Supreme Court Case Of Bradwell Vs. Illinois In 1873

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The case of Bradwell v. Illinois in 1873 illustrated an injustice of discrimination based on gender. Myra Bradwell was a married woman who worked for her husband’s law office. She was wealthy and educated, as evident by her ability to run a weekly, legal newspaper. Bradwell was recommended to become a lawyer and thus applied for a license to practice law in Illinois in 1869. Despite her qualifications, the Supreme Court of Illinois denied her application on the basis that she was female. She re-applied a year later, however she was once again rejected. The Court’s main justifications were the state laws prevented women from pursuing a job in law, Bradwell was married and thus had to perform the duties of a wife and that “God designed the sexes …show more content…

Illinois case demonstrated injustice and helped to reinforce sexual discrimination in the United States. The courts justified not giving Bradwell a license by citing the hegemonic ideology that women were naturally inferior to men. For instance, the court stated that women had “timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex” (20). The court case helped to reinforce the dominant ideologies against women as it helped to contribute to gender formation. One component of gender formation is structure, such as laws, which is apparent in Bradwell’s case as the courts cited laws that prohibited women from taking certain jobs and the Supreme Court’s decision ruled these laws as constitutional. Furthermore, the social representation aspect of gender formation is also apparent as historically this was an acceptable idea, as evident by the majority of the Supreme Court agreeing that it was just that Bradwell could not get a license. The outcome of the case is unjust is because men and women were not being treated equally leading to sexual discrimination. In addition, gender formation leads to notions of superiority and thus discrimination. Overall, this court case was significant in contributing to the continuation of gender formation and sexual discrimination as it failed to shut down a structure that contributed to gender