seminar 10- feminism and the law

8/11/2019 Seminar 10- Feminism and the Law

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JURISPRUDENCE PRESENTATION

LL.M 2009/2010

SEMINAR 10

FEMINISM AND CRITICAL RACE THEORY

GROUP 10 MEMBERS

FEMINIST THEORY

1. CLARIS OGANGAH

2.JENNIFFER GITIRI

3. MAUREEN AKUNJA

CRITICAL RACE THEORY

4.JEREMIAH NYAKUNDI

5.ROSELYN AGANYO

.MILCAH ONDIEK

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LEGAL FEMINISM

I!"#$%&'"($!The word Feminism originated in French politics in the 19th century as adescription of different groups that in one way or another sought to improvethe position of women.

A feminist thus is someone who holds that women suffer discrimination becauseof their sex that they have specific needs and which remain negated andunsatisfied and that satisfaction of these needs would require a radical changeor revolution in social, economic and political order as asserted by osalind!elmar.

Feminist "urisprudence has its roots in feminist political activism in the #est$for example, %&A and #estern 'urope( and the developing world such as#omen)s movement in &outh Africa and *ndia1.

Feminism legal theory is firstly, the analysis of the extent to which the legalsystem reflects and reinforces a male perspective. +atricia &mith has arguedthat what feminist legal theories have in common is an opposition to thepatriarchal ideas that dominate society in general and the legal system inparticular.

&econdly it gives and analysis of how women)s differences from men should orshould not be reflected in legal rules, legal institutions and legal education.ne could argue that what is common to feminist legal theories is that they aredivergent responses to the inherent or socially construed differences betweenmen and women, responses regarding what these differences should meanabout the way we thin- about law. ne feminist response to difference is

a( There are intrinsic differences between men and womenb( &ociety and law are organi/ed around a male standard and a male norm,

a situation which wor-s in the short0term and the long0term against theinterests of women and therefore

c( &ociety and law should be reformed to remove that bias and to reflectwomen)s experiences as well as men)s.

'nlightenment feminists, li-e ary #ollstonecraft, writings at the time of theFrench evolution, asserted that women, li-e men, possessed the innate

1See R kapur & B Crossmansubversive Sites. Feminism Engagement with the Law in India(1996) and M

Desai Reflections from Contemporary omen!s Mo"ements in #ndia! in $ Dean (%d) Feminism and the

New Democracy(199)'


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capacity for reason. &uch feminists argue that women)s capacity for rationalthought had been suppressed by their upbringing, since they were forced into afrivolous 2girly3 type of sociali/ation process, either being discouraged fromdeveloping, or at least not encouraged to develop their intellectual faculties,and provided with an inadequate education.

#omen had then been prevented from engaging in public life, through anemphasis on supposed 2womanly3 private domestic responsibilities, and beendenied the opportunities to engage in political process.

For 4atherine ac5innon, male domination and exploitation of women in sexualmatters is centered to sexism and patriarchy. &he wrote6 2pornography, in thefeminist view, is a form of forced sex, a practice of sexual politics, and aninstitution of gender inequality37. %nder the ac5innon8 !wor-in view,pornography wor-s to silence women by reinforcing the subordination ofwomen and the perception by men that women en"oy that subordination.

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This approach entails exposing and explaining the gendered nature of law,revealing how gender) is both ignores and enshrined in legal theory andpractice.4onaghan suggests that this occurs in at least three ways

i. :y analy/ing the content and application or impact of the law on someor all women.

ii. :y examining the gendered nature of the concept and principlesunderlying the law.

iii. :y considering the way in which the law constructs gender by invo-ingimages of women and thus compels particular gendered perceptions ofthe social world.

Fineman)s analysis of family law has both examined the particular impact ofthe law on women)s lives, as well as the role of the law in the construction andperception of a gendered social existence.

Feminist legal thin-ers have also argued that the traditional categories of law

fragments and ignore women)s experiences. For example, law texts do not dealcomprehensively with gender based violence). The law relating to this will befound, inter alia, in criminal law.There is a fundamental divide, for example, between those that would arguethat gender oppression is a source of unity among women $radical feminism(and those who would emphasis motherhood or human connection as a unifyingforce $relational feminism(.

Macinnon* +eminism ,nmodified* p 1-.

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There is also an important difference between those who assert that womenare bound together by unifying factors $negative or positive( and those thatargue that the presence of other sources of difference such as race or classundermines any unity amongst women as a group. !espite all these differences,

all feminists approaches to law regard gender as a, if not the, significant factorin understanding the law.

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ost feminist wor- on the law is characteri/ed by a methodology thatemphasi/es the need to describe the world in ways that reflect women)sreality. the starting point of feminism wor- must be found in women)s livesand not legal definitions).

This emphasis on women)s actual lives constitutes an important source offeminism)s authority, both as the basis for theori/ing the law and as the basisfor action to change the law.

Feminism legal analysis has generally been grounded in practical problemsrather than abstract principles;. *t builds from the ground up. Thus, feminismhas, with some exceptions,


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uch but not all feminist legal thought emphasi/es the goal of equalitybetween women and men, although the idea of equality is differentlyexpressed across various feminist perspectives.

Feminism "urisprudence thus engages with, and see-s to understand, the law as

vehicles of social change. any feminists may be s-eptical of the usefulness oflegal change in bringing about social change. >owever, most view the law as asite of political struggle.

Although the law is imbued with gendered power in a way that harms women,it can be harnessed in a positive way to improve women)s lives.

ORIGINS OF FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE

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any of the philosophical roots of feminism engagement with the law lie in therise of liberalism and the egalitarian spirit of the enlightenment. f particularwas the nature of the new social contract that emerged between the state andcivil society and established a new relationship between ruler and ruled.

4ontemporary and modern feminists have critici/ed this social contract whichestablished and entrenched a gendered public8 private divide that bothenhanced the power of men in the public and private spheres at the same timeas it limited women to the domestic spheres?. For example, ary

#ollstonecraft)s classical response to @ean @acques ousseau in the vindicationof the Rights of Womenwas an early re"ection of the idea of genderdifferences that saw all women to be, by nature, less rational and less virtuousthan men.

#ollstonecraft opposed the consequent exclusion of women from rights andbenefits in the public sphere. Bearly eight years later @ohn &tuart ill and>arriet TaylorC argued for the extension of rights to women on utilitariangrounds. :oth texts were radical in their times. >owever, they were alsoqualified responses that permitted certain women to enter the public sphere,but did not fundamentally change the gendered public8 private divide 9.

4arole +ateman has shown how social contract writers both explicitly andimplicitly preclude women)s acceptance as rational beings, capable of bearing

6:2e classic contemporary criticism of t2e social contract is C ;ateman!s t2e seual contract (19..)ollstonecarft (19).(1.6.) on the subjection of women9See D Code women in o!itica! theory" from ancient misogyny to contemorary feminism(199/) c2apters

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legal rights in the public sphere1D, at the same time as they reinforced women)ssubordination in the private sphere. #riting about this fraternal socialcontract), +ateman argues that

The separation of the paternal from political rule, or the family

from the public sphere is also the separation of women from menthrough the subjection of women to menThe fraternal socialcontract creates a new modern patriarchal order that is presentedas divided into two spheres: civil society or the universal sphere of

freedom, equality, individualism, reason, contract and impartiallaw- the realm of men or individual and the private world of

particularly, natural subjection, ties of blood, emotion, love andse!ual passion- the world of women, in which men also rule ""#

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The first wave of feminism in the early 7D thcentury saw women challenge their

legal exclusion from rights in the public domain relating to the franchise andeducational and professional opportunities. 4haracteristically, these feministslimited their demands to the public sphere especially politics, leaving thesexual division of labor in the family untouched.

#omen gained the vote and obtained mush formal equality before the law0that is, if men have certain rights and can do certain things, women should beable to as well. #omen should be equally protected by the law and the lawshould apply to all0 men and women0equally giving them equal treatment.

*n &outh Africa, as in other countries, it was generally women from the most

privileged strata of society $white, educated, 'nglish spea-ing( who challengedwomen)s public exclusion17. *n 1911, some women net to form a nationalsuffrage society, the #omen 'nfranchisement Association of the %nion in &outhAfrica1;.

>owever, the public8 private divide and the idea that motherhood precludedwomen from equal participation in the public sphere were to be formidablebarriers to success. This was illustrated in 1917 Appellate division "udgmentthat found that women were not included in the legal definition of a person)and thus were not entitled to be admitted as attorneys1


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This "udgment was eventually overturned in 197; by the #omen)s Eegal+ractitioners Act. &even years later, in 19;D, the vote was extended to whitewomen in &outh Africa.The fight for women)s suffrage in &outh Africa was unable to escape the racialdivisions in that society as early commitments to the inclusion of qualified)

blac- women1=

soon eroded to support for the enfranchisement of white womenonly.

For African women, colonialism and segregation meant that their lives weredefined by rigid racial and sexual boundaries. The law was central tomaintaining these boundaries as it enforced racial segregation and reinforcedcustomary law as a gendered set of rules and customs that privilege men overwomen.

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*n &outh Africa, the radical and socialist influences was felt when in the 19Ds,women aligned to the national liberation struggle but wor-ing mostly within aradical feminist framewor- began to establish organi/ations that supportedservices to survivors of gender based violence. #ithin the national liberationmovements, in trade unions and community groups, women also began to

question issues of violence and women)s position in the domestic sphere.

erefeminists grapple with the tensions between the particular and the universal,the concrete and the abstract. 'ach of these dualisms forms a different basisfor ma-ing claims in different periods of the history of feminism.

#e can see universalism in the movement from the suffragists to contemporaryliberal feminism, which stresses the extension of general rights to womenwhile another movement, which particularly expressed in cultural feminism,

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claimed a unique and particularly expressed in cultural feminism, claimed aunique and particular sub"ect0 position for women. thers see- to integrateother axes of sub"ect0 formation, such as class, race, ethnicity and sexualorientation.

FEMINISM PERSPETI>ES OF LA; :#($&+ +')$$+ $- ")$&,)"

This section gives a discussion of the main schools of thought on feminism andthe law.'ach of the feminist theories describes the oppression of women, its causes andconsequences and prescribes strategies for women)s liberation, however, theirapproaches at handling the problem are varied and so is their experience.

#e highlight the similarities and differences in perspective in relation tocommon feminist debates such as

i( Bature of gender differences.

ii( *ts manifestation in and through the law.iii( The manner and possibilities of social change through law.

Feminist perspective of law has developed from intellectual and politicalengagement within different feminist approaches.The approaches are overlapping and intersecting.

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The movement originated in 19?Ds in America and 'urope and goes bac- to 1C th4

and 19th4when ary #ollstonecraft started the struggle.

Eiberal feminism asserts the equality of men and women through political andlegal reform. *t is an individualistic form of feminism and theory, which focuseson women)s ability to show and maintain their equality through their ownactions and choices.

#omen resorted to law to claim equal access to public sphere of politics wor-and education this is because women were oppressed by the power relations.1?

They were excluded to the men)s sphere e.g. employment and even right tovote.The theory is distinguished by its conception of a sexual undifferentiatednature, when men and women are the same and are theoretically able to do

the same things.ender roles and differences are as a result of sociali/ation. &uch genderdifferences have built over time and are embedded in our culture.&o gender bias within the law is the result of unfounded and impermissiblegender stereotypes and assumptions about women. To remove the gender bias,we must expose it, and then act to eradicating it through education, lawreform and litigation.

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The liberal feminist aspires for men and women to receive equal treatment inand by the law, so that they are placed at equal levels of the society. This canonly be achieved if law is neutral and impartial, capable of dispensing equal"ustice.They advocate for equal pay, equal educational and "ob opportunities and

abolition of sex role stereotypes. They support abortion and considers it aprivate choice as well as provision of maternity and health benefits for women$law must accommodate biological differences(.The theory has however beencritici/ed, which has led to further development in feminist thin-ing.The ma"or criticism is sameness8difference debate.

As much as it contributed to inclusion of women in educational and businessinstitutions, it had become apparent the 2equality as sameness3 only benefitedsome women in some areas. This is because the law reflected interest of whitemiddle class men, only white middle class women that benefited from theapproach.The criticism gave rise to vigorous debate about the nature of genderdifferences within the law and how it should be addressed.The critics as-ed

1. #as it reinforcing existing bias against women)s experienceG

7. #ouldn)t it be more difficult for women to live up to standards, if therewere standards made for male imageG

;. >ow will the approach help areas where men can)t feature e.g.pregnancy and abortion1

The liberal feminists defended the equality as sameness approach for

theoretical and strategic reason by developing a model of recogni/ingbiological based differences in law.thers adopted the 2difference3 approach, they accepted the need fordifferential treatment arising out of gender differences, but this should aim atma-ing gender differences costless.

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!eveloped in the 19Ds and CDs they attributed women)s oppression to socialclass race and ethnicity.arxist feminism which focuses on the dismantling ofcapitalism as a way to liberate women.

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arxist feminism states that private property, which gives rise to economicinequality, dependence, political confusion and ultimately unhealthy socialrelations between men and women, is the root of womenHs oppression in thecurrent social context. *t loo-s at the family in a very negative and critical way.To them capitalism, imperialism and sexism are inseparable and therefore

liberation of women is the removal of social class relations.4lass oppression led to gender oppression Fredric- 'ngel argued women)soppression originated in the first division of labor between women and men inthe family thus raise of capitalism1C

The concept of capitalism was to maximi/e on profits and when men werelowly paid, women had to supplement the law pay through domestic wor- orfarming.This movement is unpopular to socialist states and the developments in 'astern'urope.

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'merged towards the end of 19CDs as a response to gap of the arxistsfeminism thoery. To them arxists did not properly critique the concept ofpatriarchy.&ocialist feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses upon both the publicand private spheres of a womanHs life and argues that liberation can only beachieved by wor-ing to end both the economic and cultural sources of womenHsoppression. To them class $capitalism( and sex $patriarchy( combined explainedgender oppression.19

They interrogated issues of patriarchy and capitalism in the wor- place andfamily and also additional impact of gender oppression of social factors e.g.race.They re"ect the liberal idea of law as a neutral and autonomous institution andrather see it as the product of economic and political systems within a society.

They see- to eradicate all forms of oppression, by transforming the state,society and economic disadvantages of women in and through law.

The emphasis on socio0economic equality is in contrast to liberal endorsement

of equality in the content and process of law.

The effect of socialism is apparent in third worlds, with their insistence onunderstanding the relationship between gender, race, and class and capitalismsystem.

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&ocialist emphasis that women must be part of the development process byinvolving women in development issues.

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The socialist feminist appeared to be 'uro0centric, their assumption was thatthe west feminists were the experts of the theory and could be used as models.The west feminist had an assumption that they could spea- for oppressedAfrican women and loo- at how the oppression could be stopped $colonialism19CD(.

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!eveloped in the west in the 19Ds, as a criticism of both liberal and arxismtheories.The oppression of women in a social order dominated by men is the source ofgender inequality. an is the enemy and must radically transform theoppressive gender relations.7D

adical feminism is a IcurrentI within feminism that focuses on the theory ofpatriarchy as a system of power that organi/es society into a complex ofrelationships based on an assumption of Imale supremacyI used to oppresswomen.adical feminism aims to challenge and to overthrow patriarchy by opposingstandard gender roles and what they see as male oppression of women, and

calls for a radical reordering of society.

All men benefit from the sexual hierarchy even if they themselves do notoppress women, and all women are united in a common experience ofoppression.To them patriarchy is a specific form of a male domination based on thepowerful role of a father head. Their focus is on issues of women)ssubordination in the private sphere li-e violence, abortion, pornography andsexual harassment in the wor- place.

They put sexuality, reproduction and patriarchy at the center of political arenawith the aim of enhancing women)s political consciousness and assert thatgender, production, reproduction and politics are the four domains of sociallife.

%nli-e the liberals who want equal education opportunities, they challenge thequality of education, demand changes in the curriculum as education

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stereotypes continue to marginali/e women, text boo-s especially literatureboo-s portray men as heroes and women as helpless individuals. They argue theschool environment also contributes to inequalities by portraying some "obs asfemale "obs for some as male occupations.%nli-e liberals fight for access to health, they argue that the health services

must empower women, women must have reproductive choices and thusadvocate for abortion on demand.

They further argue that the biological motherhood role was central to women)soppression by changing this role women could improve their status.The main achievement of this group is that they played an important role inma-ing contraceptive and family planning available.ne radical feminist 4atherine ac-innon argues that sex inequity is at thecenter of all women)s subordination in the society and by the law. &exdifferences are inextricably bound up with unequal power relations betweenwomen and men, and in sexual relations of domination and subordination. &he

illustrates how the laws relating to rape imposes rules on women that do notreflect the experience of violation and allow men to escape conviction. >owobscenity laws permits pornography as freedom of oppression even though itharms women. >ow description of abortion as a right to privacy places a veilover the inequalities of the private sphere and allows the state to absolve itselfof responsibility for funding public abortion how sex discrimination law basedon the standard of men, is ineffective in protecting women againstdiscrimination.

They see- social change through engaging the law, they re"ect a reformistapproach that would merely include women within existing structures but

instead transform the law and legal and political institutions.>er wor-s influenced recognition of sexual harassment as new legal harm towomen in the wor- place and a form of sexual discrimination.

The wor-s of radical feminists has influenced law on gender based violenceespecially in &outh Africa. *t has also influenced wor-s on internationalwomen)s movements to include gender based violence and reproductive choicewithin the meaning of international human rights.

C#("('(+1. The assumption that gender is the dominant form of expression has

mas-ed other inequalities such as race, class or sexual orientation. Thishas privileged some women and others.

2. They fail to see the positive value of gender differences, thusdevelopment of relational feminism.

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3. The movement has a specific class of women i.e. America wor-ing classwho are addressing their own situation and not developing a universaltheory.

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This school of thought emphasi/es gender differences.They recogni/e that women)s attributes result in a distinctive feminineunderstanding of the world that is different of that of men.Their focus is on women)s reproductive role and the nurturing relationship thatit has encouraged. These feminists argue that there are genuine and relevantdifferences between men and women, which should be celebrated.

n the ma"or relational feminist 4arole illigan develops the idea of 2ethic ofcare. 71&he argues women are more li-ely than men to privilege concreterelationships over abstract rights, and thus promote the values of care and

connection. To her, women are more relational and contextual in moralreasoning in contrast to the more universal and abstract reasoning of men.

obin #est argues that liberal theory and critical theory are essentiallymasculine in that they start at a 2male3 human being. &he contrast saying thathuman beings are the underpinning relational or cultural feminism who isgrounded in women)s potential for physical, material connection to humanlife.77

@ennifer Bedels-y a 4anadian Eegal +hilosopher argues that rights should not be

construed in an adversarial manner, but in a way that affirms the relationshipthat underpins the rights.&he challenges the liberal division between public and private and argues theyshould extract legislation to intervene in the relations between women andmen to protect women against violence. &he points that one of the defense ofconsent and the sub"ective requirement of men)s rea in the law on rape ismales) perspective, his understanding or lac- of it is privileged over women)sexperience of violent harm.artha inow argues that problems of differences seemed intractable becausedifferences are thought to inhere in the different) individual.!ifferences are a product of social construction and that the law should

address differences by helping to reconstruct relationships to accommodatedifferences within a social context.This group see-s to expose the gendered nature of law and advocate forreforms. They do not see- to replace masculine) context of law with afeminine) one but see- humanist "urisprudence to pay attention to values andexperiences of women and men.

1illans*c in a different "oice!!(19. p'/)est *R !urisprudence and ender!!(19.. p1/)

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C#("('(+1. #omen)s different voices are too bound up with oppression to have any

positive independent feminine meaning.

7. *ts essentialist in nature, women oppressions are different. This gave riseto critical race feminism.

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This school of thought emphasi/ed on the race and essentialism in FeministEegal Theory. ost feminists rely on essentialism i.e. the notion that a unitary,essential) women)s experience can be isolated and described independently ofrace, class sexual orientation and other realities of experience.The result of which is not only that some voices are silenced in order toprivilege others, but that the voices silenced by the mainstream legal voice ofthe people among them, the voice of the blac- women.7;

This raises a problem because1. The experiences of blac- women have been ignored both in feminist theoryand in legal theory. ender essentialism does nothing to address this problem.

7. 4ontemporary legal theory needs less abstraction and not simply a differentsort of obstruction, the Feminist Eegal Theory should challenge not only laws)contents but its tendency to privilege the abstract and unitary voice.

@ust as law itself, in trying to spea- for all persons, ends up silencing thosewithout power, Feminist legal theory is in danger of silencing those who have

traditionally been -ept from spea-ing or those who have been ignored whenthey spo-e i.e. the blac- woman. The steps to avoiding this danger arei. ive up the dream of gender essentialism.

ii. %se racial critique to attac- gender essentialism in Feminist legal theory.iii. 4ategori/ation to be explicitly tentative, relational and unstable.

This does not however mean that every experience is unique and no categoriesof generali/ation exist at all.&ince the beginning of feminist movement, blac- women have been arguingthat their experience calls into question the notion of a unitary women)s

experience).*n the first wave of the feminist movement, the blac- women reali/ed thatwhite leaders intended to ta-e neither issues of racial oppression nor blac-women themselves seriously, thus presented political alliances between blac-and white women.

/Mackinnon C < :o5ards a feminist t2eory of t2e state(19.9)

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*n the second wave blac- women still spea- loudly and persistently and at manylevels their voices have begun to be heard, feminist recogni/ed adopted thenotion of multiple consciousnesses as appropriate to describe a world in whichpeople are oppressed not only on the basis of gender but also race, class andsexual orientation.

*t)s generally assumed by feminist legal theory that in the dominant culture, itis mostly the white, straight forward and socio0economically privilege womenwho spea- for all women thus the phenomenon of 2white solipsism.3The problem is that feminist theory has confused the condition of one group ofwomen with the condition of all of them, generali/ing that

i. #omen can be tal-ed about as women.

ii. #omen can be oppressed as women.iii. ender can be isolated from other elements of identity.iv. #omen)s situations can be contrasted to men)s.v. elations between men and women can be compared to relations

between oppressors and the oppressed group.

Feminist essentiality pares the way for unconscious racism. This is becausethose who produce stories of a woman are often white women and would wantto ma-e sure they appear in the story thus decide what to or not to go into thestory.#hy is feminist essentialism so persistentG

1. 'ssentialism is intellectually convenient.

7. 'ssentialism carries with it important emotional and political payoffs.

;. 'ssentialist often appears especially to the white woman as the onlyalternative to chaos.

&o as long as feminist continue to search for gender and racial essences, blac-women will always be at the bottom of a hierarchy of oppression.

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They are interested in the construction of individual identity or the sub"ect,which it views as a product of culture, history, language social practice and the

law.They re"ect the idea of a traditional truth or essence. Any truth or meaning isneither pre0existing nor certain it is constructed through language and action.

They stress the uncertain nature of things and the diversity and plurality ofidentity.

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The re"ected the universal classification of women, they argued that the ideaof a woman is neither stable nor fixed and cannot be described solely inrelation to men or in terms of common) experiences.

They emphasi/e on differences within and among women rather than between

men and women. They explore how different images or changing identities ofwomen are the products of law and legal discourse. To them law is one range ofpractices through which gender is acquired and gender differences established.

4arol &mart argues how law operates as a claim to power in that it embodies aclaim to a superior and unified field of -nowledge.) '.g. in rape trials, thepresence or absence of consent discounts the complexity of and is irrelevant towomen)s experience of abuse.

They do engage the law to bring about social change and recogni/e the whilelaw does not hold the -ey to unloc- patriarchy it provides a forum for

articulating alternative versions. The strategies from this theory are uncertainas they see- equality for women through law by questioning recontextualisingand attempting to unsettle existing laws in a wide range of areas.*t denies the possibility of critique because there is no universal truth to bediscovered and no matrix of domination.

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This is feminism in developing world and it)s impossible to describe in a singleapproach.

They argue that oppression related to the colonial experience, particularlyracial, class, and ethnic oppression, has marginali/ed women in postcolonialsocieties. They challenge the assumption that gender oppression is the primaryforce of patriarchyThis is because the women have different experiences, races, class, culturesand religions in the third world.

The common feature is that these regions were once occupied by thecolonialists or imperialists. They see- to understand race, class, gender asspecific processes of domination e.g. if we dissolve the category of race, it)s

difficult to claim the experience of racism, for a blac- woman in the thirdworld racism exists as a form of domination and oppression.

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#omen in Africa have played a great role in struggle for liberation from thecolonialist. After independence the women)s movement were depolitici/ed, asinitially they were used to advance ideologies of a particular ruling party.They were challenging colonialism and class oppressions. They argued weneeded a theory to explain our oppression and this must be informed by

intensive research that taxes into consideration the class, religion and culturaldifferences among African women.

>owever, because of lac- of funding no much research has been carried out,this is because most African states are not ta-ing the initiative or rule in genderactivism. *n most African countries gender policy or planning has been more influencedby the feminist activism and intellectual activism.

10 B' -*(!(+

:lac- feminism argues that sexism, class oppression, and racism areinextricably bound together. Forms of feminism that strive to overcome sexismand class oppression but ignore race can discriminate against many people,including women, through racial bias. The 4ombahee iver 4ollective argued in19< that the liberation of blac- women entails freedom for all people, since itwould require the end of racism, sexism, and class oppression7

seminar 10- feminism and the law

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