Feminist Legal Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Feminist Legal Theory - Essay Example The paper will examine the portions that constitute these two aspects and what makes them interconnected. In other words, an examination of how legal feminism as a concept affects feminist legal research will be done. Feminist legal scholars argue for a renewed dimension of research. They claim that gender recognitions had not been made in the past and that there is a need for adoption of a different phenomenon known as emancipator research. In other words, they are claiming that legal work needs to reflect the challenges affected by both sexes rather than merely focusing on the needs and perspectives of a universal experience. Radical legal feminists argue that men's experiences have always been treated as neutral or universal while female experiences are regarded as private or even negative. Consequently, these groups of legal feminists claim that there should be a radical transformation in law by accepting and changing power roles in the profession.1 Feminist research in law has been treated as something that lacks objectivity by opponents to this phenomenon. However, legal feminist researchers claim that objectivity is in fact a term coined by non feminists in an attempt to hide women's own subjectivity in law. Consequently, these proponents argue that research should not be treated as devoid off subjects. Instead, there should be an emphasis on the experiences and the actual challenges that subjects undergo in their everyday lives. Additionally, the latter adherents also claim that the utilisation of models during the research process is another way of forgetting the subject and thus renders such researches invalid. Distinctive features about feminist approaches to the study of law and how it compares to other approaches in the course Feminist legal theory is founded upon the premise that the law has been central in depicting historical subordination of women. There are two ways in which feminist legal theory can be treated the first is with regard to jurisprudence in which the law can be perceived as something that has been oppressive to the female gender. The second aspect is with regard to the transformation of society's perception of women through the law or through a reworking of the law. 2 This approach to the study of law is different from other arenas owing to the fact that it challenges the way the rights based approach to law or the liberal values in law are dealt with. The latter approach is synonymous with the liberal equality model of law. Here, greater emphasis is given to the issue of genuine rights accorded to the different genders rather than some of the conventional rights that have been accorded in the past to women. Through this school of thought, it is possible to see that there are certain links between injustice and gender. Feminist approach to law has also been instrumental in understanding that there are real differences between the genders and that these differences need not be obscured by the law. Instead, feminists assert that these differences should be brought to the table. The latter school of thought is held by sexual difference model adherents. However, the latter model is not synonymous to other feminists who claim that in order to ensure historic preclusion by the law is completely eradicated, then there must be treatment of both sexes as equal. These proponents hold that when the differences betwe