Women Law
and Social Change
T. Brettel
Dawson
“Virtual Casebook”
2002
The
preceding three chapters have used case studies to introduce readers to three
strategies for engaging in the legal system to as part of a process of
effecting social change: civil litigation (this can include test-case
litigation or novel causes of action building upon established legal
principles); dialogue between courts, legislatures and advocacy organizations
(this can involve statutory change, public education/discourse, constitutional
challenges in the course of legal proceedings – in this example, in criminal
proceedings) and policy change (this involves working within government and
through the processes of government policy change; another example is the
administrative guidelines allowing refugees who have fled intimate violence to
remain in Canada; also participating in Royal Commissions etc.).
Other
strategies include civil disobedience (eg. the Innu in Labrador and NATO low
flying; Greenham Common Protests); complaints to international bodies
(including the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations); and participating
in processes for convention development (international and regional) and
constitutional processes (eg. the Native Women’s Association of Canada
challenge to be included at the negotiating table during the recent rounds of
constitutional discussion.)
The
case studies in the preceding chapters have used specific examples in order to
illustrate a broader process. However, the range of women’s experience with
seeking legal and social change is clearly very broad. It also reaches across a
long period of time. It forms part of the history of women’s involvement with
the Canadian legal system and weaves the fabric of a feminist legal methodology
that continues to evolve. Importantly too, it traces issues that have been
‘won’ or ‘lost’ and those which are emerging. The practical problem in a text
such as this has always been how to point to this material without losing the
thematic focus of the text. With the steady growth of internet-based resources,
it seemed timely to provide linkages to this broader set of material through
including a ‘virtual casebook’ located on the internet and kept up to date over
the course of the edition.
The
“Virtual Casebook” has several purposes and can be used in a flexible manner.
Its goals are to:
The
“Virtual Casebook” has two sections:
|
1. Classic Issues |
2. Contemporary issues |
Each
section has five topical themes which address issues of self, issues of
relationship in the ‘private sectors’ of market and family; and relationships
in the public sector of state and inter-state relations”. These correspond to
the subsections:
A. Body |
B. Family |
C. Work |
D. State |
E. Borders |
Topics:
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here for an updated table
of contents