Professor Martha Fineman Seminar
On Friday May 21st the School of Law, together with the Egalitarian World Initiative hosted a morning seminar on the work of Professor Martha Fineman, featuring papers from early career researchers working in the areas of gender recognition, pluralism, Muslim divorce law, transitional justice, women’s studies and disability studies.
Martha Fineman is a Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, where she also runs the Feminism and Legal Theory Project (now in its 26th year). A specialist in family law and feminist theory, Prof. Fineman’s work has been recognised with awards such as the Harry Kalven Prize for Distinguished Research in Law and Society. The author and editor of over a dozen books and over thirty articles and book chapters, Prof. Fineman is currently a Marie Curie Visiting Fellow in University College Dublin.
The seminar began with an overview by Prof. Fineman of her most recent contribution to feminist theory: the ‘vulnerability thesis’ based on her article “The Vulnerable Subject” 20 Yale University Journal of Law and Feminism 1 (2008). This was followed by papers from Máiréad Enright (Kent Law School), Dr. Tanya Ní Mhuirthile (UCC Department and Faculty of Law), Melanie Hoewer (UCD John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies), Angela O’Connell (NUI Global Women’s Studies), Dr Eilionoir Flynn , Mary Keogh and Noelin Fox (NUI Centre for Disability Law and Policy).
