QUID NOVI

Women in the Law: A Precarious Lifeby Lindsay Tina Cheong (Law II)6 MARS 2007This world is reallymessed up for womenand I am tired of pretendingotherwise.Perhaps it is not surprisingthat previously in the commonlaw, a daughter whowas abducted from her familyhad no formal recourseagainst her aggressors if shewas found or managed to escape–women did not haveseparate legal personalityfrom the men in their lives(dads and hubbys included).The only claim availableagainst the aggressors wasby the father, whose claimwas based on his economicloss. That’s right: daughterswho were abducted couldonly get recognition of whathappened to them by havingtheir dads argue that the absenceof their daughters hurttheir pocket books.And then men gave womenlegal personality.Today, the law frameswomen’s right to abortion asan issue of women’s rightsversus fetal rights. A fetus –an organism that is made upof two strands of differentDNA, an entity that enjoysmere life, but not a political,social, emotional, economiclife – is said to possess aright that is more importantor valuable than a women’sright to control her body.Compare this situation to theabove paragraph, wherewomen did not have anyrights, but took care of men,women, children, cooked,cleaned, laughed, cried,thought, grew, explored,nurtured all kinds of relationships,had ambitions anddreams… How is it that todaya fetus may be said to haverights that are more fundamentalthan a woman’s?And so my body is not myown – it is not “mine” in thesense that a plot of land canbe yours, an idea that manyin this school have no problemdefending to the ends ofthe earth. Yet the same chorusof voices does not fill thesilence of the classroomwhen we speak aboutwomen’s right to control theirbodies. And let us not forgetthat this analogy is perverse– imposing a legal regime onlandowners cannot beequated to someone elsetelling me what I can or cannotdo with my body. Mybody is not an object – itbreathes, it communicateswithout words, it moves, itfeels, it can give birth… weare all here because of awoman’s body.But even the place you and Icome from – a woman’swomb – is not safe from theviolence of the world. Therape shield in Canada is not ashield, it is a sieve that allowsfor evidence of awoman’s past sexual historyto pass through at the discretionof the trial judge,who at this point in time happento be “men”. The shielddoes not deal with the defenseof honest but mistakenbelief in consent, one of themost reliable defensesagainst a rape charge. It’slike a guy saying to you,“ooops, I didn’t know that Iforced my penis into youwhen you didn’t actuallywant it in your vagina.” Andthere may not even be anapology. The shield also doesnot address defense “tactics”used against women (complainingwitnesses – yes, weare even complaining whenwe are telling people wewere raped). So ladies, if youbecome lubricated at anypoint during a rape, or agang rape, watch out causeyou probably wanted it. Nevermindthat you couldn’t sayno or didn’t dare struggle forfear the man/men would justbreak your neck.How much does the law (andnot just state law) care aboutwomen?There is not a single class offeredat this faculty with theword “women” in its title. Iwill graduate from this lawschool without taking a classon women, without knowinga whole lot about how I, as awoman, am regulated bylaws that were not written bywomen or even for women(if men really cared aboutwomen and really thoughtrape was one of the most violentexperiences a personcould go through, the lawson rape would be much moresevere, don’t you think?) Ohno wait, I can go do that onmy own time! Yes, betweenall the other things my legaleducation explicitly or implicitlydemands that I do, I cango and educate myself inorder to make good decisionsfor me because clearly,this is my problem and minealone. Right – just like howone day I can take care of ahusband, have children, takecare of them too, and maybe(maybe) even take care ofmyself a little bit on my owntime while I fight it out withthe men and women in myfirm to make partner.I want change in my lifetime,but the burden is not just onme (or women for that matter)to make this happen.Who’s up for the challenge?The Quid website has moved to its new location at:quid.mcgill.ca.If you think it doesn’t look really good, or if you’re appalled by thelack of updates to our blog (quidlaw.blogspot.com), please note that the Quid is currently looking for avolunteer web editor.13