Personal journal entry 5 - Essay Example

FEMINIST LEGAL THEORY VS LEGAL POSITIVISM due: Feminism legal theory Feminism is a movement that champions for equal opportunities and rights for women in education, leadership, employment, and other areas of life. Feminist legal theory is a theory in the field of law that explains the part played by the law in influencing the low position of women in society and fights to restore equality with men1. Legal positivism supports the belief that the only accepted sources of law are guidelines, and rules written down and enforced by a sovereign body such as the government2.

One of the biggest contributors is Martha Fineman, who started the feminist theory project in 1984.Feminist theory argues that legal positivism is the main reason women have been dominated by men in the past. The theory argues that the law has been written historically baymen to favor the position of men over women. Some of the models developed and advanced by the feminist theory are as follows; Women should be given genuine equality with men in all areas of life as opposed to the current provisions by the law.

This is in direct opposition to legal positivism. A good example is the 19th amendment to the USA constitution which gives equal rights to voting for both women and men3.The feminist theory fights for the recognition of the differences between the two sexes as opposed to the sameness that are advocated by the legal positivism. The feminist theory argues that, it is until the law acknowledges the differences between men and women, that it can bring equality between them4.The theory also argues that, the society and the law support male dominance and that the law has been used to uphold male dominance.

This is in opposition to the legal positivism theory5. In conclusion, presently, the position of women is much better than it was five decades ago. The effort of the feminist movements has ensured that women achieved considerable progress in the campaign. The position of women in today’s society can be attributed to a large percentage, to the changes in the legislation that have happened over the years6. BibliographyBooksGunew, Sneja, ed. Feminist Knowledge (RLE Feminist Theory): Critique and Construct(Routledge, 2013).

Scales, Ann, Legal feminism: activism, lawyering and legal theory. New York (New YorkUniversity Press 2006).Smart, Carol. Feminism and the Power of Law (Routledge, 2002).Marchand, Marianne H., and Jane L. Parpart, eds. Feminism/postmodernism/development.(Routledge, 2003).WebsitesGreen, Leslie. "Legal Positivism" (Stanford University January 3, 2003). Accessed January 22,2015. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-positivism/.