ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the potential applications to law of these two developments in feminist scholarship stated as speculative hypotheses for further study. The first of these developments in feminist scholarship is the self-conscious observation of how women's entry into formerly male-dominated fields has changed both the knowledge base of the field and the methodology by which knowledge is acquired. The second development is a body of theoretical and empirical research in psychology and sociology. This research has postulated that women grow up in the world with a more relational and affiliational concept of self than do men. The process is one that most feminists deplore because what is labeled female or feminine typically is treated as inferior, and is subordinated to what is labeled male or masculine. Several studies and books in psychological development have traced implications of gender differences in psychological development for personality, moral development, child rearing, and ultimately, the very structure of major social institutions.
