
Contents
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I. Defining Liberal Feminism I. Defining Liberal Feminism
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A. Historical Roots: Nineteenth-Century Liberal Feminists A. Historical Roots: Nineteenth-Century Liberal Feminists
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B. Feminists Engage Twentieth-Century Liberalism B. Feminists Engage Twentieth-Century Liberalism
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II. Liberal Legal Feminism in the Second Wave II. Liberal Legal Feminism in the Second Wave
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A. Ruth Bader Ginsburg Helms the Women’s Rights Project A. Ruth Bader Ginsburg Helms the Women’s Rights Project
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B. Justice Ginsburg on the Supreme Court B. Justice Ginsburg on the Supreme Court
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C. The Limits of Formal Equality Through Courts C. The Limits of Formal Equality Through Courts
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III. Defending and Reconstructing Liberalism III. Defending and Reconstructing Liberalism
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A. Reconstructing the Value of Autonomy and Privacy A. Reconstructing the Value of Autonomy and Privacy
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B. Responses to Dominance and Relational Feminism B. Responses to Dominance and Relational Feminism
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C. Responses to Antiessentialist and Intersectional Critiques C. Responses to Antiessentialist and Intersectional Critiques
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IV. Conclusion IV. Conclusion
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Notes Notes
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2 Liberal Feminist Jurisprudence: Foundational, Enduring, Adaptive
Get accessLinda C. McClain is the Robert Kent Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law. She writes and teaches in the areas of feminist legal theory, gender and law, family law, and civil rights. The author of several books, including Who’s the Bigot?: Learning from Conflicts over Marriage and Civil Rights (Oxford University Press, 2020) and The Place of Families (Harvard University Press, 2006), she is currently working on the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Gender and COVID-19 (with coeditor Aziza Ahmed).
Brittany K. Hacker is a VOCA Staff Attorney at Legal Services of Northern Virginia. She specializes in representing survivors of domestic violence in family law litigation.
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Published:14 February 2022
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Abstract
Liberal feminism remains a significant strand of feminist jurisprudence in the United States. Rooted in nineteenth- and twentieth-century liberal and feminist political theory and women’s rights advocacy, it emphasizes autonomy, dignity, and equality. Liberal feminism challenges unjust gender-based restrictions based on assumptions about men’s and women’s proper spheres and roles. Second-wave liberal legal feminism, evident in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s constitutional litigation, challenged pervasive sex-based discrimination in law and social institutions and shifted the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause to a more skeptical review of gender-based classifications. Liberal feminists have developed robust conceptions of autonomy, liberty, privacy, and governmental obligations to promote gender equality, including in the family. Addressing internal feminist critiques, liberal feminism shows the capacity to evolve. Maintaining its focus on disrupting traditionally conceived gender roles and fostering meaningful autonomy, it adopts more a complex, nuanced discourse about sex, gender, and the gender binary and embraces new demands for inclusion and equality.
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