ABSTRACT
THE LAW AS A DISCIPLINE relies heavily on the process of classification. This fact has meant that some part of the feminist project in law has historically been focused on the question of "differences". The assessment of differences is central to the process of legitimating distinctions in legal treatment among categories of persons. While some feminist legal scholars seek to transplant aspects of this debate into a legal context, an argument can be made that the concern with origin is not of central importance to the feminist legal project. The century's earliest feminist project in law was fairly clearly defined by the explicit nature of doctrinal assumptions about differences. Because of their perceived biological or "natural" attributes, women were considered appropriately excluded from the practice of law and other positions of public power. Women can coalesce across differences to work together on the project of defining for ourselves the implications and ramifications of the gendered aspects of our lives.
