Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies

Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies
Friday, April 14, 2023  |  10:00 AM - 3:00 PM ET
Kimmel Center for University Life
60 Washington Square S, 10th Floor, Rosenthal Pavilion

The United States was designated a backsliding democracy in late 2021, when it appeared on a prominent European think tank’s annual global ranking. Today, half of the world’s democratic governments are on the decline according to a 2022 report, The Global State of Democracy.

Around the same time the U.S. made its debut on the list—still six months before the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, but with Texas S.B.8 already in effect, rendering abortion care all but inaccessible in the nation’s second most populous state—advocates raised real-time questions about the correlation between regression on abortion rights and degraded democracies. A New York Times article asserted that such a descent is precisely when “curbs on women’s rights tend to accelerate.”

We think that’s a proposition worth flipping on its head. Are democracies that have abysmal records on gender equity destined to falter? According to the United Nations, the trajectory of “de-democratization” is rarely analyzed initially through the distinct lens of gender equity and there are insufficient efforts to systematically examine the current implications. Our symposium will engage this critical conversation.

This event is free and open to the public but advanced registration is required.

Schedule (all times ET)

10:20-10:30am – Welcome and Introductory Remarks   

10:30-11:45am – Panel #1 Global Perspective

We’ve witnessed the inextricable connection between the rise of authoritarianism and the struggle for global human rights. Anti-democratic forces clearly recognize—and fear—the power of women’s voices. What have recent uprisings shown us? And how can academics and advocates use those lessons to advance more robust democracy?  

  • Alejandra Cardenas – Senior Director of Legal Strategies, Innovation, and Research, Center for Reproductive Rights
  • Negina Khalili – Visiting Professor, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law; former Chief Prosecutor of Elimination of Violence and Harassment Against Women, Attorney General's Office, Republic of Afghanistan; former Professor of Law, Rana University, Kabul, Afghanistan
  • Christine Ryan – Legal Director, Global Justice Center
  • Yifat Susskind – Executive Director, MADRE
  • Moderator: Meg Satterthwaite ‘99 – Professor of Clinical Law; Faculty Director, Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights, NYU Law; UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers

12:00-1:00pm – Luncheon Keynote

  • Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law; Faculty, Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network, NYU Law, in conversation with Jessica Valenti, author and founder, Abortion, Every Day.

1:15-2:30pm – Panel #2 U.S. Perspective

While the timing of the U.S.’ inaugural inclusion on the 2021 list published by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance made it easy to point to Trump-ism as the culprit, the hard truth is that our democracy has been flailing—by failing women, particularly women of color, by design—since the nation’s founding. The U.S. ranks 46th in the world on maternal mortality, a crisis that is particularly acute for Black women; we are one of only six countries, and the only wealthy nation, without any form of national paid leave; women’s and LGBTQ representation lag at all levels of government and the U.S. constitution remains an outlier with regard to gender equality. Panelists will explore whether these are the byproducts of a democracy in decline—or drivers of our downward spiral. And they’ll consider what an equality-based domestic democracy agenda should look like.

  • Chisun Lee – Director, Elections and Government Program, Brennan Center for Justice
  • Ria Tabacco Mar ’08 – Director, Women’s Rights Project, ACLU   
  • Victoria Nourse – Ralph V. Whitworth Professor in Law; Director, Center on Congressional Studies, Georgetown Law
  • Dr. Jamila Perritt – President and CEO, Physicians for Reproductive Health
  • Moderator: Irin Carmon – Senior Correspondent, The Cut, New York Magazine

2:30-3:00pm – Closing Remarks and Reception 


CLE

This event has been approved for 3 New York State CLE credits in the category of Areas of Professional Practice. The credit is both transitional and non-transitional; it is appropriate for both experienced and newly admitted attorneys. (Panel 1: 1.5 credits, Panel 2: 1.5 credits)

CLE Written Materials

Academic (general audience):

Academic (legal):

Legal/legislative background:

Reports:

Commentary:

Panelist Bios

Panel 1: Global Perspective

Woman in blue shirt looking at camera

Maria Alejandra Cardenas holds an LLM in Public International Law from Harvard University, and an LLB from Universidad Externado de Colombia. She is currently Senior Director of Legal Strategies, Research and Innovation at the Center for Reproductive Rights, a feminist INGO with presence in Latin-America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the USA. Before that she served as Deputy Director of Global programs at the Center, Regional Director for Africa and Latin-America at the INGO Women’s Link Worldwide, and as a Human Rights Specialist for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, where she oversaw the docket of cases and friendly settlements for the governments of Bolivia and Peru. She has 20 years of experience working on human rights issues, particularly at the intersection of socio-economic rights and gender equality.

Alejandra has published in academic journals, media, and human rights outlets of different nature, in both English and Spanish. She has deep-rooted knowledge of gender issues, international public law, human rights, intersectionality, and reproductive health issues.

Portrait of Negina Khalili

Negina Khalili is a visiting professor at Loyola University, and she was Chief Prosecutor for the Attorney General's Office of Afghanistan. She was the first female prosecutor in Ghor province where she grew up, She is a renowned lawyer focused on gender and the elimination of violence against women.  Negina is an EVAW law expert with over 6 years of experience in the field of prosecution, legal affairs and international law practices in Afghanistan. Negina was a law professor at Rana and Fanos University at Kabul Afghanistan. She earned her law degree from the Herat University of Afghanistan, she got her Master’s degree LLM (Rule of Law and Good Governance ) from Ohio Northern University, United States of America. She has participated in several legal training abroad. Her professional areas of interest include the promotion of women rights; good governance and women; gender equality; elimination of violence against women; women, peace and security; legal affairs and women in leadership in Afghanistan. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her work.

Portrait of Christine Ryan

Dr. Christine Ryan is the Legal Director of the Global Justice Center where she directs the team’s legal work on abortion rights, gendered approaches to mass atrocities, and feminist multilateralism. Christine is an international human rights lawyer and gender expert.

Prior to joining GJC, Christine was the senior legal advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, where she directed the mandate’s research and reporting, integrating gender analysis throughout. She also previously worked as a human rights advisor with the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Ireland, and as Director of the human rights coalition, Impact Iran. She consults widely for states and CSOs on international human rights and gender.

Christine earned her doctorate on abortion, feminist theory, and international human rights law at Duke Law School where she won numerous awards and fellowships for her research including from the Fulbright Commission and the American Society of International Law.

Christine completed her LLM (with distinction) at University College London, UK, and her BCL in Law & Irish (with distinction) at University College Cork, Ireland.

Portrait of Yifat Susskind

Yifat Susskind is executive director at MADRE and partners with women's human rights activists from Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa to create programs in their communities that meet urgent needs and create lasting change. A lifelong promoter of human rights, Yifat leads MADRE's combined strategy of community-based partnerships and international human rights advocacy.

Under Yifat’s leadership, MADRE has enabled thousands of local women's rights activists in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Colombia, Haiti, Sudan, Nepal, the Philippines, and beyond to survive and recover from war, climate breakdown, and their aftermath. In partnership with MADRE, women around the world rebuild their lives and communities, making their voices heard in the halls of power -- from village councils to the UN Security Council.

Yifat’s debut 2019 TED Talk, “Think Like a Mother,” has reached over 2,000,000 views. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Harvard International Review, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, N.Y.U. Journal of International Law and Politics, and others. Yifat has been a featured commentator on CNN, NPR, and BBC Radio.

Meg Sattherthwaite

Margaret Satterthwaite '99 (moderator) is Professor of Clinical Law, Faculty Director of the Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights, Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the Director of the Global Justice at NYU School of Law. Her research interests include legal empowerment, vicarious trauma and wellbeing among human rights workers, and interdisciplinary methods in human rights. Before joining the academy, she clerked for Judge Betty Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the judges of the International Court of Justice, and worked for a number of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights First, and the Commission Nationale de Verité et de Justice in Haiti. She has authored or co-authored more than a dozen human rights reports and dozens of scholarly articles and book chapters. Satterthwaite has worked as a consultant to numerous UN agencies and special rapporteurs and has served on the boards of several human rights organizations. She received her JD magna cum laude from NYU School of Law, her MA from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and her BA from Eugene Lang College of the New School University.


Lunchtime - "Fireside Chat"

Melissa Murray

Melissa Murray is a leading expert in family law, constitutional law, and reproductive rights and justice. Murray’s award-winning research focuses on the legal regulation of intimate life and encompasses such topics as the regulation of sex and sexuality, marriage and its alternatives, the marriage equality debate, the legal recognition of caregiving, and reproductive rights and justice. Her publications have appeared in the California Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Pennsylvania Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal, among others. She is an author of Cases on Reproductive Rights and Justice, the first casebook to cover the field of reproductive rights and justice, and a co-editor of Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories.

Murray has written for popular publications like the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, and The Nation, and has offered commentary for numerous media outlets, including NPR, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, and PBS.

Murray is an honors graduate of the University of Virginia, where she was a Jefferson Scholar and an Echols Scholar, and Yale Law School, where she was notes development editor of the Yale Law Journal. Following law school, Murray clerked for Sonia Sotomayor, then of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Stefan Underhill of the US District Court for the District of Connecticut. She is a member of the New York bar and the American Law Institute.

Prior to joining the NYU faculty, Murray was on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she was the recipient of the Rutter Award for Teaching Distinction. From March 2016 to June 2017, she served as interim dean of the Berkeley Law.

Portrait of Jessica Valenti

Jessica Valenti has been writing about women and politics for nearly 20 years. She is the author of seven books; she founded one of the first feminist blogs, has had columns at places like The Guardian and The Nation, and written for publications from The New York Times to The Toast. She has hosted a miniseries for Eater, created a documentary about purity culture, given speeches, and taught classes. Her website and Substack, All in Her Head, is a place for feminist commentary and community; it’s also the home of the daily abortion roundup, Abortion, Every Day, which offers comprehensive and breaking coverage—from legal updates on state bans and women’s stories about abortion bans’ impact, to analysis of conservatives’ legal and public strategy.

 

Panel 2: U.S. Perspective

Portrait of Chisun Lee

Chisun Lee is director of the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program, where she works to advance money-in-politics reform and improve election administration. She leads strategy and research for policy initiatives, legislative campaigns, publications, litigation, and public advocacy.

Lee has authored or co-authored nationally recognized reports and legal scholarship, and is a popular-book contributor. She writes and comments for outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR. She has provided testimony, briefings, and policy advice to federal, state, and local lawmakers across the country and taught as an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law.

Before her current work at the Brennan Center, Lee represented indigent criminal defendants in federal court. Previously she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Gerard E. Lynch in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Lee also worked in journalism and government. She covered legal issues and won numerous honors as a staff reporter for ProPublica and previously the Village Voice. Prior to becoming a journalist, Lee was press secretary to a citywide elected official in New York City. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a degree in history.

Portrait of Ria Tabacco Mar

Ria Tabacco Mar '08 is the Director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, where she oversees the ACLU’s women’s rights litigation.

Previously, she was a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Project, where she fought gender stereotypes, sex segregation, and attempts to use religion to discriminate in schools, at work, and in public places. Ria was part of the ACLU’s litigation team representing Aimee Stephens and Don Zarda, whose cases were decided as part of the recent Supreme Court ruling recognizing that federal employment law protections apply to LGBTQ people. She also led the ACLU’s team in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the case in which a same-sex couple was refused a wedding cake because they are gay.

Ria is a frequent commentator on gender justice issues, appearing on television programs including All In with Chris Hayes, Politics Nation with Al Sharpton, and PBS’s Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, and has authored opinion pieces for the New York Times, Washington Post, and other outlets.

Ria has been recognized on The Root 100 annual list of the most influential African Americans ages 25 to 45 and as one of the Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association.

Prior to joining the ACLU, Ria served as Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, and as a judicial law clerk to Judge Julia Smith Gibbons of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and to Judge Victor Marrero of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ria graduated from New York University School of Law and Harvard College.

Portrait of Victoria Nourse

Professor Victoria Nourse is one of the nation’s leading scholars on statutory interpretation, Congress, and the separation of powers.

Her latest book, Misreading Law, Misreading Democracy, was published by Harvard Press in 2016.  She has also published widely on the power of the President and the separation of powers, Reclaiming the Constitutional Text from Originalism:  The Case of Executive Power, 106 Calif. L. Rev. 1 (2018), and on constitutional rights, including her book, In Reckless Hands (Norton 2008), the story of Skinner v. Oklahoma and American eugenics.  She is a coauthor with Yale’s William Eskridge and Abbe Gluck of the most up to date casebook on legislation:  Statutes, Regulation, and Interpretation:  Legislation and Administration in the Republic of Statutes (2014 & 2018 Supp.)

Professor Nourse has had a distinguished career in government up and down Pennsylvania Avenue. In 2015-2016, she served as Chief Counsel to the Vice President of the United States.  Prior to that she served as an appellate lawyer in the Justice Department and Special Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The story of her role in the fight for the original Violence Against Women Act is told in the 2009 book Equal:  Women Reshape American Law.

Prior to teaching at Georgetown, Professor Nourse held chairs at the Emory University and the University of Wisconsin. She has also been a visiting professor at Yale, NYU, Northwestern, and the University of Maryland.

Professor Nourse began her legal career in New York, clerking for a legendary trial judge, Edward Weinfeld, and practicing at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. She left private practice to serve as junior counsel to the Senate-Iran Contra Committee under Senators Rudman and Inouye.    
Professor Nourse is Director of the law schools’ first Center on Congressional Studies.

Portrait of Jamila Perritt

Dr. Jamila Perritt (she/her) became President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health in 2020. She is a past Fellow of the Leadership Training Academy.

Dr. Perritt received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and completed her medical degree at Howard University College of Medicine. In addition to a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital, she received her fellowship training in Family Planning and Master of Public Health at The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Perritt is board-certified and a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society of Family Planning.

Dr. Perritt uses her unique position as a physician advocate to bring attention to systemic inequities affecting access and health outcomes. An expert in family planning and abortion care, Dr. Perritt has testified before Congress and spoken extensively with the media including NPR, and Ms. Magazine.

Portrait of Irin Carmon

Irin Carmon (moderator) is the co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "That I responded so personally to it is a testimony to Ms. Carmon's storytelling and panache," the paper's staff book critic wrote of Notorious RBG.

Carmon’s New York magazine feature, “The Tiger Mom and the Hornet’s Nest,” won a 2021 Front Page Award for Best Interview from the Newswomen’s Club. Her work for the Washington Post breaking the news of sexual harassment and assault allegations against Charlie Rose resulted in the television host’s removal from PBS and CBS. That reporting, with the Post’s Amy Brittain, won a 2018 Mirror Award from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. She speaks frequently across the country.

Previously, she was a CNN contributor, a contributing writer to the Washington Post’s Outlook, a national reporter at MSNBC and NBC News, and a staff writer at Salon and Jezebel. Forbes named her one of 30 under 30 in media in 2011. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.