Rapunzel and the Lure of Equal Citizenship
Law Text Culture, Vol. 8, Issue (1), 2004
35 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2013
Date Written: 01 01, 2004
Abstract
This paper argues that citizenship embodies a paradox for women because it simultaneously tantalises and essentialises, liberates and oppresses. Despite the universality of citizenship discourse, the vestiges of the Kantian idea of passive citizenship with its suggestions of a defective will continue to be socially and juridically instantiated. Illustrations are drawn mainly from Australian case law that highlights the constitutive role of judges. The paper concludes with some ruminations as to the gendered meaning of citizenship with particular regard to the contemporary phenomena of neoliberalism and terrorism. Rapunzel may have been rescued from the tower but what is she is now free to do?
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