Social Justice is proud to announce the publication of two sequential issues on the rights of women, of which this is the first. We have entered a period of upheaval in feminist theory characterized not only by the continued necessity of fighting for women's rights, but also by the imperative of redefining feminism and developing new frameworks for analyzing the status of women in the 1990s. Practically all of the articles contained in this issue underscore this theme.

Although these two issues of Social Justicedo not attempt to provide a comprehensive survey of theoretical developments on these topics, they do cover many themes that offer glimpses both into the need for a new feminist theory and into organizing efforts that are being undertaken. Such themes include women in prison, violence against women, reproductive rights, economic status, equality and the law, human rights, right-wing ideology, and race and gender.

In this period of profound changes and questioning in the world Left, and in which capitalism and patriarchy are entrenched as ever as world systems of domination, it is appropriate that this search for new frameworks and definitions is taking place. To date, no social model or theory -- including Marxism and feminism -- exists or has been developed to adequately address the relationship between capitalism, patriarchy, and racism in perpetuating systems of oppression worldwide and to speak to the full liberation of women. It is our hope that these issues of the journal will encourage the continuation of new thinking and help put social justice for women, as well as for all oppressed people, on the world agenda.

Imprisonment and Criminality

In this issue, Adrian Howe searches for an appropriate framework to situate a history of women's imprisonment. She challenges the traditional "patriarchal forms of knowledge" and critiques the feminist frameworks that have developed in response to it. Her goal is to wage an epistemological revolution, where a feminist viewpoint is central, in order "to create other modes of conceptualizing human culture which do not render women passive or invisible." In her extensive review of feminist theory and criminology, she includes critiques of Dobash, Dobash, and Gutteridge's The Imprisonment of Women,and Rafter's Partial Justice: Women in State Prisons, 1800-1935, two books which are also reviewed by Dorothy McClelland in a thought-provoking essay in this issue.

In her review, McClelland advances our understanding of the history of imprisonment by revealing similarities and differences in basic assumptions concerning theories of female criminality that underlie the work of the authors. In her opinion, Dobash, Dobash, and Gutteridge "broaden critical criminology to show the powerful role that patriarchal and gender-based assumptions have played in the development of modern prisons," while Rafter's work -- "although succeeding in generally uncovering the distinctive experience of women to reveal how gender roles are manipulated" in the treatment of women -- distorts history and the treatment of women of color. Howe's main criticism of Rafter's work is that "women emerge from history as a variation of the male norm, rather than as subjects in their own right." Howe also acknowledges Rafter's contributions to the development of a proper history of women's imprisonment.

Rosa del Olmo's article analyzes the changing nature of female criminality in Venezuela in the context of the growing economic crisis in Latin America. This crisis results in the increased unemployment and marginalization of women. Consequently, women are participating at a greater rate than before in the booming drug trade. Del Olmo also confronts the inadequacies of existing theories regarding the nature of female criminality and points to the importance of research in transitional situations, such as Venezuela, in the development of new perspectives.

Deborah Baskin and Ira Sommers' review of Pat Carlen's book, Women, Crime and Poverty, continues the theme of the relationship between economics and criminality. They conclude that although Carlen "does not move beyond the limitations of existing theories regarding female criminality, her book is valuable in that she attempts to bridge the gap between individual and structural explanations" of why women become involved in criminal activity.

Changing focus to the specifics of "women on the inside," Judy Clark and Kathy Boudin, who are political prisoners in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, detail their efforts to organize women in prison around issues stemming from AIDS. They describe the empowerment of women organizing for themselves and building trust, as well as the constant struggle to overcome resistance on the part of the prison system, which construes their efforts as a threat to the system itself. This article is very useful for women involved in similar endeavors.

Christina Jose-Kampfner, who also focuses on women in prison, compares the process of women coming to terms with long-term or life imprisonment to that of women dying of a terminal disease. The author assesses the limitations of the prison environment in allowing the necessary expressions of grief and anger, which have consequences particularly for those women who are later released into the "real world." Imprisonment, it is clear, is intended to punish rather than to rehabilitate.

Women's Rights

Gregg Barak and Katheryn Russell's review of Kristin Bumiller's The Civil Rights Society: The Social Construction of Victimsand Jeanne Gregory's Sex, Race and the Law: Legislating for Equality provide an excellent context for understanding the role and limitations of legal reform in addressing race and sex discrimination. The review touches on many of the issues surrounding violence against women, and the subjective and institutional basis for gender-based discrimination inherent in criminal justice and other state policies that are more fully explored in the articles by Jane Chapman, Drew Humphries and Susan Caringella-McDonald, Tina Johnson, as well as William Arp, Marilyn Dantico, and Marjorie Zatz. In a broad sense, these authors address the theme of women's rights and legal reform; similar to the approach of the authors of the above books under review, these contributors point to contradictions in looking to the legal system as a source of full equality for women and to the limitations of legal reform in granting, guaranteeing, or preserving women's rights.

Jane Chapman argues that violence against women must be seen as an abuse of human rights and thus must be included in the international human rights agenda. As contributing to the perpetration of these human-rights abuses, she cites the unequal distribution of power between men and women; cultural, economic, and systemic factors; and tolerance by legal systems and society overall of violence against women. The author also provides a history of the development of women's rights as part of the human-rights agenda through the United Nations, arguing that this avenue is an important one to pursue.

The articles by Drew Humphries and Susan Caringella-McDonald, and Tina Johnson share a common theme: the role of myths regarding female victimization in supporting specific state actions. Humphries and Caringella-McDonald examine violence against women, focusing specifically on the formulation of public responses to female victimization, and postulate how these may contribute to the development of support for various criminal justice policies and strategies.

Tina Johnson details a community struggle in Trinidad-Tobago over changes in a sexual offenses law. What began as a fairly strong reform measure was watered down by male-dominated forces in Parliament. The community of women responded by organizing in an unprecedented manner and achieved a certain measure of success, although they were not able to preserve the original strength of the bill.

William Arp, Marilyn Dantico, and Marjorie Zatz make an important contribution to the study of immigration legislation and its impact on women. Although the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was ostensibly developed as gender-neutral, the authors argue that this is not possible in the context of a capitalist, patriarchal economic structure. Since the primary purpose of this law was to provide U.S. agribusiness with a continuous flow of (largely male) cheap, agricultural labor, the bias within the legislation makes it less likely for women to apply for, or be granted, legal resident status. These authors also come up against the limitations of present analytical frameworks for studying the oppression of women and the development of strategies of liberation. In their view, the "failure of feminist theory to recognize the variety of ways in which different groups of women are oppressed," as well as its bias towards the reality of middle-class white women "has made feminism unattractive, if not useless, to large numbers of women."

The editors hope that such provocative critiques will spark debate and generate responses from our readers.

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The next issue of Social Justice will include articles on women and law, reproductive rights and technologies, the role of the Right in determining ideology, and the struggles for justice of Native American women in Canada, among other topics.

The editors would like to express their gratitude to Gilda Zwerman and Dorie Klein, who were instrumental in getting this project off the ground.

-- S.D. and N.S.