Call for Papers: The 19th Amendment at 100: From the Vote to Gender Equality

Call for Papers

CONFERENCE: The 19^th Amendment at 100: From the Vote to Gender Equality

The Center for Constitutional Law at Akron

Friday, September 20, 2019

 

Woman Suffrage Headquarters, Cleveland, OH, 1912. 

Florence Allen (later Judge Allen) holds the flag.

 

The Center for Constitutional Law seeks proposals from those interested in presenting papers at its upcoming interdisciplinary conference, The 19th Amendment at 100: From the Vote to Gender Equality.  Committed presenters to date include:  Prof. Jamie Abrams (Louisville Law), Prof. Richard Chused (NY Law), Prof. Ann Gordon (Rutgers, History), Prof. Kimberly Hamlin (Miami U, History), Prof. Jill Hasday (Minnesota Law), Prof. Paula Monopoli (Maryland Law), Prof. Mae Quinn (Florida Law), Prof. Reva Siegel (Yale Law), and Prof. Tracy Thomas (Akron Law).  Additional presenters will be selected by this call for papers.

Center for Constitutional Law. The conference is scheduled for Friday, September 20, 2019, in conjunction with Constitution Day, and will be held at the University of Akron School of Law’s new state-of-the-art facility.  The Center is one of four national centers established by Congress on the bicentennial of the Constitution to support legal research and public education on constitutional law.  More information about the Center is available at http://www.uakron.edu/law/ccl and @conlawcenter.

Conference Focus.  The focus of the 2019 conference is the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.  Soon after the passage of the 19th Amendment in June 1919, and its ratification by the states in August 1920, the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the voting amendment as a broad command for gender equality in Adkins v. Children’s Hospital.  However, that decision was quickly overturned, narrowing the impact and intent of the amendment and its 72-year advocacy.  This conference explores the original broader command of the amendment and its goal of systemic equality and opportunity for women.  

This conference will bring together scholars from a range of disciplines including law, history, political science, and women’s studies in order to engage in a day of intensive scholarly discussion about the implications of the amendment.  The cross-disciplinary focus stems from a sense that law is best understood in social and political context, and that gender justice is understood both within and outside the bounds of law.  Possible subject areas for discussion might include the history of the amendment, the history of women’s equality, a comparison with other constitutional rights or enactments, the evolution of feminist legal theory, women’s leadership and power, race and class interactions, connections between public and private rights, or unresolved questions of substantive gender equality.

Proposals.   Proposals including a title, short abstract, and CV should be submitted to Professor Tracy Thomas at [email protected] by April 10, 2019.  Papers or remarks will be published in a joint symposium of the Akron Law Review and its online companion journal, ConLawNOW. The Center will not be able to pay travel costs for presenters, but hopes that home institutions will be able to provide the necessary financial support. (Alternatively, it may be possible to present by Skype).