Feminist engagement with law in the new millennium

• Main Author: Samuels, Harriet
• Published: University of Westminster 2014
• Subjects: 340
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.619072

The works presented for the PhD by publication are all connected by a commitment to using law and human rights for feminist ends. They are located within the feminist discourse on the utility of law and human rights, and stress the inherent connection between feminist theory and activism. They counsel against a turning away from law, as suggested by some feminists, and instead set about explaining how existing legal structures and concepts can be made more responsive to women’s lived realities. The thesis demonstrates that law is an important site of power and public discourse where feminism in all its forms needs to have a presence. Several of the publications address feminist challenges to human rights, but advocate feminist participation in the political and legal processes that provide for the development, adoption and enforcement of universal norms. Using examples from the past and present the published works show that feminism is a force that has the capacity to interrupt and to intervene in law and human rights mechanisms. It has the potential to create, adapt and subvert legal principles through dialogic and feminist legal methods.