FEMINIST

LEGAL THEORIES AND PRAXIS

Course Instructor: Radhika Chitkara, Assistant Professor of Legal
Practice

Recognizing that there is not one, but many ‘feminisms’, this course offers an
introduction to diverse feminist theories as distinct approaches to change,
their contestations with each other, and their use of law for transformation.
The spread of constitutional cultures over the past two centuries paved the
way for feminists to lay claim to ‘universal’ rights of liberty, equality and
fraternity to challenge particular experiences of sex- and gender-based
inequalities. Prolifically, legal strategies of litigation, law reform advocacy and
critique of masculinist judicial cultures enabled feminists to invite rights-
based scrutiny into the so-called private realms of the body, family and
workplace.
Yet, uneven impacts of these strategies have also invited reflections on the
Law as a contested space, and challenged the role of the State as a ‘neutral’
arbiter of rights. Indeed the experience of a large majority of ‘women’
marginalized by work, caste, religion, ethnicity, sexuality etc. have likewise
testified to the State as not a source of emancipation but of marginalization
itself. Equally, debates have problematized the existence of a stable subject of
‘feminist’ politics for whom the State is supposed to act- is it a woman? Which
women? Or is it gender itself?
The course attempts to equip those interested in the study and praxis of
feminist struggles with theoretical tools for engaging with contemporary
issues of sex and gender-based inequalities, and to critically reflect on
feminist methods of change-making. This will include a survey of the
articulations, goals and methods of few major strands of feminist thought-
liberal, radical, Left, postcolonial, and strategies for challenging multiple
marginalizations popularly captured in the amorphous term of
‘intersectionality’.
The second phase of the course will seek to apply these methodological tools
to select tectonic debates within feminist struggles relating to law in India.
Following modules will explore and critique the role of legal strategies as they

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relate to the thematics of the family, violence and criminality, and feminist
modes of resistance.
To do so, the course will follow an inter-disciplinary approach to look at the
Law both from the ‘outside’ and ‘inside. It will draw from a wide range of
sources spanning key judgments and academic texts, films, advocacy and
campaign materials, position papers and parchas, investigative reports by
journalists, blogs, articles and social media debates. Students will also have an
opportunity to meet with leading voices in feminist struggles through guest
lectures. While classroom discussions will be rooted in theory, modes of
evaluation will seek to develop praxis-based skills of students through
campaign-building, simulations, case briefs etc.


EVALUATION SCHEME

1) Class participation: 10 marks
Each student will be expected to facilitate class discussion on one reading on a
rolling basis throughout the length of the term, allotted to them in advance
based on their own preferences. Students will be required to do a close
reading of the text, identify key issues, argument and the underlying feminist
approach/ method. This will be conducted as a moderated conversation
between the student, instructor and the rest of the class.

2) Group projects: 60 marks
The class will be divided into groups of 3-4 students each, to work on a
problem of feminist concern by adopting a specific role/ location, throughout
the course of the term. The group will be expected to craft and execute
strategies to approach the problem using tools and methods of feminist
lawyering.
There will be two submissions under the group projects:
a. Strategy brief: 20 marks
At the mid-term point, each group will be expected to submit a strategy brief
of 1500 words, containing briefly, background research on the problem,
followed by an outline with brief description of strategies with which they will

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respond to the problem.
The brief will be due for submission after the groups have had an opportunity
to present their drafts for reflections and feedback to the larger class at the
“review meeting” scheduled under Module 3.
The strategy briefs will be evaluated on: (i) issue identification, or what the
group identifies as the source of the problem (“target”); (ii) normative agenda,
or what the group identifies as appropriate remedies to the problem
(“demands/ recommendations”); (iii) finally, the strategies that they will
adopt to pursue those remedies (“methods”). Students are encouraged to
adopt creative, critical and multi-pronged strategies to approach the problem.

b. Final assignment: 40 marks
Each group will be required to select 1-2 prongs of that strategy identified in
the brief, to plan, prepare and execute for submission at the end of the term.
This may be in the form of texts (memorandum, report, legal analysis,
petitions, amicus brief etc.), audio-visual content (short film or video, podcast,
campus community radio etc.), events (webinar, panel discussion,
demonstration etc.) or anything else that the group decides (be creative!)
Groups will be expected to identify what “activity” they will be submitting
towards the final assignment at the review meeting under Module 3.

3) End-term exam: 30 marks
The end-term exam will comprise a combination of objective and short
answer questions, along with one essay-type question.


PROPOSED COURSE PLAN AND READING LIST

1. FEMINISMS: THEORIES AND METHODS (4 weeks)
i. Liberal feminism
• Martha C. Nussbaum, Feminist Critique of Liberalism, in SEX AND SOCIAL
JUSTICE 55-59, 62-71 (1999).
ii. Radical feminism
• Catherine MacKinnon, Difference and Dominance: On Sex Discrimination, in

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 FEMINISM UNMODIFIED: DISCOURSES ON LIFE AND LAW 32-45 (1987).
iii. Women and Labour/ Marxist Feminism
• Nancy Fraser, Feminism, Capitalism, and the Cunning of History, in FORTUNES
OF FEMINISM: FROM STATE-MANAGED CAPITALISM TO NEO-LIBERAL CRISIS 209-226
(2013).
iv. Postcolonial feminism
• Ratna Kapur, New Cosmologies: Mapping the Postcolonial Feminist Legal
Project, in EROTIC JUSTICE: LAW AND THE NEW POLITICS OF POSTCOLONIALISM 13,
28-50 (2005).
v. “Intersectionality”?: Addressing multiple marginalizations
• Nivedita Menon, Is Feminism about ‘Women’? A Critical View on
Intersectionality from India, INTERNATIONAL VIEWPOINT, 18 MAY 2015, at
http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/IMG/article_PDF/article_a4038.p
df.
• Gail Omvedt, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: NEW MOVEMENTS AND NEW THEORIES IN
INDIA (2000).
• Combahee River Collective, The Combahee River Collective Statement, in
HOME GIRLS: A BLACK FEMINIST ANTHOLOGY 272-283 (Barbara Smith ed.,
Kitchen Table: Women of Colour Press 1983).
• Judith Butler, GENDER TROUBLE: FEMINISM AND THE SUBVERSION OF IDENTITY 1-13,
111-117 (1990).
• Akhil Kang and Vqueeram Aditya Sahai, “Guruswamy and Katju, Your
Rainbow doesn’t Hide your Casteism” The Story of a Movement: The Law, the
Leaders, the Lies, AKADEMIMAG, 24 September 2020 at
https://www.akademimag.com/guruswamy-katju-rainbow-casteism.

Recommended:
• Kimberle Crenshaw, Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity
Politics, and Violence against Women of Color, 43 STANFORD L. REV. 1241-51,
1296-99 (1991).
• Sharmila Rege, Dalit Women Talk Differently: A Critique of ‘Difference’ and
towards a Dalit Feminist Standpoint Position, 33 ECON. & POL. WEEKLY WS 39-
46 (1998).

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2. TOWARDS EQUALITY: FEMINIST LAWYERING (2 weeks)
i. Goals and methods
• Nandita Haksar, Human Rights Lawyering: A Feminist Perspective, in
ENGENDERING LAW: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF LOTIKA SARKAR 71-88 (Amita Dhanda
and Archana Parashar eds., 1999).
• Arvind Narrain and Arun Thiruvengadam, Social Justice Lawyering and the
Meaning of Indian Constitutionalism: A Case Study of the Alternative Law
Forum, 31(3) WISCONSIN INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL 525-536 (2013).
• K. Balagopal, Caste and Civil Rights Movement, Speech at a meeting
organized by People’s Democratic Front (PDF) in Bangalore on 9 May
1996, pgs. 8-16, at https://balagopal.org/caste-and-civil-rights-movement-
speech-at-a-meeting-organised-by-peoples-democratic-front-pdf-in-
bangalore-9-may-1996/.
ii. Feminist Engagements with Law
• Kalpana Kannabiran, India, in FEMINIST ADVOCACY, FAMILY LAW AND VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES 51-70 (M. Afkhami et al eds.,
2019).
• Saumya Uma and Arvind Narrain, BREATHING LIFE INTO THE CONSTITUTION:
HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERING IN INDIA 39-46, 53- 73 (2017).
• Trans Rights Now Collective, Memorandum to Union Government on
Horizontal Reservations for Transgender Persons, 8 December 2021, at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RD1_8sD9h9X-
SQJfgTksVzLA0Ue4CM4K7M-6cv8cGFU/edit.
• Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression, BEARING WITNESS:
SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN SOUTH CHHATTISGARH 34-47, 66-77 (2017).
• IPTK and APDP, ALLEGED PERPETRATORS: STORIES OF IMPUNITY IN JAMMU AND
KASHMIR 9-16 (peruse through the rest of the report) (2012).
iii. Feminist Estrangements with Law
• Janet Halley, Where in the Legal Order have Feminists gained Inclusion?, in
GOVERNANCE FEMINISM: AN INTRODUCTION 3-22 (2018).
• Nivedita Menon, Recovering Subversion, in RECOVERING SUBVERSION: FEMINIST
POLITICS BEYOND THE LAW 204-222 (2004).

Recommended:

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• Shomona Khanna, BEYOND APPEARANCES: AN EXPLORATION OF ALTERNATIVE LAW
PRACTICE IN INDIA (2001).

Some resources for perusal:
• AIDMAM-NCDHR, DALIT WOMEN RISE FOR JUSTICE: STATUS REPORT 2021.
• Alternative Law Forum, The Right that Dares Speak its Name (2009), at
http://altlawforum.org/publications/the-right-that-dares-to-speak-its-
name/.


3. MID-TERM REVIEW (1 week)
i. Guest lecture TBC
ii. Group projects: Review meeting


4. PERSONAL AS POLITICAL: LAW AND THE FAMILY (3 weeks)
i. Family
• Friedrich Engels, ORIGIN OF THE FAMILY, PRIVATE PROPERTY AND THE STATE 21-39
(1884).
• Carole Pateman, THE SEXUAL CONTRACT 1-18 (1988).
• BR Ambedkar, Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development,
XLI IND. ANTIQUARY 7-19, 24-29 (1917).
ii. Sexuality
• Flavia Agnes, Conjugality, Property, Morality and Maintenance, 44 ECON. &
POL. WEEKLY 58 (2009).
• Priyadarshini Thangarajah and Ponni Arasu, Queer Women and the Law in
India: The Writ of Habeas Corpus, 12-25 (2009) at
http://www.lassnet.org/2009/readings/arasu-thangarajah08queer-
women-habeas.pdf.
• Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration, (2009) 9 SCC 1.
• Film Screening: Morality TV and Loving Jehad, dir. Paromita Vora, 31 mins
(2007) at https://psbt.org/films/morality-tv-and-the-loving-jehad/.
iii. Economic Rights
• Bina Agarwal, Gender and Land Rights Revisited: Exploring New Prospects

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 via the State, Family and Market, 3(1&2) JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE 184,
191-206 (2004).
• Nirangal et al, The Transgender Persons (Protection Of Rights) Bill, 2016:
Responses From the Trans & Intersex Communities, available at
http://orinam.net/content/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Community-
Response-to-TG-Bill-20161212pm_Monday_Aug81.pdf.
• Film Screening: If she made a country, dir. Maheen Mirza and Rinchin, 60
mins (2018) at https://psbt.org/films/agar-wo-desh-banati-if-she-built-a-
country/.
iv. Family Law Reforms
• (On Hindu Code Bill) DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR WRITINGS AND SPEECHES VOL.14
PART ONE (SECTIONS I TO III) 267-282 (Vasant Moon ed., 1995).
• Nivedita Menon, Uniform Civil Code- the Women’s Movement Perspective,
KAFILA, 01 OCTOBER 2014, at https://kafila.online/2014/10/01/uniform-
civil-code-state-of-the-debate-in-2014/.
o Statement by Bebaak Collective, 9 April 2018, available at
https://feminisminindia.com/2018/04/09/bebaak-collective-
statement-triple-talaq/.
• Indira Jaising, Bringing Rights Home: Review of the Campaign for a Law on
Domestic Violence, 44(44) ECONOMIC & POLITICAL WEEKLY 50-57 (2009).
• Forum against Oppression of Women, Envisioning and Striving Towards
Gender Justice, 52 ECON. & POL. WEEKLY 12-14 (2017).

Recommended:
• T. Sareetha v. T. Venkata Subbaiah, AIR 1983 AP 356.
• Indra Sarma v. VKV Sarma, Crl. App. No. 2009 of 2013, paras 1-15, 19-42,
52-63.


5. CRIME & PUNISHMENT (3 weeks)
i. Violence against Women
• Prabha Kotiswaran, Governance Feminism in the Post-Colony: India’s Rape
Law Reforms of 2013, in GOVERNANCE FEMINISM: AN INTRODUCTION (Janet Halley
et al eds., 2016) (published here as King’s College London Dickson Poon

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 School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series: Paper No. 2016-39.
Read pgs. 1-29).
• Sumit Baudh, Demarginalizing the Intersection of Caste, Class and Sex, 20(1)
JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS 127-142 (2021).
• Mrinal Satish, Criminalising Romance, THE INDIAN EXPRESS, 12 FEBRUARY 2013,
available at http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/criminalising-
romance/1072725/.
• People’s Union for Democratic Rights, Conversions, Personal Freedoms and
the State, Public Meeting on 30 January 2021 at https://pudr.org/public-
meeting-conversions-personal-freedoms-and-state.
• Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, Kunan- Poshpara: The Other Story, KAFILA, 20
January 2014 at https://kafila.online/2014/01/20/kunan-poshpora-the-
other-story-shrimoyee-nandini-ghosh/.
ii. The Pursuit of Redress
• Anand Teltumbde, “Chapter 5: The Khairlanji Murders,” in The Persistence
of Caste: The Khairlanji Massacres and India’s Hidden Apartheid (2010).
• Gazala Peer, Collateral Damage or Regrettable Causality? Sexual Violence
and Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir, in FAULT LINES OF HISTORY: THE INDIAN
PAPERS II 172-195 (Uma Chakravarti ed., 2016).
• Mihir Desai, The Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, 46(31) ECONOMIC &
POLITICAL WEEKLY 12-16 (2011).
iii. Interrogating Punishment and Justice
• Sukanya Shantha, When Process is Punishment: Hidme Markam's Activism
and the Sketchy Cases Against Her, THE WIRE, 5 April 2021, at
https://thewire.in/rights/hidme-markam-chhattisgarh-arrest-adivasi-
rights.
• Patrick Kennedy v. Louisiana, Supreme Court of the United States, Brief
Amicus Curiae of the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Luoisiana,
and the NAACP Legal Defese and Educational Fund, Inc., in Support of
Petititioner (February 2008).
• 65% Death Sentences in 2020 involved Sexual Violence cases: Report, THE
WIRE, 24 January 2021, at https://thewire.in/law/death-sentences-
2020-sexual-violence-child-rape.
• Angela Davis, Introduction- Prison Reform or Prison Abolition?, in ARE

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 PRISONS OBSOLETE? 9-21 (Navayana, 2011).
• Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS), WSS
PERSPECTIVE DOCUMENT ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND MECHANISMS FOR REDRESSAL
OF COMPLAINTS (2018).

Recommended:
• Arvind Narrain, The Criminal Law Amendment Bill: Sexual Assault as a
Gender Neutral Offence, 47(35) ECON. & POL. WEEKLY, 27 August 2012,
available at https://www.epw.in/journal/2012/35/web-
exclusives/criminal-law-amendment-bill-2012-sexual-assault-gender-
neutral.
• Justice JS Verma, Report of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law
(2013).
• Ratna Kapur, The Tragedy of Victimization Rhetoric: Resurrecting the
"Native" Subject in International/Post-Colonial Feminist Legal Politics, 15
HARVARD HUMAN RIGHTS JOURNAL 1 (2002).

6. WORKSHOP ON GROUP PROJECTS (1 week)
7. CONCLUSION AND REVIEW OF THEMES (1 week)