Pulling the Ladder Up Behind You: Feminism and Family

In this contribution to "Legal Feminism Now," a symposium in Issues in Legal Scholarship, the author uses her personal alienation from feminism as a tool for examining the political and cultural risks entailed in feminist alliances with gender and family essentialists, over issues such as carework. She argues that these alliances may seem attractive as an incremental step to those whose goal is to improve work-life balance for all, but if the ladder is pulled up behind those who get benefits first, the result may be even further disadvantage for gender and family non-conformists.