Setting the Agenda for the 1990s: The Historical Foundations of Gender Bias in the Law: A Context for Reconstruction

• NCJ Number: 125482
• Journal: Florida Law Review Volume: 42 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1990) Pages: 163-180
• Author(s): R L Tannen
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Best Practice/State-of-the-Art Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Recent research in anthropology and history provide the best sources for the explanation of gender bias.

Abstract

The Florida Supreme Court Gender Bias Study Commission found that, despite the recent changes that have occurred in the law, the legal system still is influenced to a significant and unacceptable degree by a cultural ideology that publicly condemns, yet tacitly accepts, male dominance and female subordination. Historical analysis has shown conclusively that the operative legal paradigm of the past 3,500 years has been the establishment and preservation of a societal culture built upon the premise of male dominance and female subordination. By exposing the ancient premise and examining empirically grounded analyses of current laws, gender bias commissions and scholarly research provide both a context and justification for the deconstruction of the present legal system. These same historical and empirical analyses provide the foundation and context for reconstructing the legal system with an equalitarian infrastructure. 109 notes.