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IZOLDA TAKÁCS: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
have to be taken into account. Thus, more radical, positive changes in women’s
rights have so far occurred mainly in Western democratic states.
ASK “THE WOMAN QUESTION”, THE WOMAN PERSPECTIVE IN LAWMAKING.
“THE LAW IS MALE” — OR WHY ARE DE JURE RIGHTS APPLICATIONS STILL
PROBLEMATIC IN PRACTICE? EXCERPTS FROM CRIMINAL AND LABOUR LAWS
Everything that men have written about women should be
viewed with suspicion, because they are both judge and party.”
This far, we have seen that by covering all areas of social co-existence, regula¬
tions have created equality before the law, prohibited discrimination, enforced
equal treatment, and some regulations have even provided opportunities for
positive discrimination. In practice, however, neither equal treatment nor equal
opportunities can prevail in the majority of the cases. Highlighting the reasons
for this is thus worth the effort. I intend to point out the practical legal anom¬
alies that are observed in the application of the law and that are detrimental
to women.
It is known that there is an eternal conflict between the static validity and
the dynamic factual process of the law.*? However, from a women’s point of
view, the problem is not with this, but with similar cases being treated differ¬
ently, based in many cases on gender differences and the resulting discrimi¬
nation, the traditional stereotypes. It is therefore difficult to recover from vi¬
olations against women. This also makes it plausible that, for women, the law
is sometimes a symbol of imperfection, of dependence on power factors and
not of justice.
I have to start from the assumption that maintaining the status quo is based
upon the inherent masculinity of powerholders and the legal system, and
therefore the phrasing and content of the law is based on a “male standard”
and is underpinned by male experience (“the law is male”). This means that
when the law is to be applied to women, it often results in questionable, often
unfair solutions. To this end, jurisprudence has developed many forms of
female perspectives and feminist aspirations (“feminist jurisprudence”). An
example of this is the Critical Legal Studies movement, whose core objective
5! Poulain de la Barre quoted by Beauvoir, de S.: A második nem, Budapest, Gondolat, 1971.
"2 Bihari, Zs.: Drama a jogelméletben — Horvath Barna géniuszai, Jogi Tanulmányok 2014,
204-214.
53 Sebestyén, A.: Kísérlet a hazai joggyakorlat feminista jogelméletek szemszögéből való elemzé¬
sére, Jogi Tanulmányok, 17(1), 2014, 260—268.
+ 30°