CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

ROUGH DRAFT
SUBJECT: - JURISPRUDENCE
TOPIC: - EVOLUTION OF FEMINIST LEGAL THEORY

SEPTEMBER 2016
CNLU, PATNA
NYAYA NAGAR, MITHAPUR, PATNA

SUBMITTED BY
ABHINAV SHANKAR
5TH SEMESTER
3RD YEAR
ROLL NO-11903

SUBMITTED TO
DR. MANORANJAN
FACULTY OF JURISPRUDENCE

INTRODUCTION
This paper had its genesis in an invitation to visit Pune, India, to give a presentation
on feminist jurisprudence and to suggest how its perspectives might be incorporated
into the teaching of law. The paper shows that the development of feminist
jurisprudence has had a chequered career in the West over the last two decades. A
brief overview of the experience will be presented, which will be shown to differ
according to whether one is focusing on research and publication, teaching and the
curriculum, or legal practice. The uneven trajectory of social change may help to
inform feminist legal debates and the teaching of feminist jurisprudence among those
contemplating the inclusion of such material in their law curriculum. I draw
particularly on the Australian experience, which bears many similarities with other
common law countries.
Feminist jurisprudence is a philosophy of law based on the political,
economic, and social equality of sexes. As a field of legal scholarship, feminist jurisprudence
began in 1960s. It now holds a significant place in U.S. law and legal thought and influences
many debates on sexual and domestic violence, inequality in the workplace, and gender based
discrimination. Through various approaches, feminists have identified gendered components
and gendered implications of seemingly neutral laws and practices. Laws
affecting employment, divorce, reproductive rights, rape, domestic violence, and sexual
harassment have all benefited from the analysis and insight of feminist jurisprudence.
Feminists believe that history was written from a male point of view and does not reflect
women's role in making history and structuring society. Male-written history has created a
bias in the concepts of human nature, gender potential, and social arrangements. The
language, logic, and structure of the law are male-created and reinforce male values. By
presenting male characteristics as a "norm" and female characteristics as deviation from the
"norm" the prevailing conceptions of law reinforce and perpetuate patriarchal power.
Feminists challenge the belief that the biological make-up of men and women is so different
that certain behavior can be attributed on the basis of sex. Gender, feminists say, is created
socially, not biologically. Sex determines such matters as physical appearance and
reproductive capacity, but not psychological, moral, or social traits.
Though feminists share common commitments to equality between men and women, feminist
jurisprudence is not uniform. There are three major schools of thought within feminist
jurisprudence. Traditional, or liberal, feminism asserts that women are just as rational as men
and therefore should have equal opportunity to make their own choices. Liberal feminists
challenge the assumption of male authority and seek to erase gender based distinctions
recognized by law thus enabling women to compete in the marketplace.

Another school of feminist legal thought, cultural feminists, focuses on the differences
between men and women and celebrates those differences. Following the research of
psychologist Carol Gilligan, this group of thinkers asserts that women emphasize the
importance of relationships, contexts, and reconciliation of conflicting interpersonal
positions, whereas men emphasize abstract principles of rights and logic. The goal of this
school is to give equal recognition to women's moral voice of caring and communal values.
Like the liberal feminist school of thought, radical or dominant feminism focuses on
inequality. It asserts that men, as a class, have dominated women as a class, creating gender
inequality. For radical feminists gender is a question of power. Radical feminists urge us to
abandon traditional approaches that take maleness as their reference point. They argue that
sexual equality must be constructed on the basis of woman's difference from man and not be
a mere accommodation of that difference.

A. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

To make descriptive and analytical study about evolution of feminist legal

theory.
To understand the provision related to feminist jurisprudence in India.
To provide adequate information about feminist legal theory or feminist
jurisprudence & its evolution to the readers.

B. HYPOTHESIS
C. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The researcher will rely on both doctrinal and non-doctrinal method of research. The
study of research is based on both primary and secondary sources of data collection.
The major sources of data collection of researcher will be different law books on
contract. The researcher will also consult some academics & expert in law (especially
in law of contract).
Doctrinal method: - Books, internet, journals, judgements etc.
Researcher is mainly relying on library based study.

D. SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION

There are two sources of data collection .we need to take help both the two sources of
data collection in order to completion of my work.
Primary sources

judgements of apex court & high court,

statutes
other official document of philosophers

Secondary sources

statement of judges, philosophers, socialist & thinkers

websites
articles
journals
Other useful law books on sociology and jurisprudence.

E. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Lack of time
Territorial limitation
finance

F. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

For further research this can be a means of doctrinal research
G. TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

INTRODUCTION: FROM PRACTICE TO THEORY

FEMINISM & FEMINIST
WHAT IS FEMINIST JURIST?
LIBERAL FEMINISM
POST LIBERALISM
POST MODERNISM
CHALLENGING CURRICULAR KNOWLEDGE
SEPARATISM
INTEGRATION
8. SCHOLARSHIP IN FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE
9. CURRENT ISSUES IN FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE
10. CONCLUSION & SUGGESTION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS

Becker, Mary, Cynthia G. Bowman, and Morrison Torrey. 1994. Feminist

Jurisprudence: Taking Rights Seriously. St. Paul, Minn.: West.
Hayman, Robert L., and Nancy Levit. 1995. Jurisprudence. St. Paul, Minn.: West.
Jackson, Stevi, and Jackie Jones. 1998. Contemporary Feminist Theories. New York:
New York Univ. Press.
Taylor, Betty W., et al. 1999. Feminist Jurisprudence, Women and the Law: Critical
Essays, Research Agenda, and Bibliography. Littleton, Colo.: Fred B. Rothman.