Legal Feminisms

This volume presents a collection of essays based on papers presented at a conference on women and the law. The impetus for the conference was the perception that there is insufficient collaboration between feminists in the legal academy and legal practice. In particular, it appeared that the understandings of feminist academics were not reaching a practitioner audience, and vice-versa. The movement between theory and practice is the basis of the essays presented here. In addition to considering the relationships between theories of law and the practice of law, the papers aim to encourage a dialogue between feminist legal practitioners, activists and academics. Issues dealt with in this volume include understandings of women's situations in practice, the role and status of women lawyers and empirical research carried out with women solicitors, which is used to provide a theoretical framework and identify the means whereby the marginalization of women in the profession is effected. Other papers examine the concept of gender bias, particularly in relation to judicial education, and explore areas of law not usually under the feminist gaze.
International law is considered, looking in detail at Canada, China and Finland and the more traditionally feminist legal issues of rape law and pregnancy and maternity discrimination are examined.