E-Book Overview
In the late 1970s, feminist scholars and activists joined together to build a movement aimed at bringing feminist theory and experiences to the practice and teaching of American law. Since then, the feminist jurisprudence movement has taken root, with courts and legislatures addressing matters of sex and gender inequality, and law schools employing feminist and post-feminist theory in the classroom. In this important book, Ann Scales, a founding contributor to the movement, reflects on the past, present, and future of feminist jurisprudence.Legal Feminism situates the feminist jurisprudence movement within the larger context of Western law and philosophy, focusing first on common problem areas of legal theory and decision-making, and then explaining how feminist jurisprudence can analyze and address these issues in new ways. Throughout, Scales draws on legal disputes to show how feminist theory works in the courtroom and in other real-life arenas.Part personal memoir, part primer, and part treatise, Legal Feminism is a de-jargonized, lively account of how feminist jurisprudence can solve traditional legal conflicts, and why it matters to anyone committed to building an equitable and progressive society.
E-Book Content
Legal Feminism
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Legal Feminism Activism, Lawyering, and Legal Theory
Ann Scales
a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London
new york university press New York and London www.nyupress.org © 2006 by New York University All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scales, Ann. Legal feminism : activism, lawyering, and legal theory / Ann Scales. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8147-9845-4 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8147-9845-4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Feminist jurisprudence. 2. Sex and law. 3. Feminist jurisprudence—United States. 4. Women—Legal status, laws, etc.—United States. I. Title. K349.S296 2006 340'.115082—dc22 2005037590 New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of Elizabeth Randel Scales, 1918–1992
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Contents
I
Acknowledgments
ix
Introduction
1
Places of Stuckness: Roles, Rules, Facts, and the Liberal View of Human Nature
1
The Rule of Law
17
2
Certainty and Doubt
32
3
Intractable Questions
47
4
The Limits of Liberalism
63
II
Places beyond Stuckness: Feminist Notions, Controversies, and Promises
5
Feminist Legal Theory
83
6
Feminist Legal Method
100
7
False Consciousness
120
8
The Future of Legal Feminism
137
Notes Index About the Author
153 209 219
vii
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Acknowledgments
Many people have helped in many ways with this book. Judge Robert Henry of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit instigated the project and encouraged me to reach out to judges. The University of Denver College of Law provided summer research support that made it possible to do this, rather than other work. Diane Burkhardt and the staff of the University of Denver College of Law library have been wonderfully responsive, thorough, and prompt. The same is true of my research assistants, Matthew Linton, Dara Lum, Lukas Staks, and Keelin Griffin. The students in my Advanced Jurisprudence seminar in the spring of 2005 read an earlier draft, commented extensively, and identified exemplars of the