Purpose of Law – Feminist Jurisprudence

The study of workings and constructions of law from the perspectives that have the implications of the law for women and their lives is called a feminist jurisprudence. Furthermore, this study includes law as a theoretical enterprise along with it’s concrete and practical effects in women’s lives.

Feminist Jurisprudence

Feminist jurisprudence includes laws as an academic discipline. Thus, it incorporates concerns regarding the influence and pedagogy of the teachers. On every level, feminist lawyers, scholars, activities, raises questions regarding the impact and meaning of the law on women’s lives.

Feminist jurisprudence seeks to redress and analyze more traditional practices and theories. Thus, it focuses on the ways in which the laws have been structured. So, it cannot deny the needs and experiences of women. Furthermore, it claims that the patriarchy infuses the legal system along with its workings. So, it is an unacceptable state of affairs.

Consequently, feminist jurisprudence is not a politically neutral approach. Rather it is a normative approach. Because it challenges the basic level concepts and categories rather than analyzing them. Furthermore, it asks what has been implied in distinctions, traditional categories, rejects, and concepts.

Thus, it rejects them if they imply the women being subordinated. Thus, in this sense, feminist jurisprudence is a normative approach. Also, it claims that the traditional law and jurisprudence are also implicitly normative.

It sees the working of law as being permitted by moral and political judgments about women’s worth and how a woman is to be treated. These judgments are not according to women’s understanding of themselves, nor with the liberal concepts of fairness and equality.

Browse more Topics under Jurisprudence

• Meaning of term Jurisprudence
• Norms and Normative system
• Schools of Jurisprudence – Analytical Positivism
• Schools of Jurisprudence – Natural Law
• Schools of Jurisprudence – Historical School
• Schools of Jurisprudence – Sociological school
• Schools of Jurisprudence – PIL
• Schools of Jurisprudence – Concept of Dharma
• Purpose of Law – Justice
• Purpose of Law – Meaning and Kinds
• Purpose of Law – Justice and Law approaches of different school
• Purpose of Law – Power of Supreme Court in case of Article 147
• Purpose of Law – Critical studies
• Sources of Law – Legislation
• Sources of Law – Concept of Stare Decisis
• Sources of Law – Customs
• Sources of Law – Juristic Writings
• Sources of Law – Agreements
• Legal Rights – Rights kinds
• Legal Rights – Right duty Correlation
• Persons – Nature of Personality
• Status of Unborn, Minor, Lunatic drunk and dead person
• Corporate Personailty
• Persons – Dimensions of modern legal personality
• Legal personality of Non Human beings
• Kind of Possesions
• Kinds of Ownership
• Difference between Possesions and Ownership

Questions of Perspective

On the basis of critical theory, feminist jurisprudence responds to the current understanding of legal thought. This is usually identified along with the Anglo-American tradition.

The major two branches of this tradition have legal positivism and natural law theory. The jurisprudence responds to both these branches. Furthermore, it raises questions such as

• The law is properly objective. Thus, it must have a recourse to object the understandings and rules at some level.
• The law is properly immaterial especially if it is not tainted by some personal experience of any practitioners.
• That equality must function as a formal notion as compared to a substantive one. Thus, in the eyes of the laws, the difference must be shown between the relevant in order to be visible.
• That law should be working properly and it should be certain. Thus, the goal of legal decision making and lawmaking is to gain certainty.
• Justice should be understood as a matter of procedures. Thus, proper procedures can be followed and understood to render sufficient justice.

Each of these questions and assumptions, although debated and contested, has remained a significant feature in the liberal tradition with respect to legal understanding.

Practice Questions on Feminist Jurisprudence

Q. What does a feminist legal theory takes into account?

A. It argues that women are to be given lighter sentences than man.

B. It takes a female perspective into account while applying and developing the law.

C. Was illegal in the USA till the 2nd century.

D. It was created by Gloria Steinem.

Answer: B. It takes a female perspective into account while applying and developing the law.