Unraveling gender in law:

political representation and the usage of feminist institutionalism for legal study

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss Feminist Institutionalism as a research and interpretation tool for Brazilian Law. Gender is a category that is seldom examined in national legal studies, focusing on criminal and civil areas, especially regarding gender violence and family law. However, legal practitioners can and should benefit from the extensive use of this analytical framework to understand issues neglected by the discipline. We thus question what tools Feminist Institutionalism could provide to Law with the intention of adding new strategies for understanding Justice and legal practice. To this end, we conduct a broad interdisciplinary debate, defining Institutions, the various schools of institutionalist knowledge, and emphasizing that only through a feminist approach will Law be able to continue as a path for the promotion of social justice.