Martha Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law, recently joined the Smith College community as the 2015-16 William Allan Neilson Professor. As part of the Neilson Lecture Series, Fineman presented three public lectures titled, Looking Beyond Gender Equality: Vulnerability, Resilience and Social Justice. All three lectures are now available for viewing by clicking the bolded text below: 

Reading Law Through a Feminist Lens:  An examination of the evolution in law that occurred when large numbers of women entered the profession and brought their life experiences into discussion, addressing the development of feminist legal theory and the changed nature of legal and political subjectivity that have occurred during the past half-century.

Vulnerability and Social Justice: A discussion on the origins and meaning of social justice, and exploration of the universality of human vulnerability, this lecture will distinguish between the concepts of individual justice and social justice and explore the tension between these two concepts, while arguing that understanding human vulnerability as universal and constant (as the human condition) can help us to advance the social aspects or dimensions of the idea of justice.

Vulnerability and Resilience: Crafting the Responsive State: A discussion on the need for a state that is responsive to human vulnerability, one that recognizes the need for humans to build resilience over the life course. This lecture will also contrast the state we now have—cast in neoliberal ideals—with the responsive state that vulnerability theory imagines.