Equality, the Family, and the Law

Abstract

Limitations on the rights of women cannot be adequately challenged without due process and equality of access and resources. The law is one of the many instruments that women can utilize in their efforts to gain justice in an unjust society. But laws that are not founded on reality are more likely to be abusive. Major parts of our lives are dominated by assumptions which are based on tradition and the notions of bygone eras which no longer hold within them the ring of truth. Outworn assumptions weigh heavily on each of us, and on humanity as a whole. Unless we find the courage and integrity to tap our own raw experience, rather than ready made preparations, we fall victim to a crime that is never taken up in a book of law — the crime of thoughtlessness. This was the message of Clara Wichmann, a Dutch lawyer and women’s advocate of the early 1900s (van Walsum, 1989). It remains the challenge of the world of women and their families as we approach the 21st century.

Being a mother is a noble status, right? Right. So why does it change when you put “unwed” or “welfare” in front of it?

Florynce R. Kennedy, “Institutionalized Oppression vs the Female,” in Sisterhood is Powerful, Robin Morgan, Ed., 1970