BERKELEY JOURNAL OF GENDER, LAW AND JUSTICE

Standard of Consent in Rape Law in India : Towards an Affirmative Standard

This article advocates for reformation of the standard of consent in the rape laws in the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The author provides an overview of the evolution of the standard of consent in the IPC rape laws before contextualizing the current laws within Indian culture and society.

Abortion in Latin America in International Perspective: Limitations and Potentials of the Use of Human Rights Law to Challenge Restrictions

This article assesses the impact of international human rights law on challenging the prohibitions on abortion in Latin America. The author focuses on analyzing four significant international challenges brought against Peru, Mexico, and El Salvador. She argues that the overall impact of international human rights law has been relatively limited and overwhelmingly late.

Who is Worthy of Redress: Recognizing Sexual Violence Injustice against Women of Color as Uniquely Redress-Worthy-Illuminated by a Case Study of Kenya's Mau Mau Women and Their Unique Harms

This article argues that reconciliation initiatives and redress tend to overlook the unique harms that sexual violence inflicts on women of colour. Women of colour are placed, by virtue of their race and gender, at the bottom of the social hierarchy, which makes them particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. In addition, the author claims that the unique harms they suffer as a result of sexual violence, including irreparable reproductive damage, broken relationships, economic hardships, stigma, isolation, and shame, are rendered nearly invisible by

Beyond Culture: Human Rights Universalisms versus Religious and Cultural Relativism in the Activism for Gender Justice

This article discusses ideas of feminism, religion and culture as they relate to women's status nationally and internationally. The author argues that political choices against gender law reform are frequently hidden behind justifications of religion and culture. Moreover, both cultural relativists and universalists fail to view culture as a concept that is contested within cultural groups; it is viewed as bounded, unchanging, and settled. The author also discusses how practical legal trade-offs between competing rights claims are often viewed as inevitable in legal feminist