Spies, Amanda2014-08-142014-08-142014-08-14http://hdl.handle.net/10539/15186Thesis (Ph.D.) University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Law, 2014This study is interested in questions of law and social change, with a particular focus on how litigation can be used strategically to change the law to benefit women. Given law’s patriarchal nature, feminist litigators have often asked questions about whether, and how the law can be used to reflect women’s experience and to improve women’s lives. In this sense, the feminist project in law considers how feminist theory and methodology can be used in constructing legal arguments that seek the improvement of women’s rights and gender equality. The focal point of this study is amicus curiae participation and how this participation is employed by means of feminist litigation strategy so that it enhances rights-claiming and advances gender equality for women within the court system. I examine the way in which amicus curiae participation promotes litigation from a feminist and gendered viewpoint and validates the employment of feminist method to create effective arguments. The main body of the dissertation is dedicated to a case analysis of the Constitutional Court’s core gender jurisprudence and the amici curiae that have participated in these matters. The case discussions are divided into three categories: violence against women, women as part of cultural communities, and specific areas of vulnerability including prostitution and domestic partnerships (between heterosexual couples). The purpose of this analysis is to establish whether the amici curiae that have participated in these matters were able to influence judicial decisions, and how the amici used litigation to communicate a feminist and gendered viewpoint. The study concludes that, whether the relevant amici curiae participation had a direct or indirect impact on judicial decisions or not, its importance lies in engaging the law from a feminist and gendered viewpoint to create awareness of gender inequality, how this inequality is entrenched in the legal system and how it might be remedied.enAmicus curiaeGender equalityFeminist theoryViolence against womenWomen's rightsSouth AfricaThesis