Feminism and the law

Abstract

The demand that women should have the same legal rights as men has long been central to feminism, and many feminists today continue to believe that the law can be used to achieve their goals. Others, however, argue that it is inherently biased against women: they claim that not only is the legal profession strongly male dominated, but that the law fails to recognise women’s needs or articulate their experiences, that it expresses a limited, male conception of justice and that it is both a source and reflection of men’s patriarchal power. As such, it cannot provide a ready-made tool for feminists; some however claim that it can become a ‘site of struggle’ in which feminists can contest the current meaning of being a woman.