LAWS4400 · Law

Feminist Legal Theory

Boston College Law School

This seminar provides a critical introduction to key theorists and contemporary issues in the field of feminist legal theory. The seminar is intended to encourage a set of theoretically-informed reflections and conversations about gender and the law. We will consider: the background debates which mark the U.S. feminist legal theory canon; the historical origins of the social movements and political coalitions which have produced legal transformations, in the U.S. and internationally; divergent approaches and emphasizes within feminism and theories of equality, including different emphasis on care, sex, violence, distribution and human dignity; distinctive methods of feminist criticism, including empiricist, rationalist, positionality and standpoint epistemologies as applied to law, and contemporary puzzles for feminism and the law, including controversies behind gender equality and gender justice; intersectionality and equality; pay equity and minimum wage; gender and legal education; sexual harassment and violence against women; access to reproductive health care, including abortion; sexuality and gender identity; marriage equality; work and the family; technology and equality; and political representation.