Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Positive law and natural law
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Positive law and natural law
Gender Neutrality of Law is a Myth
The status of women as empowered citizens around the world is yet to be ascertained. Guided by the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it seems as if the trend towards a just social order reflects a better tomorrow, and yet, thousands of women suffer from the brutal crimes and atrocities committed by their male counterparts. Deeply woven into the social fabric of society, women face the onslaught of a patriarchal legal system - be it by the denial of fundamental rights in Afghanistan or the exclusion from property interests in India. Women still struggle as the marginalised gender in many parts of the world. This leaves considerable room for scrutiny of whether gender neutrality of the law is a reality, or indeed, a myth.
The aim of this paper is to map the main theoretical arguments of feminist jurisprudence, which help to unmask the hidden language of gendered laws. It draws upon the various feminist theories that have helped critique the basic assumptions of the Rule of Law, thus laying the foundation to understand whether laws are undeniably neutral. With this backdrop, the essay proceeds to critically examine the role of law in modern society and its ability to remain impartial. However, recognising the permeable nature of the legal structures, it concludes with seeking to portray the everyday influence of social rituals and customs that help determine the true character of the law. Thus, the law inherently possesses the capacity to construct or deconstruct, include or exclude, remain neutral or gendered in nature.
Historically tracing the patriarchal tradition from the writings of Plato and Aristotle, it has been gathered that traditionall...
... middle of paper ...
...ws reinforce existing social relation, which are gendered power relations, the law reinforces gendered social relations played within cultural contexts, thus excluding women from participating in public rights to a large extent. Thus, the law offers a piece meal solution as it does not recognize the interest in a culturally coherent whole.
In conclusion, the inherent paradox that exists in the principle of the ‘Rule of Law’ seems to be camouflaged as a result of its supposedly pragmatic nature. It is unlikely that the emancipation of women from the web of gender social structures can be addressed by a simple solution generated by the recent movement towards positive affirmation.
Thus, until the legal structures take cognisance of the social context that indirectly defines the array of power relations, the gender neutrality of law, will perhaps, remain a myth.
The Feminist Legal Theory closely looks at women and their position as legal subjects throughout history, and how these aspects have changed in regards to women as legal persons and the coorelating laws on gender themselves. The p...
Most classical society’s political and social organization revolved around the idea of patriarchy, a male dominated social system. This system exacerbated the inherit difference between men and woman and assigned gender roles based on these observations. Men were generally regarded as superior to woman therefore given greater religious and political roles as well as more legal rights. As the natural inverse, women were subordinated and seen as week; their main roles reproductive and domestic. Information about patriarchy in the classical era, though abundant, was, for the most part, written by men, therefore history does not give us an accurate depiction of women’s viewpoints. Four societies of the classical era, India, China, Greece, and Rome, adopted a patriarchal system, however, due to many factors, each developed identifiable characteristics.
Brown, A. Widney., and LaShawn R. Jefferson. "VI. ILLUSTRATIVE CASES." Afghanistan, Humanity Denied: Systematic Denial of Women's Rights in Afghanistan. New York, NY.: Human Rights Watch, 2001. 16+. Print
Imagine Kirsty and Marc, a young couple who resort to robbing a house in a desperate attempt to make money. They are caught, charged with the same crime and given the same sentence, except for one thing: the male dominant world we live in does not stop at the courtroom door. Marc is sent to a medium security prison one hour from his family with every opportunity to earn his way into a minimum-security facility. He spends his days learning to cook in the kitchenette and has access to basic necessities like aftershave or hairspray. Meanwhile, Kirsty walks into her frigid six-by-ten foot cell with bars for a door, a toilet in plain view and not a trace of sunlight. She is twelve hours from home with no hope of changing location since there is nowhere else to go. The stories of rapes, beatings and riots told by her new neighbours are endless. Kirsty realizes that the only way for her to survive this place is to oppose nature and forget what it is to feel. This is discrimination against women as they are penalized more severely than men for committing less crime. How can women strive for equality when they cannot attain justice in the justice system itself? The controversy over the gender bias goes beyond the "too-few-to-count" syndrome as Sally Armstrong calls it, it is a question of women's constitutional right to be treated equally.
In “Gender as a Social Structure: Theory Wrestling with Activism”, the author Barbara Risman explains her theory to readers about how gender should be thought of as a social structure. Thinking of it as such would allow people to examine how gender is ingrained in almost every part of society, thus putting gender on an equal level of importance with economics and politics. In society, gender dictates many of the opportunities and limitations that an individual may face in his or her lifetime. Barbara Risman points out the three aspects of the gender structure that happen at an individual, interactional, and institutional level (Risman, pg. 446). First, gender contributes to how a person will develop themselves in life. This is the “individual level”. At an interactional level, men and women face different expectations that are set by society. The individual and interactional level are linked because sometimes, changes to one level can affect the other. The third level, the institutional level, notes that gender is affected by laws, rules, and organizational practices that dictate what
Many ancient laws and beliefs show that women from all around the world have always been considered inferior to men. However, as time went on, ideas of equality circulated around and women started to demand equality. Many women fought for equality and succeeded in bringing some rights. However, full equality for women has yet to be fulfilled. This issue is important because many women believe that the rights of a person should not be infringed no matter what their gender is, and by not giving them equality, their rights are being limited. During the periods 1840 to 1968, total equality for women did not become a reality due to inadequate political representation, economic discrepancy, and commercial objectification.
Therefore, making one decision can have a huge impact on others. This is why it is important to think of the consequences that could occur before you make any decision. Both the soldier and Ronnie face challenges to make the decision whether they should be loyal to their leader or friend, or whether they should do the opposite. They later regret the decision they make and face the consequences that come along with it. Ronnie goes through an emotional state from lying to the sergeant, and the soldier feels guilty for killing Gregory. This is why you should think of others before you make any decision, and be loyal to those who you trust and think are right.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Approaching Literature: Reading + Writing + Thinking, Third Edition. Ed. Schakel, Peter J, and Jack Ridl. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 233-234. Print.
Historically, criminology was significantly ‘gender-blind’ with men constituting the majority of criminal offenders, criminal justice practitioners and criminologists to understand ‘male crimes’ (Carraine, Cox, South, Fussey, Turton, Theil & Hobbs, 2012). Consequently, women’s criminality was a greatly neglected area and women were typically seen as non-criminal. Although when women did commit crimes they were medicalised and pathologised, and sent to mental institutions not prisons (Carraine et al., 2012). Although women today are treated differently to how they were in the past, women still do get treated differently in the criminal justice system. Drawing upon social control theory, this essay argues that nature and extent of discrimination
The first of the major cases that made it to the Supreme Court was Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The case started because Homer Plessy, who is one-eighth black, sat in a white only section of a train in Louisiana. This brought up the issue of the interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, whether it was created to punish the south for the Civil War (The Dark Knights Feb 4). The majority opinion of the court was that the fourteenth amendment states that everyone is equal under the law. Since whites were using a policy of “separate but equal,” the fourteenth amendment isn’t violated because the races are still equal under the law (The Dark Knights Feb 4). The only Supreme Court justice to disagree with this is Justice John Marshal Harlan, so he dissented. He argued that if the United States allows people to be separated by their skin color, then it will escalate to other areas, such as religion (#Team Swarts Feb 4). Despite Justice Harlan’s opinion, the Supreme Court decided that it was constitutional to separate the races as long as t...
Moreover, several court cases and laws are made to oppress women. In Afghanistan, women must please their husbands (Graham-Harrison). Forced marriages have been used to secure political relations and use women as pawns. Court cases passed to favor the rapist in rape crimes spreads rape culture. Laws are being made to prevent abortions even in the cases of rape and incest. “It is a travesty that this is happening” (Graham-Harrison). Women haven’t been president yet. One third of pregnant women are killed by their husband (Valenti). Shiite laws oppress women. They must have sex with their husbands (Gebauer). But no one talks about this because its not men they are affecting.
In this article, Kieffer describes the concept of the whole "Bring Your Own Technoogy" initiative that schools are leaning towards in our society today. Basically, as schools are adding more technology, they are considering allowing students to bring their own devices to save money. Later on in the article, Kieffer pulls examples from schools in the northeast Mississippi area that have already banned students from using cell phones on campus. This article suits my topic well because it provides a good proposal for why schools should allow personal devices on campus.
One of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s primary goals of the Women’s Rights Project’s litigation was to prove that stereotypical treatment of gender under the law was unconstitutional. It was Ginsburg’s goal to make the Court realize that “the law’s differential treatment of men and women, rationalized as reflecting “natural” differences between the sexes, historically had tended to contribute to women’s subordination” (Ginsburg 11). Ginsburg carefully selected cases which she felt would produce the greatest results. To do this, she “pursue(d) a series of cases that illuminate(d) the most common instances of gender distinctions in the law (Ginsburg 14). In three cases, Reed v. Reed, Frontiero v. Richardson, and Craig v. Boren, Ginsburg was successful in arguing that legal distinctions on the basis of sex qualified as suspect classifications. Therefore the state must show a compelling interest in its legislation, and “must demonstrate that the means are necessarily related to the ends sought to be achieved by the statue and are the least restrictive” (Mezey 16). Today, it is debatable whether women are equal to men in the eyes of the law. However, without the Women’s Rights Project’s litigation of the nineteen seventies, women would be remain subjected to stereotypical legal treatment and thus would still be regulated to an inferior status of citizenship.
America has made great advances in women’s rights over the last few decades. Women are prominent in the work place, living independently, and even running for office. However, this has not always been the case, during the course of history, women have been subjected to slavery, denied the right to vote, and have been viewed as property. Throughout all of human history women have been mistreated by men.
Throughout history, women have remained subordinate to men. Subjected to the patriarchal system that favored male perspectives, women struggled against having considerably less freedom, rights, and having the burdens society placed on them that had been so ingrained the culture. This is the standpoint the feminists took, and for almost 160 years they have been challenging the “unjust distribution of power in all human relations” starting with the struggle for equality between men and women, and linking that to “struggles for social, racial, political, environmental, and economic justice”(Besel 530 and 531). Feminism, as a complex movement with many different branches, has and will continue to be incredibly influential in changing lives.