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Patriarchy And The Liberation Of Women

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Introduction
The word feminism is defined as a broad political agenda which implies a commitment to equality between the sexes and a commitment to gender as a focus of concern and to analytic approaches that reflect women’s concrete experiences. Feminists such as Katherine Bartlett define it as ‘a family of different perspectives or frameworks used to analyse the actual, and the desirable relationship between law and gender.’ However, it is not just equality of the sexes being sought by feminists but more specifically, rejection of patriarchy and the liberation of women. Under the concept of patriarchy, feminists refer it to the ‘domination and subordination of females by males.’ The existing cultural, social, economic and legal …show more content…

It is said that her critiques of the patriarchal rule of law are quite radical but in reality her actual feminist proposals for constructive engagement with existing law are more reformist rather than revolutionary, thus matching her radical feminist ambitions. This essay will look at primarily MacKinnon’s feminist arguments and her challenges to male domination of law and society. As well as that, a critique of some of MacKinnon’s proposals to changes in law and society will be discussed. Some proposals that MacKinnon suggests may be too radical even for society to potentially make revolutionary reforms to laws which could potentially favour females over males.

The Feminist Challenges of MacKinnon
Throughout history in society, men have been the creator of laws and have decided what does and what does not constitute as law. MacKinnon challenges that notion by offering an account of how the law itself has come to be seen by society as an objective set of rules designed by citizens of that society on how their society should be governed. However, according to MacKinnon, the law is not and should not be considered objective because ‘male dominance is perhaps the most pervasive and tenacious system of power in history.’ In particular, MacKinnon attacks objectivity and exposes how gendered the law is. MacKinnon also argues that although the legal system itself may contain

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