Feminist legal theory - Revision history

Robert Brockway at 01:58, 10 February 2023

2023-02-10T01:58:11Z

Robert Brockway: /* References */

2023-02-10T01:57:51Z

References

Robert Brockway: /* External Links */

2019-06-22T05:15:04Z

External Links

Robert Brockway at 05:14, 22 June 2019

2019-06-22T05:14:38Z

Robert Brockway: /* Notes */

2019-06-22T05:13:27Z

Notes

Robert Brockway at 05:13, 22 June 2019

2019-06-22T05:13:03Z

Robert Brockway: copied from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Feminist_legal_theory&oldid=899586446

2019-06-22T05:12:31Z

copied from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Feminist_legal_theory&oldid=899586446

New page

{{Feminism sidebar |expanded=History}}

'''Feminist legal theory''', also known as '''feminist jurisprudence''', is based on the belief that the [[law]] has been fundamental in [[women]]'s historical subordination.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last1=Fineman|first1=Martha A.|title=Feminist Legal Theory|journal=Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law|volume=13|issue=1|pages=13–32|url=http://www.iiav.nl/ezines/web/AmericanUniversityJournal/2005/No1/american/fineman.pdf|accessdate=25 April 2015}}</ref> The project of [[feminist theory|feminist]] [[legal theory]] is twofold. First, feminist jurisprudence seeks to explain ways in which the law played a role in women's former subordinate status. Second, feminist legal theory is dedicated to changing women's status through a rework of the law and its approach to [[gender]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Legal Feminism: Activism, Lawyering, and legal Theory|last=Scales|first=Ann|publisher=University Press|year=2006|isbn=|location=New York|pages=}}</ref> It is a critique of American law that was created to change the way women were treated and how judges had applied the law in order to keep women in the same position they had been in for years. The women who worked in this area viewed law as holding women in a lower place in society than men based on gender assumptions, and judges have therefore relied on these assumptions to make their decisions. This movement was based in the 1960s and 1970s. It was crucial to allowing women to become their own people through becoming financially independent and having the ability to find real jobs that were not available to them before due to discrimination in employment. <ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Sagers|first=Christopher L.|last2=Minda|first2=Gary|date=1997|title=Postmodern Legal Movements: Law and Jurisprudence at Century's End|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1290030|journal=Michigan Law Review|volume=95|issue=6|pages=1927|doi=10.2307/1290030|issn=0026-2234|via=}}</ref>

==History==
The term ''feminist jurisprudence'' was coined in the late 1970s by [[Ann C. Scales|Ann Scales]] during the planning process for Celebration 25, a party and conference held in 1978 to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first women graduating from Harvard Law School.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cain|first=Patricia A.|date=September 2013|title=Feminist Jurisprudence: Grounding the Theories|url=|journal=Berkley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice|volume=4|pages=193|via=}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> The term was first published in 1978 in the first issue of the Harvard Women's Law Journal.<ref>[http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/book-chapters/12461699/feminist-jurisprudence Feminist Jurisprudence]. Connection.ebscohost.com (1991-11-18). Retrieved on 2015-05-17.</ref> This feminist critique of American law was developed as a reaction to the fact that the legal system was too gender-prioritized and patriarchal.<ref name=":3" />

In 1984 [[Martha Fineman]] founded the [[Feminism and Legal Theory Project]] at the [[University of Wisconsin Law School]] to explore the relationships between feminist theory, practice, and law, which has been instrumental in the development of feminist legal theory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://law.emory.edu/faculty-and-scholarship/centers/feminism-and-legal-theory-project.html.|title=Feminism and Legal Theory Project {{!}} Emory University School of Law {{!}} Atlanta, GA|website=Emory University School of Law|language=en|access-date=2017-10-07}}</ref>

The foundation of the feminist legal theory was laid by women who challenged the laws that were in place to keep women in their respective places in the home. A driving force of this new movement was the need for women to start becoming financially independent.<ref name=":3" />

Women who were working in law started to focus on this idea more, and started to work on achieving reproductive freedom, stopping gender discrimination in the law and workforce, and stop the allowance of sexual abuse.<ref name=":3" />

== Main approaches ==
Some approaches to [[feminist]] [[jurisprudence]] are:
*the liberal equality model;
*the sexual difference model;
*the dominance model;
*and the [[postmodern]] or anti-[[essentialist]] model.

Each model provides a distinct view of the legal mechanisms that contribute to women's subordination, and each offers a distinct method for changing legal approaches to gender.

=== The liberal equality model ===
{{further|Liberal feminism}}
The [[liberalism|liberal]] [[equality under the law|equality]] model operates from within the liberal legal paradigm and generally embraces liberal values and the rights-based approach to law, though it takes issue with how the liberal framework has operated in practice. This model focuses on ensuring that women are afforded [[gender equality|genuine equality]] including race, sexual orientation, and gender—as opposed to the nominal equality often given them in the traditional liberal framework—and seeks to achieve this either by way of a more thorough application of liberal values to women’s experiences or the revision of liberal categories to take gender into account. For example, when black women are only provided legal relief when the case is against her race or gender.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Crenshaw|first=Kimberle|date=1989|title=Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics|url=|journal=University of Chicago Legal Forum|volume=1989|pages=149|via=}}</ref>

=== The sexual difference model ===
The difference model emphasizes the significance of [[Gender Discrimination|gender discrimination]] and holds that this discrimination should not be obscured by the law, but should be taken into account by it. Only by taking into account differences can the law provide adequate remedies for women’s situation, which is in fact distinct from men’s.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Law|first=, Berkeley Journal of Gender|date=2013|title=Difference, Dominance, Differences: Feminist Theory, Equality, and the Law|url=http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj/vol5/iss1/8|journal=Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|doi=10.15779/Z388C4M|issn=1933-1045}}</ref> The difference model is in direct opposition to the sameness account which holds that women’s sameness with men should be emphasized. To the sameness feminist, employing women’s differences in an attempt to garner greater rights is ineffectual to that end and places emphasis on the very characteristics of women that have historically precluded them from achieving equality with men.<ref name=":2" />

The sameness feminist also argued that there was already special treatment for these so-called "differences" in the law, which is what was oppressing women. The idea of there being differences between the sexes lead to the classical thought that feminist legal theory was trying to get rid of. It forced women to prove that they were like men by comparing their experiences to those of men, all in an attempt to gain legal protection. This all only led to women trying to meet norms that were made by men without questioning why these were accepted as the norm for equality.<ref name=":3" />

=== The dominance model ===
The dominance model rejects liberal feminism and views the legal system as a mechanism for the perpetuation of male dominance. It thus joins certain strands of [[critical legal theory]], which also consider the potential for law to act as an instrument for [[wikt:domination|domination]]. This theory focuses on how male dominate females, but it also talks about other groups being oppressed such as how legal aid is not often offered to the transgender population. Also, any white female would have good legal representation compared to minority groups.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spade|first=Dean|date=November 2010|title=Be Professional|url=|journal=Harvard Journal of Law & Gender|volume=|pages=5|via=}}</ref>

In the account of dominance proposed by [[Catharine MacKinnon]], sexuality is central to the dominance.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Our Lives Before the Law: Constructing a Feminist Jurisprudence|last=Baer|first=Judith A.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2001|isbn=|location=|pages=27}}</ref> MacKinnon argues that women's sexuality is socially constructed by male dominance and the sexual domination of women by men is a primary source of the general social subordination of women.

=== The anti-essentialist model ===
Feminists from the [[postmodern]] camp have deconstructed{{huh|date=October 2017}} the notions of objectivity and neutrality, claiming that every perspective is socially situated.{{huh|date=October 2017}} Anti-essentialist and [[Intersectionality|intersectionalist]] critiques of feminists have objected to the idea that there can be any universal women’s voice and have criticized feminists, as did [[Black feminism]], for implicitly basing their work on the experiences of white, middle class, heterosexual women. The anti-essentialist and intersectionalist project has been to explore the ways in which race, class, sexual orientation, and other axes of subordination interplay with gender and to uncover the implicit, detrimental assumptions that have often been employed in feminist theory. This model is about dismantling {{huh|date=October 2017}} white feminism and [[First-wave feminism|First wave feminist]] and about building on actual equality for all regardless or gender, race, sexual orientation, class, or disability.<ref>Warner, J Cali. Proposal: the alignment of oppressed groups as post-Modern development. 2016.</ref>

== Hedonic Jurisprudence ==
Feminist legal theory produced a new idea of using hedonic jurisprudence to show that women's experiences of assault and rape was a product of laws that treated them as less human and gave them fewer rights than men. With this feminist legal theorists argued that given examples were not only a description of possible scenarios but also a sign of events that have actually occurred, relying on them to support statements that the law ignores the interests and disrespects the existence of women.<ref name=":3" />

==Notable scholars==
*[[Martha Fineman]]
*[[Mary Joe Frug]]
*[[Catharine MacKinnon]]
*[[Mari Matsuda]]
*[[Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw|Kimberle Crenshaw]]
*[[Dean Spade]]
*[[Ann C. Scales|Ann Scales]]

== See also ==
*[[Critical race theory]]
*[[Feminist political theory]]
*[[Gender mainstreaming]]
*[[Women in law]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Baer, Judith A. Our Lives Before the Law: Constructing a Feminist Jurisprudence. Princeton University Press, 2001.
* Berkeley Journal of Gender Law, Difference, Dominance, Differences: Feminist Theory, Equality, and the Law, 5 Berkeley Women's L.J. 214 (1990). Available at: h p://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj/vol5/iss1/8
*Cain, Patricia A. “Feminist Jurisprudence: Grounding the Theories.” Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, vol. 4, no. 2, Sept. 2013, Accessed 3 Oct. 2017.
*Crenshaw, Kimberle () "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist eory and Antiracist Politics," University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989: Iss. 1, Article 8. Available at: h p://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8
*“Feminism and Legal Theory Project | Emory University School of Law | Atlanta, GA.” Emory University School of Law, law.emory.edu/faculty-and-scholarship/centers/feminism-and-legal-theory-project.html. Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.
*Scales, Ann. Legal feminism: activism, lawyering, and legal theory. New York, New York University Press, 2006.
*Spade, Dean. “BE PROFESSIONAL!” Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, Nov. 2010.
*Warner, J Cali. Proposal: the alignment of oppressed groups as post-Modern development. 2016.
*Minda, Gary. "Feminist Legal Theory." In ''Postmodern Legal Movements: Law and Jurisprudence At Century's End'', 128-48. New York; London: NYU Press, 1995.

==Further reading==
* Applications of Feminist Legal Theory: Sex, Violence, Work and Reproduction (Women in the Political Economy), ed. by D. Kelly Weisberg, Temple University Press, 1996, {{ISBN|1-56639-424-4}}
*''Feminist Legal Theory: An Anti-Essentialist Reader'', ed. by Nancy E. Dowd and Michelle S. Jacobs, New York Univ Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0-8147-1913-9}}
* Nancy Levit, Robert R. M. Verchick: ''Feminist Legal Theory: A Primer'' (Critical America (New York University Paperback)), New York University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-8147-5199-7}}

==External links==
* {{cite IEP |url-id=jurisfem |title=Feminist Jurisprudence}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131005044235/http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/academic-programs/feminism-legal-theory.html Feminism and Legal Theory Project]

{{Feminist theory}}
{{Law}}

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[[Category:Theories of law]]

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 * Nancy Levit, Robert R. M. Verchick: ''Feminist Legal Theory: A Primer'' (Critical America (New York University Paperback)), New York University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-8147-5199-7}}
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+[[Category: Draft Articles]]
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+[[Category: Feminism]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:15, 22 June 2019
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	== External Links ==		== External Links ==

−	* {{cite IEP \|url-id=jurisfem \|title=Feminist Jurisprudence}}
	*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131005044235/http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/academic-programs/feminism-legal-theory.html Feminism and Legal Theory Project]		*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131005044235/http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/academic-programs/feminism-legal-theory.html Feminism and Legal Theory Project]

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:13, 22 June 2019
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−	{{Feminism sidebar \|expanded=History}}
−
	'''Feminist legal theory''', also known as '''feminist jurisprudence''', is based on the belief that the [[law]] has been fundamental in [[women]]'s historical subordination.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal\|last1=Fineman\|first1=Martha A.\|title=Feminist Legal Theory\|journal=Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law\|volume=13\|issue=1\|pages=13–32\|url=http://www.iiav.nl/ezines/web/AmericanUniversityJournal/2005/No1/american/fineman.pdf\|accessdate=25 April 2015}}</ref> The project of [[feminist theory\|feminist]] [[legal theory]] is twofold. First, feminist jurisprudence seeks to explain ways in which the law played a role in women's former subordinate status. Second, feminist legal theory is dedicated to changing women's status through a rework of the law and its approach to [[gender]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book\|title=Legal Feminism: Activism, Lawyering, and legal Theory\|last=Scales\|first=Ann\|publisher=University Press\|year=2006\|isbn=\|location=New York\|pages=}}</ref> It is a critique of American law that was created to change the way women were treated and how judges had applied the law in order to keep women in the same position they had been in for years. The women who worked in this area viewed law as holding women in a lower place in society than men based on gender assumptions, and judges have therefore relied on these assumptions to make their decisions. This movement was based in the 1960s and 1970s. It was crucial to allowing women to become their own people through becoming financially independent and having the ability to find real jobs that were not available to them before due to discrimination in employment. <ref name=":3">{{Cite journal\|last=Sagers\|first=Christopher L.\|last2=Minda\|first2=Gary\|date=1997\|title=Postmodern Legal Movements: Law and Jurisprudence at Century's End\|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1290030\|journal=Michigan Law Review\|volume=95\|issue=6\|pages=1927\|doi=10.2307/1290030\|issn=0026-2234\|via=}}</ref>		'''Feminist legal theory''', also known as '''feminist jurisprudence''', is based on the belief that the [[law]] has been fundamental in [[women]]'s historical subordination.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal\|last1=Fineman\|first1=Martha A.\|title=Feminist Legal Theory\|journal=Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law\|volume=13\|issue=1\|pages=13–32\|url=http://www.iiav.nl/ezines/web/AmericanUniversityJournal/2005/No1/american/fineman.pdf\|accessdate=25 April 2015}}</ref> The project of [[feminist theory\|feminist]] [[legal theory]] is twofold. First, feminist jurisprudence seeks to explain ways in which the law played a role in women's former subordinate status. Second, feminist legal theory is dedicated to changing women's status through a rework of the law and its approach to [[gender]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book\|title=Legal Feminism: Activism, Lawyering, and legal Theory\|last=Scales\|first=Ann\|publisher=University Press\|year=2006\|isbn=\|location=New York\|pages=}}</ref> It is a critique of American law that was created to change the way women were treated and how judges had applied the law in order to keep women in the same position they had been in for years. The women who worked in this area viewed law as holding women in a lower place in society than men based on gender assumptions, and judges have therefore relied on these assumptions to make their decisions. This movement was based in the 1960s and 1970s. It was crucial to allowing women to become their own people through becoming financially independent and having the ability to find real jobs that were not available to them before due to discrimination in employment. <ref name=":3">{{Cite journal\|last=Sagers\|first=Christopher L.\|last2=Minda\|first2=Gary\|date=1997\|title=Postmodern Legal Movements: Law and Jurisprudence at Century's End\|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1290030\|journal=Michigan Law Review\|volume=95\|issue=6\|pages=1927\|doi=10.2307/1290030\|issn=0026-2234\|via=}}</ref>

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	*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131005044235/http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/academic-programs/feminism-legal-theory.html Feminism and Legal Theory Project]		*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131005044235/http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/academic-programs/feminism-legal-theory.html Feminism and Legal Theory Project]

		⚫	[[Category:Draft Articles]]
−	{{Feminist theory}}
		⚫	[[Category:Feminism]]
−	{{Law}}
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−	{{DEFAULTSORT:Feminist Legal Theory}}
⚫	[[Category:~~Feminist philosophy~~]]
⚫	[[Category:~~Theories~~ ~~of law~~]]

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 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20131005044235/http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/academic-programs/feminism-legal-theory.html Feminism and Legal Theory Project]
 * Baer, Judith A. Our Lives Before the Law: Constructing a Feminist Jurisprudence. Princeton University Press, 2001.
 * Berkeley Journal of Gender Law, Difference, Dominance, Differences: Feminist Theory, Equality, and the Law, 5 Berkeley Women's L.J. 214 (1990).  Available at: h p://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/bglj/vol5/iss1/8
@@ Line 66: / Line 68: @@
 *Spade, Dean. “BE PROFESSIONAL!” Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, Nov. 2010.
 *Warner, J Cali. Proposal: the alignment of oppressed groups as post-Modern development. 2016.
 *Minda, Gary. "Feminist Legal Theory." In ''Postmodern Legal Movements: Law and Jurisprudence At Century's End'', 128-48. New York; London: NYU Press, 1995.
 ==Further reading==

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 Feminist legal theory produced a new idea of using hedonic jurisprudence to show that women's experiences of assault and rape was a product of laws that treated them as less human and gave them fewer rights than men. With this feminist legal theorists argued that given examples were not only a description of possible scenarios but also a sign of events that have actually occurred, relying on them to support statements that the law ignores the interests and disrespects the existence of women.<ref name=":3" />
-==Notable scholars==
+== See Also ==
 *[[Martha Fineman]]
 *[[Mary Joe Frug]]
@@ Line 47: / Line 48: @@
 *[[Dean Spade]]
 *[[Ann C. Scales|Ann Scales]]
 *[[Critical race theory]]
 *[[Feminist political theory]]
 *[[Gender mainstreaming]]
 *[[Women in law]]
 ==References==
@@ Line 69: / Line 73: @@
 *''Feminist Legal Theory: An Anti-Essentialist Reader'', ed. by Nancy E. Dowd and Michelle S. Jacobs, New York Univ Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0-8147-1913-9}}
 * Nancy Levit, Robert R. M. Verchick: ''Feminist Legal Theory: A Primer'' (Critical America (New York University Paperback)), New York University Press 2006, {{ISBN|0-8147-5199-7}}
 [[Category:Draft Articles]]