The Contradictions of Law Reform

Abstract

The Contradictions of Law Reform Legality within the masculinist stateWithin some sections of the feminist community, it is fashionable to denigrate attempts at law reform as misguided considering the current scepticism towards liberal legalism. 1 The fact that law is a central legitimating mechanism of the contemporary capitalist state, carrying with it baggage that is necessarily antipathetic to feminist ideals, has rendered suspect advocacy for a reformist path. The problem is nicely encapsulated in the well-known words of Audre Lorde: 'For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.' 2Despite the purist stance espoused by those eschewing the path of law reform, there is necessarily a reformist, as well as a transformative, dimension within the essence of feminism. That is, there is a desire to make society as we know it more tolerable for women, as well as a desire to transform that society. I wish to turn to the former: the reformist project.