Martha Fineman
Encyclopedia
Martha Albertson Fineman (born 1943) is an internationally renowned law and society scholar and a leading authority in feminist legal theory
Feminist legal theory
Feminist legal theory is based on the belief that the law has been instrumental in women's historical subordination. The project of feminist legal theory is twofold. First, feminist jurisprudence seeks to explain ways in which the law played a role in women's former subordinate status...

 and family law
Family law
Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...

. She is currently Robert W. Woodruff Professor
Robert W. Woodruff Professor
The Robert W. Woodruff Professorships are endowed professorships at Emory University, named for philanthropist Robert W. Woodruff. The chairs are Emory University's "most distinguished academic appointments [...] reserved for world-class scholars who are not only proven leaders of their own fields...

 of Law at Emory University School of Law
Emory University School of Law
Emory University School of Law is a first-tier US law school that is part of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. It is ranked #30 among ABA-approved law schools by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report...

, having formerly held the Dorothea S. Clarke Professorship of Feminist Jurisprudence
Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of Feminist Jurisprudence
The Dorothea S. Clarke Professorship of Feminist Jurisprudence was founded at Cornell Law School in 1997, and is the first endowed chair in feminist jurisprudence at a law school in the United States. The professorship is one of three named professorships at Cornell endowed by Exxon executive Jack...

 at Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University and one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees...

 and the Maurice T. Moore Professorship at Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

. Her scholarship focuses on the legal regulation of family and intimacy and the legal implications of universal dependency and vulnerability.

Career

Fineman has a B.A. from Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...

 (1971) and a J.D. from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...

 (1975). She clerked for the Hon. Luther Merritt Swygert
Luther Merritt Swygert
Luther Merritt Swygert was a United States federal judge.Born in Miami County, Ohio, Swygert received an LL.B. from Notre Dame Law School in 1927. He was in private practice in Indiana from 1928 to 1931. He was a Deputy prosecuting attorney of Lake County, Indiana from 1931 to 1933. He was an...

 of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and was on faculty at the University of Wisconsin Law School
University of Wisconsin Law School
The University of Wisconsin Law School is the professional school for the study of law at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. The law school was founded in 1868.-Facilities:...

 from 1976 to 1990. She was appointed as the Maurice T. Moore Professor of Law at Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

 in 1990, and as the first Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of Feminist Jurisprudence
Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of Feminist Jurisprudence
The Dorothea S. Clarke Professorship of Feminist Jurisprudence was founded at Cornell Law School in 1997, and is the first endowed chair in feminist jurisprudence at a law school in the United States. The professorship is one of three named professorships at Cornell endowed by Exxon executive Jack...

 at Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School
Cornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University and one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees...

 in 1999. The Clarke professorship is the first endowed chair in feminist jurisprudence at a law school in the United States. Since 2004, she has been Robert W. Woodruff Professor
Robert W. Woodruff Professor
The Robert W. Woodruff Professorships are endowed professorships at Emory University, named for philanthropist Robert W. Woodruff. The chairs are Emory University's "most distinguished academic appointments [...] reserved for world-class scholars who are not only proven leaders of their own fields...

 of Law at Emory University School of Law
Emory University School of Law
Emory University School of Law is a first-tier US law school that is part of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. It is ranked #30 among ABA-approved law schools by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report...

, which is that institution’s highest honor bestowed on a faculty member, "reserved for world-class scholars who are not only proven leaders of their own fields of specialty but also ambitious bridge-builders across specialty disciplines." She is the third legal scholar after Harold J. Berman
Harold J. Berman
Harold J. Berman was an American legal scholar who was an expert in comparative, international and Soviet/Russian law as well as legal history, philosophy of law and the intersection of law and religion...

 and Michael J. Perry
Michael J. Perry
Michael J. Perry is an American legal scholar, specializing in constitutional law, law and religion, law and morality, and human rights. In 2003, he was appointed as Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, the second person to be appointed to such a chair after Harold J...

 to be appointed to such a chair.

Fineman directs the Feminism and Legal Theory Project
Feminism and Legal Theory Project
The Feminism and Legal Theory Project is a project aimed at addressing issues relating to women and law, founded by legal theorist Martha Fineman in 1984, and which has pioneered feminist legal theory. The project nurtures scholars from around the world, bringing them together to study and debate a...

, which she founded in 1984 and which has been housed by the University of Wisconsin Law School, Columbia Law School, Cornell Law School, and Emory Law. The Feminism and Legal Theory Project nurtures scholars from around the world, bringing them together to study and debate a wide range of topics related to feminist theory and law. Fineman is an affiliated scholar of the Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...

.

Work on vulnerability

Her 2008 article "The Vulnerable Subject" in the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism
Yale Journal of Law and Feminism
The Yale Journal of Law and Feminism is a law review published biannually by Yale Law School. It was established in 1987 to provide a forum for "women's experiences as they have been structured, affected, controlled, discussed, and ignored by the law." The journal publishes articles, inter alia, on...

develops a theory of vulnerability in order to argue for a more responsive state and a more egalitarian society. The article forms the basis for her 2011 book.
"Vulnerability is and should be understood to be universal and constant, inherent in the human condition. The vulnerability approach is an alternative to traditional equal protection analysis; it represents a post-identity inquiry in that it is not focused only on discrimination against defined groups, but concerned with privilege and favor conferred on limited segments of the population by the state and broader society through their institutions. As such, vulnerability analysis concentrates on the institutions and structures our society has and will establish to manage our common vulnerabilities. This approach has the potential to move us beyond the stifling confines of current discrimination-based models toward a more substantive vision of equality."

Awards and recognitions

Fineman is the recipient of numerous scholarly awards, including most recently the 2008 Cook Award from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, and the 2006–2007 Leverhulme Visiting Professorship, one of the United Kingdom's top academic honors. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Harry Kalven
Harry Kalven
Harry Kalven, Jr. was an American jurist, regarded as one of the preeminent legal scholars of the 20th century. He was the Harry A. Bigelow Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Kalven coauthored, with Charles O...

 Prize, awarded by the Law and Society Association to a scholar whose body of "empirical scholarship has contributed most effectively to the advancement of research in law and society." In March 2004, a symposium of some 500 scholars and students gathered at Emory University School of Law to celebrate the scholarship of its three Robert W. Woodruff Professors of Law, Harold J. Berman
Harold J. Berman
Harold J. Berman was an American legal scholar who was an expert in comparative, international and Soviet/Russian law as well as legal history, philosophy of law and the intersection of law and religion...

, Martha Albertson Fineman, and Michael J. Perry
Michael J. Perry
Michael J. Perry is an American legal scholar, specializing in constitutional law, law and religion, law and morality, and human rights. In 2003, he was appointed as Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, the second person to be appointed to such a chair after Harold J...

, and Visiting Professor Martin E. Marty
Martin E. Marty
Martin Emil Marty is an American Lutheran religious scholar who has written extensively on 19th century and 20th century American religion. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1956, and served as a Lutheran pastor from 1952 to 1962 in the suburbs of Chicago...

.

Publications

Fineman has published widely, and, according to one study, is the eighth most cited scholar of critical legal theory. Her books are
  • The Vulnerable Subject: Anchoring Equality in the Human Condition (Princeton University Press, 2011)
  • The Autonomy Myth: A Theory of Dependency (The New Press, 2004)
  • The Neutered Mother, the Sexual Family, and Other Twentieth Century Tragedies (Routledge, 1995)
  • The Illusion of Equality: The Rhetoric and Reality of Divorce Reform (University of Chicago Press, 1991).


Fineman has also edited or co-edited the following critical legal theory volumes:
  • Transcending the Boundaries of Law: Generations of Feminism and Legal Theory (Routledge, 2010)
  • What Is Right for Children? The Competing Paradigms of Religion and Human Rights (Ashgate, 2009; co-editor Karen Worthington)
  • Feminist and Queer Legal Theory: Intimate Encounters, Uncomfortable Conversations (Ashgate, 2009, co-editors Jack E. Jackson and Adam P. Romero)
  • Feminism Confronts Homo Economicus: Gender, Law, and Society (Cornell University Press, 2005; co-editor Terrance Doherty)
  • Feminism, Media, and the Law (Oxford University Press, 1997; co-editor Martha T. McCluskey)
  • Mothers in Law: Feminism and the Legal Regulation of Motherhood (Columbia University Press, 1995; co-editor Isabel Karpin)
  • The Public Nature of Private Violence: Women and the Discovery of Abuse (Routledge, 1994, co-editor Roxanne Mykitiuk)
  • At the Boundaries of Law: Feminism and Legal Theory (Routledge, 1990, co-editor Nancy Sweet Thomadsen).


At the Boundaries of Law is the first volume of feminist legal theory.

She has published numerous journal articles and essays. Her most widely cited articles include
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