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

Published by Columbia University Press 2004

Women and the U.S. Constitution

History, Interpretation, and Practice

Edited by: Sibyl Schwarzenbach and Patricia Smith

https://doi.org/10.7312/schw12892

Overview
Contents

About this book

Divided into three parts—History, Interpretation, and Practice—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.

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.

Author / Editor information

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.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
1. Women and Constitutional Interpretation: The Forgotten Value of Civic Friendship Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part 1: History
The Founding Period
2. Representation of Women in the Constitution Jan Lewis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
3. Declarations of Independence: Women and Divorce in the Early Republic Norma Basch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
4. The Explanation Lies in Property: Gender and Its Connection to Economic Considerations Carol Berkin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
Reconstruction
5. Women, Bondage, and the Reconstructed Constitution Peggy Cooper Davis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
6. The Unkept Promise of the Thirteenth Amendment: A Call for Reparations Adjoa A. Aiyetoro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
Women and the Welfare State
7. The Culture of Work Enforcement: Race, Gender and U.S. Welfare Policy Frances Fox Piven Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
8. The Silent Constitution: Affirmative Obligation and the Feminization of Poverty Patricia Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
Part 2: Interpretation
The U.S. Constitution in Comparative Context
9. Federalism(s), Feminism, Families, and the Constitution Judith Resnik Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
10. What’s Privacy Got to Do With It? A Comparative Approach to the Feminist Critique Martha C. Nussbaum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
11. Women’s Human Rights and the U.S. Constitution: Initiating a Dialogue Carol C. Gould Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
Privacy and Family Law
12. Battered Women, Feminist Lawmaking, Privacy, and Equality Elizabeth M. Schneider Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
13. Infringements of Women’s Constitutional Rights in Religious Lawmaking on Abortion Lucinda Joy Peach Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
14. What Place for Family Privacy? Martha Albertson Fineman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
15. The Right to Privacy and Gay/Lesbian Sexuality: Beyond Decriminalization to Equal Recognition David A. J. Richards Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
Women and Work
16. The Gender of Discrimination: Race, Sex, and Fair Employment Eileen Boris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
17. Second Generation Employment Discrimination: A Structural Approach Susan Sturm Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
18. Our Economy of Mothers and Others: Women and Economics Revisited Joan Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	314
Part 3: Practice
Citizenship and the Equal Rights Amendment
19. Women and Citizenship: The Virginia Military Institute Case Philippa Strum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335
20. “Heightened Scrutiny”: An Alternative Route to Constitutional Equality for U.S. Women Cynthia Harrison Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	347
21. Whatever Happened to the ERA? Jane Mansbridge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
About the Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	385

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 448

eBook

Published: February 18, 2004
ISBN: 9780231502962