Course:Law3020/2014WT1/Group E/Feminist Jurisprudence

Feminist Jurisprudence

The feminist theory focuses on women as a traditionally silenced subject of the law. But it does involve a number of related viewpoints, rather than one single theory. But the common theme of all of the different theories is that world around us is structured by patriarchy, which is the “systematic and systemic domination of women by men.” Feminism argues that patriarchy seems to be normal, but is actually socially constructed and that people within this system maintain this system. There are certain central tenets of the traditional legal system that feminism looks to challenge. These values result in making the inequality between men and women legitimate and concealed. These tenets are:

• The neutrality of law
• The ideal of the rule of law
• The model of judicial reasoning as logical deduction
• The separation of law from politics
• The separation of law from morality

As mentioned earlier, there are a number of different viewpoints of feminism that include liberal feminism, radical feminism, Marxist feminism, postmodern feminism, postmodern feminism and relational feminism.

Liberal feminism main belief is that the subordination of women prevents access for women to have success in the public sphere, and by removing these obstructions, it would lead to equality. Radical feminism believes that the entire system needs to be reconstructed in order to better help the oppressed. Marxist feminism sees the oppression of women being a result of the capitalist system, since it treats the ‘private domestic sphere’ (child rearing, home based work) as useless since it does not benefit the economy. Postmodern feminism embrace’s the female position of being an ‘other’ within the patriarchal system, and claims that it should be celebrated, while stating that there is no single solution to the issue of oppression. Lastly, relational feminism seeks to establish a different moral perspective from that of men’s, and that the public sphere must change to incorporate this.