History 397WLH - ST-Women and the Law, Hons

Using legal history and legal theory, this honors course will examine the ways women are represented within the law, focusing specifically on the legal treatment and representation of women in the United States. We will examine the ways that the law has oppressed women and also the prospects for the law as a liberating force. Finally, we will look at ways that women have used the law to represent themselves. Specific issues that will be explored include the civil and political participation of women, employment, intimate relationships, reproduction and contraception, violence against women, women as criminal defendants, and women as law students, lawyers, and judges.

Open to Senior, Junior, and Sophomore Commonwealth College students only. This course will require extensive reading of court decisions and law review articles, the completion of on-going reflection essays responding to course readings and class discussions, and the completion of a significant final research paper. Prior law-related coursework helpful, but not required.

Non Honors Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors should contact instructor to request enrollment into this class. If you're not an Honors students and would like to take this course, please send an email to jlnye@history.umass.edu.