Abstract
This mini-symposium is organized to incorporate a "different voice" with in the main symposium by examining the meaning of "community" from a feminist perspective.
Frances Olsen, a leading feminist legal scholar, drew on materials from American law and society to present a general theoretical framework for examining the relationship between women and community. Hiroko Hara, Professor of Anthropology at the Institute for Gender Studies of Ochanomizu University, described a new organizing principle developed by Japanese women's NGOs-"ad hoc community"-which is based on feminist critiques of traditional hierarchical patterns of organization and which comes into conflict with existing structures of law and bureaucracy. Responding to these two presentations, Seigo Hirowatari brought up a discussion from a point of view of sociology of law, introducing his group's socio-legal research on Japanese law and custom regarding family assets. Finally, Nobuyoshi Toshitani in his concluding comment emphasized the importance of introducing feminist perspectives into the study of the sociology of law in Japan.
