Feminist Legal Theory ─ Readings in Law and Gender

Feminist Legal Theory is a carefully balanced and thoughtfully edited collection of classic and new papers from the exciting field of feminist legal thought. What makes current feminist legal theory so important is the far-reaching challenge it poses to the assumptions embedded in traditional legal doctrine and method as well as the light it sheds on how these assumptions have so consistently undercut efforts toward fundamental gender change.The papers gathered here reveal the influences of feminist work in philosophy, psychoanalysis, political theory, and literary criticism, fields that have enriched legal theory and provided feminist scholars with more and sharper tools, and the results, as evidenced in this volume, are impressive and encouraging. They are also sobering, in that they force the realization that there is much theoretical and practical work yet to be done, under constraints we are only beginning to fully comprehend.

Katharine T. Bartlett is professor of law at Duke University School of Law and the author of many articles on family law and feminist legal theory. Rosanne Kennedy is a lecturer in women’s studies and English at Australian National University. Katharine T. Bartlett is professor of law at Duke University School of Law and the author of many articles on family law and feminist legal theory. Rosanne Kennedy is a lecturer in women’s studies and English at Australian National University.