The Scottish Feminist Judgments Project brought together legal academics, practising lawyers and judges to imagine how 16 important legal judgments [1] from the past might have been decided differently if the judge had adopted a feminist perspective. [2] As a result it is hoped that effort will be taken more widely to think about how laws can be made and applied in a more gender equitable way. [3] [4] [5] [6]
To mark 100 years of women in law the project found the decisions the judges had reached were by not inevitable, and that, in many cases, a feminist perspective would have changed the outcome and taken the law in a different direction. [7] [8] The project was co-ordinated by legal academics Professor Sharon Cowan, Dr Chloë Kennedy and Professor Vanessa Munro [9] and explored Scotland's distinctive national identity, unique legal traditions and the interplay between gender, class, and citizenship.
The project resulted in the publication of an anthology, (Re)Creating Law from the Outside In [10] [11]
The project also generated a number of creative outputs [12] including a display in the Scottish Parliament in 2018 sponsored by Gail Ross MSP. [13]
The Scottish project exists as part of a larger context of other, international, feminist judgement projects [14] [15] [16]
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyrood. The Parliament is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), elected for five-year terms under the regionalised form of additional member system (MMP): 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality (first-past-the-post) system, while a further 56 are returned as list members from eight additional member regions. Each region elects seven party-list MSPs. Each region elects 15 to 17 MSPs in total. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 6 May 2021, with the Scottish National Party winning a plurality.
Individualist feminism, also known as ifeminism, is a libertarian feminist movement that emphasizes individualism, personal autonomy, freedom from state-sanctioned discrimination against women, and gender equality.
Feminist legal theory, also known as feminist jurisprudence, is based on the belief that the law has been fundamental in women's historical subordination. Feminist jurisprudence the philosophy of law is based on the political, economic, and social inequality of the sexes and feminist legal theory is the encompassment of law and theory connected.The project of feminist legal theory is twofold. First, feminist jurisprudence seeks to explain ways in which the law played a role in women's former subordinate status. Feminist legal theory was directly created to recognize and combat the legal system built primarily by the and for male intentions, often forgetting important components and experiences women and marginalized communities face. The law perpetuates a male valued system at the expense of female values. Through making sure all people have access to participate in legal systems as professionals to combating cases in constitutional and discriminatory law, feminist legal theory is utilized for it all.
European Union citizenship is afforded to all nationals of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU citizenship is additional to, as it does not replace, national citizenship. It affords EU citizens with rights, freedoms and legal protections available under EU law.
William Cowan Rennie is a Scottish politician who served as the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2011 to 2021. He has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Fife since 2016, and previously as a list MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline and West Fife.
The British and Irish Legal Information Institute provides legal information, and especially reports of cases decided by courts, in the United Kingdom generally. Decisions from England and Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the European Union, and from the European Court of Human Rights are put online. It is a partial online database of British and Irish legislation, case law, law reform reports, treaties and some legal scholarship.
Sylvia Rosila Tamale is a Ugandan academic, and human rights activist in Uganda. She was the first woman dean in the law faculty at Makerere University, Uganda.
Feministing.com was a feminist blog founded in 2004 by sisters Jessica and Vanessa Valenti. It had 1.2 million unique monthly visitors at its peak. The blog helped to popularize the term slut-shaming according to its directors Lori Adelman and Maya Dusenbery. Towards the end of 2019 it was announced that the blog's shutdown was planned for the following weeks. The blog's final post was published in December 2019.
Adam Tomkins is a British academic and politician who is the John Millar Professor of Public Law at the University of Glasgow School of Law. A member of the Scottish Conservatives, he was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow region from 2016 to 2021, when he stood down for that year's elections.
John Bradford Finnie is a Scottish Greens politician. He was the Green Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands and Islands region from 2016 up until 2021, having previously sat as a Scottish National Party (SNP) member from 2011 to 2012 then as an independent from 2012 to 2016.
Jennifer Margaret Marra is a Scottish politician who served as convener of the Public Audit Committee. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, she was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland region from 2011 to 2021.
LGBT rights in the European Union are protected under the European Union's (EU) treaties and law. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in all EU member states and discrimination in employment has been banned since 2000. However, EU states have different laws when it comes to any greater protection, same-sex civil union, same-sex marriage, and adoption by same-sex couples.
Nazariya: A QueerFeminist Resource Group is a non-profit queer feminist resource group based out of Delhi NCR, India. The group was formed in October 2014, and has since established a South Asian presence. The organization undertakes workshops/seminars, helpline- and case-based counselling, and advocacy to affirm the rights of persons identifying as lesbian and bisexual women, and transgender persons assigned female at birth. Nazariya QFRG also works to inform queer discourse in institutions, and build linkages between queer issues, violence and livelihoods. They focus on the intersectionality between queer, women’s and progressive left movements in India.
Andrew Dearg Wightman is a Scottish Independent politician, who served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region from 2016 to 2021. He was elected as a member of the Scottish Greens, but resigned from the party in 2020 and served out the rest of his term as an independent. He is also a writer and researcher best known for his work on land ownership in Scotland. He is the author of Who Owns Scotland (1996) and The Poor Had No Lawyers (2015).
Michelle Lorraine Ballantyne is a British politician and former nurse who served as Leader of Reform UK Scotland from January 2021 to February 2022. She was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the South Scotland region from 2017 to 2021, having been elected for the Scottish Conservatives.
Teresa Godwin Phelps is an American author and professor of law. She taught at the University of Notre Dame Law School from 1980 until 2006. She also taught at American University's Washington College of Law where she was the Director of the Legal Rhetoric Program from 2006 until she retired in 2019. Phelps is the author of several books and over 30 articles.
Colleen Sheppard is a professor of law at McGill University Faculty of Law. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016. Sheppard's scholarship focuses on human rights issues and constitutional law.
Rape Crisis Scotland is a charity which provides a national rape crisis helpline and email support for anyone affected by sexual violence, no matter when or how it happened. There are 17 local centres across Scotland.
Are Women Human?: And Other International Dialogues is a book by American radical feminist legal scholar and activist Catharine A. MacKinnon. It was published in 2006 by Harvard University Press. The book is a collection of essays and speeches by MacKinnon delivered during the 1990s and 2000s.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)