HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: Law

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Orit Kamir

Coordinator Email: oritkamir@gmail.com

Coordinator Office Hours: meetings will be scheduled

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Orit Kamir

Course/Module description:
The course will introduce feminist ways of thinking, and feminist critique of the law. Various feminist approaches to the law will be introduced, including intersectionality, feminist law and culture, and honor-and-dignity feminism. Our discussion will cover theoretical, philosophical arguments as well as concrete doctrinal aspects thereof. In addition to classic topics, such as family law, abortion, sexual harassment, discrimination in the work force and in the army, we will also discuss segregation of women and their exclusion from the public sphere and other contemporary issues.

Course/Module aims:
The course aims to expose students to critical thinking, to feminist theory, to feminist critique of the law, and to feminist points of view and arguments regarding issues such as family, parenthood, citizenship, public sphere. The course will allow students to develop feminist critical skills, and will enable them to think in critical feminist terms and modes.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Identify gender biases in the legal system and evaluate the extent to which they contribute to the enduring gender-based discrimination; propose means for eroding gender discrimination; develop articulated doctrines for this eradication and integrate feminist perspective into existing legal doctrines.

Attendance requirements(%):
attendence is obligatory and a requirement to receive credit for the course

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Interactive frontal teaching, students will be asked to participate.

Course/Module Content:
1. Basic concepts in critical thinking and in critical feminist thought;
Liberal feminism and first wave feminism;
2. John Stuart Mill’s Liberal Feminism;
Carol Gillian: In a Different Voice, Difference Feminism;
3. Carol Gilligan: from difference to empathy;
Catharine MacKinnon’s Radical Feminism: On Difference and Dominance;
4. Radical Feminism: Violence against women;
Spousal murder, rape, prostitution, pornography, genocide;
5. Intersectional Feminism: Black Feminism, Lesbian, Colonial, Religious, Mizrahi, Palestinian;
6. Human Dignity Feminism;
Law-and-Culture Feminism;
7. Analysis of the feature film “Cold Country”;
Review of feminisms, and discussion of sexual harassment;
8. Sexual harassment and the Israeli law;
Other types of sexist behavior;
9. Gender segregation and exclusion of women from the public sphere;
10. Family, and family law in Israel;
11. Abortion: the feminist Israeli struggle in the 1970s;
A feminist analysis of contemporary Halacha;
12. Sexual and gender violence in Israel;
13. Women in the work force and in the army;
Women and poverty;
14. Feminism and other, related reform movements;
Summary.

Most reading materials will be in Hebrew, from Hebrew written books and law review articles. The only non-Hebrew, English texts are:
 Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice, Harvard,
 Carol Gilligan, Joining the Resistance, Polity Press,
 Catharine MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified, Harvard,
 Kimberle Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critiques of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, 1989 U. Chi. Legal F. 139, (exerts in D. Kelly Weisberg, 1993, Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations, Temple Press, Philadelphia, pp. 383-395);
 Angela P. Harris, 1990, “Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory”, 42 Stan. L. Rev. 581, (exerts in D. Kelly Weisberg, 1993, Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations, Temple Press, Philadelphia, pp. 348-358);

Required Reading:
Most reading materials will be in Hebrew, from Hebrew written books and law review articles. The only non-Hebrew, English texts are:
 Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice, Harvard,
 Carol Gilligan, Joining the Resistance, Polity Press,
 Catharine MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified, Harvard,
 Kimberle Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critiques of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, 1989 U. Chi. Legal F. 139, (exerts in D. Kelly Weisberg, 1993, Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations, Temple Press, Philadelphia, pp. 383-395);
 Angela P. Harris, 1990, “Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory”, 42 Stan. L. Rev. 581, (exerts in D. Kelly Weisberg, 1993, Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations, Temple Press, Philadelphia, pp. 348-358);

Additional Reading Material:
Most reading materials will be in Hebrew, from Hebrew written books and law review articles. The only non-Hebrew, English texts are:
 Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice, Harvard,
 Carol Gilligan, Joining the Resistance, Polity Press,
 Catharine MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified, Harvard,
 Kimberle Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critiques of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics, 1989 U. Chi. Legal F. 139, (exerts in D. Kelly Weisberg, 1993, Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations, Temple Press, Philadelphia, pp. 383-395);
 Angela P. Harris, 1990, “Race and Essentialism in Feminist Legal Theory”, 42 Stan. L. Rev. 581, (exerts in D. Kelly Weisberg, 1993, Feminist Legal Theory: Foundations, Temple Press, Philadelphia, pp. 348-358);

Grading Scheme :
Essay / Project / Final Assignment / Home Exam / Referat 100 %

Additional information:
Students will write 5 papers in class, each of them contributing 20% to the final grade. It will be possible to write a paper, which will receive additional points.
Course teaching assistant is Dana Epstein
dana.epshtein@mail.huji.ac.il