Feminism Unqualified: Margaret Thornton’s, Dissonance and Distrust: Women in the Legal Profession’ (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1996)
(1997) 15:1 Law in Context 166-178
Posted: 11 Oct 2017
Date Written: 1997
Abstract
Dissonance and Distrust: Women in the Legal Profession draws upon extensive qualitative data, to illuminate and contextualise the professional lives of women in the Australian legal profession. Despite its Australian focus this book deserves a wide international readership. Focussed on the lived experiences of legally qualified Australian women, the author's interview data is interrogated against the conceptual framework which undergirds the self-understandings of liberal societies and liberal law. Notions of citizenship, the putative character of the subject in liberal society, the demarcation of public from private and the challenges posed to existing liberalisms by the post-modern turn in social theory are all intelligently brought to bear in interpreting the interplay of gender, work, professionalism and law in Australia. All told, this is a ground breaking and innovative work.
Keywords: Legal Profession, Women, Feminism, Australia
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation