Women in Law and Lawmaking in Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Europe

Exploring the relationship between gender and law in Europe from the nineteenth century to present, this collection examines the recent feminisation of justice, its historical beginnings and the impact of gendered constructions on jurisprudence. It looks at what influenced the breakthrough of women in the judicial world and what gender factors determine the position of women at the various levels of the legal system. Every chapter in this book addresses these issues either from the point of view of women's legal history, or from that of gendered legal cultures. With contributions from scholars with expertise in the major regions of Europe, this book demonstrates a commitment to a methodological framework that is sensitive to the intersection of gender theory, legal studies and public policy, and that is based on historical methodologies. As such the collection offers a valuable contribution both to women's history research, and the wider development of European legal history.

About the Author

Eva Schandevyl is Assistant Professor of modern history at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. She is the editor of ’In haar recht? Vrouwe Justitia feministisch bekeken’ (VUB Press, 2009) and author of ’Tussen revolutie en conformisme. Het engagement en de netwerken van linkse intellectuelen in België 1918-1956’ (VUB Press, 2011). Her articles on the history of law and gender, social and intellectual history, and migration have appeared in ’European Review of History’, ’National Identities and Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire’. She is presently working on a comparative project that examines the feminisation of justice in the twentieth century.