Course Number and Title: 51.301*
A Women and Legal Process
Term: Fall
Prerequisites: Third
year standing
Place: Southam
502
Time: Monday
2.30 B 5.30 pm
COURSE WEB PAGE www.lawsite.ca
Instructor's Name: Professor T. Brettel Dawson
Office Hours Monday
1.00 B 2.30 and after class, or
by appointment.
Email: bdawson@ccs.carleton.ca
Telephone: 520-2600
Ext 3670 (voice mail). Note: This phone does not
ring in my office. For quick questions, clarifications and updates, e-mail is
an excellent way to be in touch with me.
Course Objectives & Content:
This course examines historical and contemporary legal issues of particular concern to women in Canada. The “Person’s Case” defined one threshold issue – the inclusion of women as full, public citizens entitled to participate in higher education, politics and the professions including the legal profession. It also raised issues such as how class and race intersected with gender in defining the scope and terms of ‘women’s’ inclusion and what it would mean for women to be part of Canada’s public institutions and the legal process. A related conceptual issue about the structure and content of law continues to reverberate -- was law made by men to respond to men’s interests or views of the world and (family and work) relationships? Has that changed? Once women were included in the legal system as ‘subjects’ would they expect the law to change? When they became lawyers, would they practice law differently? Would they identify new issues of particular concern to women and new ways of looking at other issues (e.g. sexual assault, violence)? How would the resulting tensions between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ ways be resolved to create a just and inclusive legal process/legal system for everyone? The course will look at some of these issues and the “tools” of law that women can use towards this end: the equality guarantee of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, women’s international human rights; and principles in leading judicial decisions and Canadian legislation. It is an introductory course to lay the foundation for more specialized study in honours and graduate level courses.
1. T. Brettel Dawson, Women, Law and
Social Change: Core Readings and Current Issues , 3rd Edition(Toronto:
Captus Press, 1998)
2. T. Brettel Dawson, Relating to Law: A
Chronology of Women and Law in Canada, 2nd edition (Toronto:
Captus Press, 1994)
Recommended Resources:
1. Josée Bouchard, Susan B. Boyd and Elizabeth A. Sheehy, Canadian
Feminist Literature on Law: An Annotated Bibliography (Toronto: 11 Canadian
Journal of Women and the Law; and University of Toronto Press, 1998)
2. Internet
resources:
a) Women and Law
Links and Resources on Social Sciences Information Gateway: www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/womlaw.html
b) A comprehensive
listing of assorted sites that may be of interest (quality varies): http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/women.html
There are three components to the final grade in this course. All components must be completed to receive a passing grade in this course:
1. Class
participation: 10% of final grade.
2. Review
Essay: 40% of final grade. Due November 15, 10-12 pages.
3. Examination:
50% of final grade. Scheduled, two hour examination, closed book; short answer
and essay questions.
The course schedule and
detailed information on the requirements
of the essay assignment will be distributed separately or click on the
highlighted text online.