NCJ Number
144994
Journal
Criminal Justice Quarterly Issue: 4 Dated: (1993) Pages: 2-4
Date Published
1993
Length
3 pages
Annotation
These papers argue that violence against women in New Zealand and other countries should be considered not just a serious crime but also an issue of women's human rights and discuss the need for attorneys and the law itself to be open to the input of women.
Abstract
In New Zealand, approximately 40 percent of murders involve family members and are invariably perpetrated against women. In addition, the belief has persisted either that women do not seriously object to rape or other assault or that crimes committed against them have less significance than crimes committed against men. To date, gender-based violence in New Zealand has been viewed largely as an issue of family law. However, New Zealand should act as a community to consider gender-based violence a violation of human rights and to protest it as vigorously as we protest human rights violations in other countries. Males have dominated legal scholarship and judicial thought in New Zealand; women as lawyers, legal scholars, and judges have made little impact on the practice or the administration of law. In fact, women are struggling for survival in the legal profession even though they are entering law schools in large numbers and graduating with distinctions. However, the public is entitled to have its diversity reflected in the groups holding power and responsibility in society. Increasingly, women will have to assert what they want personally from the legal profession. The development of a feminist jurisprudence in New Zealand is one step in achieving this goal and will be an evolutionary process. The legal profession must also employ more women, encourage them to remain in the profession, and encourage their appointments to academic and judicial positions. Individual women can accomplish much; working as a group they can accomplish far more.