ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines two ways in which some contemporary feminists have construed equality in legal contexts, identifying some of the problems that accompany each construal. It argues that both these conceptions of sexual equality presuppose unacceptable interpretations of sexual difference, and provides an approach to understanding sexual difference that is more adequate to feminist insights. The chapter suggests that this alternative approach to sexual difference casts the initial construals of sexual equality in a new light, pointing to the need for rethinking and perhaps even moving beyond the traditional ideal of western feminism. A dynamic approach to understanding sexual difference helps to explain the inadequacy of both the sex-blind and the sex-responsive ways of construing sexual equality. When sexual difference comes to be understood in ways that are dynamic and woman-affirming rather than static and woman-devaluing, a new light is thrown on the ideal of sexual equality.
