Prefiguring Feminist Constitutions: An Experimental Legal Writing Method for Northern/Ireland?

Enright, Máiréad; O’Donoghue, Aoife; O’Rourke, Catherine

Abstract

What use is prefigurative legality to feminist constitutionalism? Because feminist legal studies aim to improve law for women through, inter alia, practical intervention in existing constitutional orders,2 much feminist constitutional scholarship is knowingly constrained by liberal constitutionalism’s inherent gendered exclusions.3 Feminists participating in state-led constitutional processes grapple with masculinist expectations. This article celebrates such feminist work conducted within liberal constitutional constraints, whilst focusing on the potential of imaginative and experimental new legal methods. Centring prefiguration and acting ‘as if’ as a method of constitutional drafting and design, this article demonstrates how a prefigurative feminist approach might apply to real and ongoing constitutional debates.

Citation

Enright, M., O’Donoghue, A., & O’Rourke, C. (in press). Prefiguring Feminist Constitutions: An Experimental Legal Writing Method for Northern/Ireland?. International Journal of Constitutional Law,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 26, 2025
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2025
• Journal: International Journal of Constitutional Law
• Print ISSN: 1474-2640
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-2659
• Publisher: New York University
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3738956
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/icon