicitly recognised for the first time, the common law tort of sexual harassment. Actually, the Federal Court did more than that; its recognition of the common law tort of sexual harassment is built on its recognising the common law tort of harassment. The recognition of the tort of harassment has escaped notice because attention has been concentrated on the tort of sexual harassment. This article analyses the Federal Court’s exposition of the tort of sexual harassment to reveal that the exegesis itself acknowledges the existence of the tort of harassment per se. The tort of harassment that the Federal Court sent out into the world is largely a creature of its English common law ancestry.

Sexual Harassment Law in Israel*

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 315-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orit Kamir
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Efficient Treatment ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Sexual Harassment Law ◽  
The Law ◽  
Actual Damage ◽  
The Right ◽  
Discriminatory Practice

The 1998 Israeli sexual harassment law prohibits sexual harassment as a discriminatory practice, a restriction of liberty, an offence to human dignity, a violation of every person's right to elementary respect, and an infringement of the right to privacy. Additionally, the law prohibits intimidation or retaliation that accommodates sexual harassment, referred to as ‘prejudicial treatment’. Sexual harassment and prejudicial treatment are each both a crime and a tort under the Israeli sexual harassment law. The law makes harassers, as well as persons involved in prejudicial treatment, potentially personally liable for either the crime or tort of sexual harassment, or both. The law awards punitive damages to victims1 of sexual harassment or prejudicial treatment — whether or not actual damage of any sort is claimed or proved. Sexual harassment and prejudicial treatment are prohibited in all social settings and contexts. In the workplace, an employer is vicariously liable for the civil consequences of sexual harassment or prejudicial treatment perpetrated by anyone in his or her employ. The employer's civil liability is in addition to the harasser's individual civil and criminal liability. In order to avoid liability, an employer must take all the measures prescribed by the sexual harassment law (including, inter alia , establishment of policy and serious, prompt and efficient treatment of a victim's complaint).

Sexual harassment and the law: the British experience

2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 455-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Lockwood ◽  
Patrice Rosenthal ◽  
Alexandra Budjanovcanin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
British Experience ◽  
The Law
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