The
Need for a Feminist Journal
All of us who founded the UCLA Women's Law Journal did so because
we believe in the power of language. We believe in reclaiming the language
that has been used against us for so long. For our authors, it is empowering
to write words that challenge the assumptions that plague our culture,
words that affirm and validate the perspective of women, and words that
question everything: "What has been women's concrete experience? What has
been left out?" See Wishik, To Question Everything: The Inquiries
of Feminist Jurisprudence, 1 Berkeley Women's L.J. 64, 72-73 (1985).)
As readers, we share the vision and the power of those words. Author and
reader create together a voice that is at last heard.
Foreward, Vol. 1.
For many of us [editors],
what started off as a mere extra-curricular activity because a commitment
we could not neglect. In reading submissions and exploring the issues these
pieces raised, we discovered how much the injustice we initially sensed
was actually codified in our laws. We also realized how tenuous the advance
were that our generation of women had taken for granted. We had our work
cut out for us if we were to help improve the position of women in society.
Foreward, Vol. 2.
We feel that [feminist]
symposia have special significance as tools for the empowerment and enlightenment
of women. Through symposia, participants create an atmosphere of simultaneous
teaching, learning, and invention: they listen to each other, learn from
each other, and embark on collaborative efforts. Symposia give participants
an uninterrupted opportunity to define, direct, and contribute to burgeoning
discussions. In the context of women and the law, this is essential for
engendering a more encompassing feminist jurisprudence. Symposia provide
a form for the voice that Catherine MacKinnon seeks to evoke: :[a] voice
that, unsilenced, might say something that has never been heard." (Catherine
MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified 77 (1987).)
Foreward, Vol. 5.
Commitment to Diversity Within Feminist
Legal Scholarship
Events that Shaped Our
Journal
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