The Court and Gender: General Gateway

Introduction, Interpreting the Equal Protection Clause, Supreme Court Decisions and Women's Rights, The Learning Center, The Supreme Court Historical Society
http://www.supremecourthistory.org/05_learning/subs/05_e.html

This webpage, part of the Supreme Court Historical Society's Learning Center, is a must-read introduction to the evolution of the Court's thinking on gender cases. It lays out the history of the equal protection and due process clauses. Perhaps the introduction's greatest value is the way it defines very clearly the various terms and tests that come up repeatedly in all court gender opinions: rationality, classification, strict scrutiny, suspect classification and intermediate standard. This page has links to four landmark court cases, discussion questions, and also provides information about the book Supreme Court Decisions and Women's Rights with a forward by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The site is visually attractive and at the time of the review all links functioned smoothly. This is an excellent introduction for teachers who are not immersed in the subject and also for high school students of government, history, sociology, or civics.

Discussion Questions, Supreme Court Decisions and Women's Rights, The Learning Center, The Supreme Court Historical Society
http://www.supremecourthistory.org/05_learning/subs/05_e05.html

This webpage, part of the Supreme Court Historical Society's Learning Center, suggests discussion questions, a class exercise, and follow-up questions on the issue of women's rights. The discussion questions are designed to help students define key ideas regarding the status of women under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The questions also help students to understand the role of different kinds of Court opinions (majority, concurring, and dissenting) in the evolution of women's rights and to see the Court's decisions as the product of the Justices as individuals rather than the product of a monolithic "Court." The class exercise, about all-girl schools (and whether they are legally appropriate), should provide for a lively class discussion. Altogether, this is an excellent webpage for teachers of high school government/civics students.

National Women's Law Center
http://www.nwlc.org/index.cfm

As stated on the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) web site, "NWLC is a non-profit organization that has been working since 1972 to expand the possibilities for women and their families at work, in school, and in virtually every aspect of their lives. NWLC focuses on major concerns of women and girls, including family economic security, education, employment opportunities, and health, with special attention given to the concerns of low-income women." This site has an abundance of resources that can be utilized in the exploration of gender-equity issues in a variety of areas including: athletics, child care and early education, child and family support, education, employment, heath, judges, courts, and women's rights, reproductive rights, sexual harassment, social security, tax, and women and the military.