Women and the U.S. Constitution: History, Interpretation, and Practice

by Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach, Patricia Smith

Overview

Women and the U.S. Constitution is about much more than the nineteenth amendment. This provocative volume incorporates law, history, political theory, and philosophy to analyze the U.S. Constitution as a whole in relation to the rights and fate of women. Divided into three parts—History, Interpretation, and Practice—this book views the Constitution as a living document, struggling to free itself from the weight of a two-hundred-year-old past and capable of evolving to include women and their concerns.

Feminism lacks both a constitutional theory as well as a clearly defined theory of political legitimacy within the framework of democracy. The scholars included here take significant and crucial steps toward these theories. In addition to constitutional issues such as federalism, gender discrimination, basic rights, privacy, and abortion, Women and the U.S. Constitution explores other issues of central concern to contemporary women—areas that, strictly speaking, are not yet considered a part of constitutional law. Women's traditional labor and its unique character, and women and the welfare state, are two examples of topics treated here from the perspective of their potentially transformative role in the future development of constitutional law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231128926
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	02/18/2004
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach is associate professor of philosophy at Baruch College and The Graduate Center, The City University of New York. She is the author of On Civic Friendship (forthcoming) as well as of numerous articles in social, political, and feminist theory. Patricia Smith is professor of philosophy at Baruch College and The Graduate Center, The City University of New York. She is the author of Liberalism and Affirmative Obligation and the editor of numerous volumes including Feminist Jurisprudence.

Table of Contents

Preface
Part I: History
Women and Constitutional Interpretation: The Forgotten Value of Civic Friendship, by Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach
Part II: Interpretation:
The Founding Period
Part III. Practice
Representation of Women in the Constitution, by Jan Lewis
Declarations of Independence: Women and Divorce in the Early Republic, by Norma Basch
Who Are We Kidding? It Was All About Property Stupid: Notes on Basch and Lewis, by Carol Berkin
Reconstruction
Davis Women, Bondage and the Reconstructed Constitution, by Peggy Cooper
The Unkept Promise of the 13th Amendment: A Call forReparations, by Adjoa Aiyetoro
Women and the Welfare State
The Culture of Work Enforcement: Race, Gender and U.S. Welfare Policy, by Francis Fox Piven
The Silent Constitution: Affirmative Obligation and the Feminization of Poverty, by Patricia Smith
The US Constitution in Comparative Context
Federalism(s), Feminism, Families, and the Constitution, by Judith Resnik
What's Privacy Got to Do With It? A Comparative Approach to the Feminist Critique, by Martha Nussbaum
Women's Human Rights and the U.S. Constitution: Initiating a Dialogue, by Carol Gould
Privacy and Family Law
Battered Women, Feminist Lawmaking, Privacy and Equality, by Elizabeth Schneider
Infringements of Women's Constitutional Rights in Religious Lawmaking on Abortion, by Lucinda Peach
What Place for Family Privacy?, by Martha Fineman
The Right of Privacy and Gay/Lesbian Sexuality: Beyond Decriminalization to Equal Recognition, by David Richards
Women and Work
The Gender of Discrimination: Race, Sex, and Fair Employment, by Eileen Boris
Second Generation Employment Discrimination: A Structural Approach, by Susan Sturm
Our Economy of Mothers and Others: Women and Economics Revisited, by Joan Williams
Citizenship and the Equal Rights Amendment
Women and Citizenship: the Virginia Military Institute Case, by Philippa Strum
Heightened Scrutiny: An Alternative Route to Constitutional Equality for U.S. Women, by Cynthia Harrison
Whatever Happened to the ERA?, by Jane Mansbridge

What People are Saying About This

Cass R. Sunstein

A superb book, a state-of-the-art treatment, the best of its kind. This collection will be a great interest both to general readers and to specialists. An excellent introduction to issues of sex equality and the Constitution, it also offers a range of intriguing and novel arguments and insights.

— Cass R. Sunstein, University of Chicago Law School

Sylvia A. Law

A vibrant and wise collection of essays. It offers diverse feminist perspectives on a wide range of compelling issues. It is a magnificent resource to teachers, scholars and everyone who cares about these complex issues.

— Sylvia A. Law, Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law, Medicine and Psychiatry, NYU Law School