Guiding Questions

• Does the law treat people of all genders equally?

• How do legal systems reinforce — or resist — traditional gender roles?

• What would a truly gender-just legal system look like?

Equal on Paper, Unequal in Practice?

Many modern laws promise gender equality.

But in the real world, legal outcomes often shift depending on a person’s gender — or how they express it.

Examples include:

• Women receiving lighter sentences for some crimes — but harsher ones for others

• Men less likely to win custody in family court

• Transgender people misgendered, ignored, or denied basic recognition

• Gender-based violence often going unreported, uninvestigated, or unpunished

Is this a flaw in how the law is applied — or a deeper problem in how the law is built?

Historical Legacy of Gendered Law

For centuries, legal systems treated women as dependents, not citizens. Laws once:

• Prevented women from voting, owning property, or signing contracts

• Treated rape and domestic violence as private issues, not crimes

• Defined masculinity as authority — and often violence

Though reforms have changed the surface, many deeper assumptions remain written into the system.

What About Nonbinary and Trans People?

For those who don’t fit into male or female boxes, the legal system can be even more exclusionary.

Many systems still:

• Force people to choose “M” or “F” on IDs

• Deny recognition of nonbinary identities

• Criminalize gender nonconformity through “decency” laws or bathroom restrictions

• Block access to gender-affirming healthcare or name changes

This raises a critical question:

Can the law deliver justice if it refuses to see who you are?

What Philosophers Say

Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex

She wrote that womanhood is defined as “the other” — always in comparison to manhood. Law often assumes the male as default.

Judith Butler – Gender Trouble

Butler argues that gender is not a fixed identity, but a repeated performance. Laws based on rigid categories may punish those who don’t conform.

Catharine MacKinnon

She criticizes the idea that treating everyone “the same” is enough. Real equality, she argues, requires confronting structural male dominance.

Two Perspectives on Gender and Law

Formal Equality View

The law should be gender-blind. Justice means treating everyone the same, regardless of identity.

Substantive Justice View

True equality requires acknowledging how gender affects power, opportunity, and access. Justice must adjust to those realities.

A Thought Experiment

Imagine two people commit the same violent act:

• One is a man with no history of trauma

• The other is a woman defending herself from years of abuse

Should they receive the same punishment?

Now imagine a nonbinary teenager placed in a prison for boys.

Their identity is ignored.

Is that justice — or further harm from the system itself?

Tools for Gender Justice

How can legal systems evolve toward fairness for all identities? Some strategies include:

• Conducting gender impact reviews for all new laws

• Updating legal language to remove outdated gender roles

• Allowing nonbinary options on official documents

• Providing trauma-informed training for police and courts

• Recognizing how gender shapes power, especially in violence or custody cases

Reflect and Discuss

• Can a law that treats everyone “the same” still be unjust?

• How has your own gender — or others’ perception of it — shaped your experience with authority or rules?

• What reforms could make the justice system more inclusive, respectful, and empowering for all genders?

Suggested Readings

• Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex

• Judith Butler – Gender Trouble

• Catharine MacKinnon – Toward a Feminist Theory of the State

• Kimberlé Crenshaw – Mapping the Margins (on intersectionality and gendered experience)

Next Lesson Preview

Lesson 7: Economic Inequality and the Law

Is justice truly blind — or does it serve those who can afford it?

“When the law pretends not to see gender, it may fail to see injustice.”