Debating women's equality : toward a feminist theory of law from a European perspective / Ute Gerhard ; translated from the German by Allison Brown, Belinda Cooper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gerhard, Ute, 1939-

Series:

Rutgers series on women and politics

Standardized Title:

Gleichheit ohne Angleichung. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Women's rights--History.

Women's rights.

History.

Women--Legal status, laws, etc--History.

Women.

Liberty--History.

Liberty.

Equality--History.

Equality.

Women--Legal status, laws, etc.

Physical Description:

xiv, 244 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, [2001]

Summary:

Ute Gerhard places women's rights at the center of legal philosophy and sees the struggle for equality as a driving force in the history of law. Focusing on Europe and taking the course of German feminism and law as primary examples, she incorporates the various social contexts in which questions of equality and gender difference have been raised into an analysis that challenges misconceptions about the principle of equality itself. Gerhard reviews the history of women's movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and traces the historical development of claims to gender equality as well as obstacles to these claims. Critically exploring the influence of philosophers such as Rousseau, Fichte, and Kant, Gerhard concludes that women need to be recognized as both equal and different-that claims to equality do not simply eliminate difference, but also articulate it. Mindful of the social and political contexts surrounding equality arguments, Gerhard probes three legal issues: women's rights in the public sphere, especially the right to vote; women's legal capacities in private law, or the legal doctrine of so-called gender tutelage; and women's human rights, a prominent concern in the current international women's movement.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Meaning of Equality with Regard to Difference 7

Chapter 2 In the Footsteps of the Philosophers: The Historical Significance of Equality 12

Chapter 3 Human Rights for Women as Well as Men: Olympe de Gouges's Counterproposal 38

Chapter 4 Equal Rights or Women's Distinctiveness: The Program of the First Women's Movement 59

Chapter 5 Interim Remarks: Equal and Different 86

Chapter 6 "Getting at the Root of the Evil": Legal Struggles and Legal Critique by Radicals in the First German Women's Movement 95

Chapter 7 Gender Tutelage: Women in Nineteenth-Century Legal Doctrine 122

Chapter 8 Human Rights Are Women's Rights: Dimensions of Feminist Legal Criticism 149

Appendix The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Citizen 223.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [181]-221) and index.

ISBN:

0813529050

OCLC:

45446340