Fall 2008

AMS 370 • Gender-based Discrimination-W

Course Description

This class will study both the substance of laws that relate to gender-based roles (i.e., laws treating men and women differently) and the participation of women in the legal process. It is especially designed for students who are thinking of law as a career choice and for students who are interested in the legal status of women and men in the United States. The text will be a law-school casebook. A number of recent cases will be assigned for review; class discussion will be in the law school tradition. Issues to be covered include the history of laws in Texas and the United States as they differentiated between women and men (such as voting, jury service and property rights); employment (including pregnancy issues and comparable worth); education (including Title IX); property management and ownership; military service and benefits; choice of name; reproduction; family (including divorce, domestic violence, and child support enforcement); and other issues.

Grading Policy

Students will be expected to attend class, to read assigned materials, to contribute to class discussion, to take a take-home midterm, to sit for a final exam, and to do one major paper.

Texts

Herma H. Kay: Sex-Based Discrimination. Text, Cases and Materials, Sixth Edition.

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