Concept of Gender Justice and Feminist Jurisprudence in India

Back to: Gender, School and Society- Unit 2

Feminist jurisprudence lays stress on the different aspects of philosophy and theory. It can be considered as a natural extension of the female reflections and speaking engagement with an area of discourse which is law and justice. Feminist jurisprudence refers to a philosophy concerning the law that is based on the premise of the political, economic, and social equality of all genders. According to feminists, there is an age-old law and several practices that are produced from the law point of view of men. This does not reflect the point of view of women and neither does it include their role in history.

Three Major Schools of Thought in Feminist Jurisprudence

There are three major schools of thought in feminist jurisprudence:

Cultural Feminism

This school of thought lays stress on encouraging and empowering the voice of the moral and ethical values of men and women. It encourages the appreciation and celebration of the differences existing between men and women.

Liberal Feminism

This school promotes individual liberty, freedom from narrow and ancient beliefs of male authority, and patriarchal society. It also seeks to remove gender-based distinctions.

Radical and Dominant Feminism

This school is akin to cultural feminism to a certain degree. This school of thought also stands against the inequality of women. They encourage the abandonment of the traditional practices which stem from the point of view of men and consider men to be superior.

Feminists also try to put forward the laws that are associated with domestic violence, rape, divorce, maintenance, reproductive rights, and employment. Through their efforts, have significantly succeeded in bringing a change in the gender discriminatory laws so that these laws can become gender-neutral. To give one example, in the landmark judgment of Joseph Shine v. Union of India, it was put forward that Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code considers, “women as chattel for this provision and is discriminatory based on sex and abrogate Article 14 and Article 15 (1) of the Indian Constitution and hence such provisions should not be pronounced at valid”.

Written in 1860 by Lord Macaulay, the Indian represents the color of patriarchy and it is quite evident that it is framed from a male-centric structure of society. Since the 5th Century C.E, laws that enforced male-centric values have been prevalent where Manusmrtiti was developed according to which, the roles and responsibilities of men and women were categorized.

One of the main things highlighted by Feminist Jurisprudence is the vacuum created by our society which relates to the difference between men and women. In recent times, this subject has been gaining a lot of emphases. However, this is something that has been in existence for a long time. A lot of the nature of how society works can be understood from the history of the Feminist revolution in India and its evolution.