© Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica What Can Legal Feminism Do? —The Theoretical Reflections on Gender, Law and Social Transformation (original) (raw)
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What Can Legal Feminism Do? —The Theoretical Reflections on Gender, Law and Social Transformation
2004
This paper seeks to introduce and reflect upon the debates within legal feminism in both the western and non-western world. These debates are centred around the issue of feminism adding women's experiences of law through political struggle, which contains the recognition of feminism's normative and transformative aspirations. It thus asks three key questions: Can law fully express women's experiences? Can
FEMINISM(S) AND THE LAW. OLD LEGACIES AND NEW CHALLENGES
In the ongoing debate on the health of feminism, some authors accuse “second wave” feminists, especially European “feminists of difference”, of having weakened feminist claims by abandoning the emancipatory inspiration of “first wave” feminism. “Second wave” feminists are also accused of overlooking the importance of the law. If we delve deeper, however, their perspective on law appears to represent one of their most important legacies. Abandoning it in favor of an acritical enthusiasm for liberal gender mainstreaming or a gendered “politics of identity” would be a mistake. Today’s feminists should instead work to adapt this legacy to contemporary challenges.
Reassessing the Feminist Theoretical Project in Law
Social Science Research Network, 2001
This article seeks to address the current state of theoretical debate within feminist legal studies in the United Kingdom and beyond. It is part map, part critique of dominant theoretical trends-an attempt to identify and explore a range of questions about feminist scholarly engagement in law, including the relationship between academic feminism and political activism, the distinction (if any) betweeǹ feminist' analyses and broader engagements with law and gender, and the normative underpinnings of feminist legal scholarship. The author makes no pretence to neutrality on these issues, questioning the perceived`drift' between political and academic feminism, and arguing strongly for the recognition and realization of feminism's normative and transformative aspirations. Similarly, she challenges the emergence of an`anti-essentialist' norm in feminist discourse, and reaffirms the value of`women-centred' feminist approaches. Finally, this article is also a personal venture, a`stock-taking' exercise which seeks to interrogate the author's own understanding of what feminist legal work entails.
De-centralising the Feminist Agitation -Post Modern Feminist Jurisprudence
http://theicrd.org/pdf/ILS2017Proceedings.pdf., 2017
The current advocacy for feminism which encapsulates the totality of the philosophy, vision and mission of women emancipation, equity and equality in modern societies has put the question of women position in the front burner of politics and economies of all modern states in contemporary times. The feminist agitation, beyond seeking the 'equality of the sexes' has evolved into a branch of law ie Feminist jurisprudence, a dynamic flow which encapsulates the unique experiences and peculiarities of the female sex to ensure a balanced view and application of law. This ensures the achievement a certain 'sensitivity' which takes proper cognisance of the normalcy of female experiences despite same not being experienced by the opposite sex. This paper therefore analyses the various streams of feminist jurisprudence and how the various categories intersect with gender, the jurisprudential schools of thought, and the importance of postmodern feminism in achieving the de-centralisation of the feminist agitation into mainstream practice of law applicable to all humans. It also highlights the criticisms of feminist jurisprudence. It concludes that feminism is not about replacing all the male values with female values but rather about being inclusive of women, and of all people who differ from the norms of the law as it is today.
Feminist legal theory manifests through writing and speaking about 'law' and 'women,' in an effort to promote and improve understanding about justice. Feminist legal theory is a set of ideas, an activity engaged in by thinkers in and outside academia, and an intellectual and political movement. Developments in feminist legal theory emerged through engagement with problems rooted in inequalities, experienced by individuals and communities, at the hands of people, corporations, or the state. This article draws out key areas of tension within the field of feminist legal theory, focusing on English-language feminist legal theory and spanning the field of national jurisdictions and international human rights.
Feminist Legal Studies: Critical Concepts in Law
2009
Feminist Legal Studies (Critical Concepts in Law) by Joanne Conaghan Free PDF d0wnl0ad, audio books, books to read, good books to read, cheap books, good books, online books, books online, book reviews epub, read books online, books to read online, online library, greatbooks to read, PDF best books to read, top books to read Feminist Legal Studies (Critical Concepts in Law) by Joanne Conaghan books to read online. Online Feminist Legal Studies (Critical Concepts in Law) by Joanne Conaghan ebook PDF download Feminist Legal Studies (Critical Concepts in Law) by Joanne Conaghan Doc Feminist Legal Studies (Critical Concepts in Law) by Joanne Conaghan Mobipocket Feminist Legal Studies (Critical Concepts in Law) by Joanne Conaghan EPub
‘Is this a Time of Beautiful Chaos?’: Reflecting on International Feminist Legal Methods
Feminist Legal Studies
This article considers how Margaret Jane Radin’s theory of the feminist double bind can bring conceptual clarity to the difficulties feminisms face in engaging with political and legal institutions of global governance. I draw on her theory to reinitiate a conversation on ideal and nonideal theory, in order to answer the call of key proponents in international legal feminism to reevaluate methodologies in critiquing mainstream institutions. By providing an account of how to navigate the double bind, this article brings conceptual clarity to the tension between resistance and compliance that has been argued to lie at the heart of the feminist project in international law. I demonstrate how this theoretical framework can foster greater pluralist perspectives in feminist engagement of ideal theories to temper the deradicalising and conservative risk of navigating feasibility constrained nonideal strategies.
Priorities of Feminist Legal Research: A sketch, a draft agenda, a hint of an outline
Feminists Law, 2011
Two decades back feminist scholarship addressing international law still occupied outsider status in many arenas. Early interventions in the field outlined the priorities of feminist research in international law as the mainstreaming and consolidation of feminist insights in other terrains into international legal analysis, inclusion of feminist perspectives within mainstream legal practice, and the expansion of feminist analysis of public/private onto the international law stage. 1 Today I would argue that our priority should be change not consolidation, challenge not inclusion, re-examination not expansion.
American feminist jurisprudence is the study of the construction and workings of the law from perspectives which foreground the implications of the law for women and women's lives. This study includes law as a theoretical enterprise as well its practical and concrete effects in women's lives. Further, it includes law as an academic discipline, and thus incorporates concerns regarding pedagogy and the influence of teachers. On all these levels, feminist scholars, lawyers, and activists raise questions about the meaning and the impact of law on women's lives. Feminist jurisprudence seeks to analyze and redress more traditional legal theory and practice. It focuses on the ways in which law has been structured (sometimes unwittingly) that deny the experiences and needs of women. Feminist jurisprudence claims that patriarchy (the system of interconnected relations and institutions that oppress women) infuses the legal system and all its workings, and that this is an unacceptable state of affairs. Consequently, feminist jurisprudence is not politically neutral, but a normative approach, as expressed by philosopher Patricia Smith: "[F]eminist jurisprudence challenges basic legal categories and concepts rather than analyzing them as given. Feminist jurisprudence asks what is implied in traditional categories, distinctions, or concepts and rejects them if they imply the subordination of women. In this sense, feminist jurisprudence is normative and claims that traditional jurisprudence and law are implicitly normative as well" (Smith 1993, p. 10). Feminist jurisprudence sees the workings of law as thoroughly permeated by political and moral judgments about the worth of women and how women should be treated. These judgments are not commensurate with women's understandings of themselves, nor even with traditional liberal conceptions of (moral and legal) equality and fairness. Although feminist jurisprudence revolves around a number of questions and features a diversity of focus and approach, two characteristics are central to it. First, because the Anglo-American legal tradition is built on liberalism and its tenets, feminist jurisprudence tends to respond to liberalism in some way. The second characteristic is the goal of bringing the law and its practitioners to recognize that law as currently constructed does not acknowledge or respond to the needs of women, and must be changed. These two features can be seen in the major debates in current feminist jurisprudence, which range from questions of the proper perspective from which to understand the problems of the law, to questions of legal theory and practice.