Students' perceptions of the didactic-pedagogical experience of rewriting judicial decisions from feminist and anti-racist perspectives

Abstract

This article aims to analyze how students involved in feminist judgment projects in 2021-2022 perceive the impact of such experiences on their legal education. We have enumerated the effects perceived by undergraduate and postgraduate students resulting from the project in their educational institutions and in their formation as legal scholars. The study was qualitative and used a virtual questionnaire for data collection. The literature review encompasses works on the pedagogical aspects of feminist rewriting projects in various countries, including those addressing challenges to critical legal education in Brazil. Our analysis confirms the potential of feminist rewriting practices to enhance the critical and interdisciplinary education of law students.

Keywords:
Feminist rewriting; Judicial decisions; Legal education; Pedagogical practices; Teaching methods

Resumo

O objetivo do presente artigo é analisar a percepção de estudantes que participaram dos projetos de reescrita de decisões judiciais em perspectivas feministas entre 2021 e 2022 sobre os impactos da experiência na formação jurídica. Elencamos os efeitos que estudantes de graduação e pós-graduação perceberam que foram produzidos pelo projeto em suas instituições de ensino e na sua formação como juristas. O estudo foi qualitativo e se valeu de um questionário em formato virtual para coleta dos dados. A revisão bibliográfica que informa o presente estudo, considerou a literatura que aborda a dimensão pedagógica dos projetos de reescrita feminista em vários países e os estudos que discutem os desafios da formação jurídica crítica no Brasil. Os resultados da análise confirmam o potencial das atividades de reescrita feminista em favorecer a formação crítica e interdisciplinar de estudantes de direito.

Palavras-chave:
Reescritas Feministas; Decisões Judiciais; Formação Jurídica; Práticas Pedagógicas; Métodos de Ensino

Introduction

The Feminist Judgment Projects (FJP) have emerged as a new way of producing feminist legal criticism and critical legal education. There is a growing body of literature that addresses this second aspect, which can be translated as the didactic-pedagogical potential or impact of feminist rewritings.

According to Rosemary Hunter (2012), instead of the common practice of providing pre-resolved cases for students to discuss or address socio-legal issues related to them, rewriting projects propose the creation of alternative decisions using feminist methods and theories, aiming to consider the real constraints faced by the original decision-makers. After completing the activity, the class is invited to comparatively evaluate the documents. This type of exercise enables the operationalization of critical perspectives on the law and encourages critical thinking about legal doctrine and how judicial decision-making presupposes a certain degree of indeterminacy and choice by those who craft it

Similarly, Rosemary Auchmuty (2012) assesses that the FJP model allows for the simultaneous achievement of various pedagogical objectives: it allows for the diversification of assessment methods beyond traditional exams, exposes students to previously peripheral socio-legal ideas and contributions in their studies, and facilitates the teaching of legal rules and problem-solving techniques through the use of judicial decisions.

Crawford, Stanchi, and Berger (2021) consider that FJPs not only offer argumentative models for legal practitioners but also have an educational value, especially because they encourage learning about how the law works, what cases mean, and how the identity and philosophy of female and male judges matter. Alternative trials can teach how each judge can either try to hide or illuminate specific issues in their considerations and analysis. They can also foster greater engagement with legal reasoning and the ability of participants to look beyond the implicit authority given to the original decision simply because it was handed down by a court.

The Brazilian project "Feminist Judgments Project: The Brazilian Experience", inspired by initiatives in different parts of the world, began in 2021 as an academic network of female professors. In addition to its aim of strengthening alternative forms of engagement with critical legal thought in the country, the Brazilian project also sought to emphasize the production of academic impact through these rewritings, particularly in terms of changing the models of legal education offered by Brazilian law school curricula and deepening reflections on the relationships between university teaching, research, and extension¹.

This article aims to evaluate the results of the series of practices carried out by the Brazilian network between 2021 and 2022, with a focus on legal education and the perception of the students who participated in the initiatives.

1. The Feminist Rewriting Project and Legal Education in Brazil

The promotion of changes in the traditional models of legal education and curricula in Brazilian law schools is the focus of a broad field of study that has gained momentum, especially since the 1980s, in the midst of the so-called redemocratization wave of legal changes. This movement was driven by the approval of the Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 (the current Constitution) and the agenda for the institutionalization of new rights that it facilitated. This literature is recognized, for example, for its arguments about the crisis in legal education; for its prescriptions for curricula that could foster a critical, humanistic, and interdisciplinary legal education; and for its enthusiasm for the benefits that certain models of university extension could bring to legal education and to a better relationship between university and society (AZEVEDO, 1990; RODRIGUES, 2005; FARIA, 1987; FALCÃO NETO, 1977).

In fact, these considerations have led to significant changes in the national curriculum guidelines for undergraduate law programs in the country. Ministry of Education Decree No. 1,886/94 took the first steps in this direction, requiring, for example, the writing of a final thesis, the completion of extracurricular activities, and the performance of a legal internship. Subsequently, Resolution No. 9/2004 of the Brazilian National Education Council/Higher Education Chamber defined new national curricular guidelines for law courses, emphasizing the need for these courses to provide a humanistic, critical, and interdisciplinary education, as well as the importance of university research and extension as a complement to teaching, and expanding the list of fundamental curricular contents that are mandatory in undergraduate curricula throughout the country. Since then, we have seen a significant increase in innovative legal teaching experiences, combined with an expansion in the number of law courses in the country.

These new milestones, added to the Law of Guidelines and Bases - LDB (Law 9.394/1996) and the expansion of higher education institutions, supported the emergence of a period of significant inventiveness in terms of didactic-pedagogical practices in law courses, especially from the 2000s onwards. We had the multiplication of Legal Practice Centers (NPJs), responsible for offering supervised curricular internships to students and for relative enlightenment of the courses to the social context. We also witnessed the growth of university extension projects in different formats, including legal aid programs (ALMEIDA, 2016; ALFONSIN, 1999; LUZ, 2007). Moreover, we observed the expansion of undergraduate research fellows programs and the proliferation of general education classes with a humanistic and critical approach in almost all Brazilian law programs. Younger faculty members were also instrumental in introducing new pedagogical practices into the classroom, as their own training witnessed the beginning of some of these pedagogies.

However, almost twenty years later, apart from individual and isolated experiences on the national scene, the general diagnosis² seems to be that the changes in the guidelines and pedagogical projects of the majority of Brazilian courses have not necessarily led to a significant transformation of the profile of the law graduate. The model of content-based and encyclopedic teaching is still in place; the legal practice centers have little or no dialogue with teaching or research activities; the contents of general education or those aimed at critical and humanistic education, despite increasing their presence in terms of workload, have not broken out of their lateralized or marginalized place in relation to the contents of technical education; the methodologies commonly proposed have not led students much to the development of autonomous learning. The challenges for undergraduate students to pass the Brazilian Bar Exam and public examinations for legal careers still persist, and the distribution of mandatory curriculum content still follows the compartmentalized logic of more classical legal disciplines (CERQUEIRA, 2019).

The continuation of a more traditional model of legal education has had serious consequences for the implementation of laws and institutions resulting from the democratizing social struggles of the past nearly 30 years in the country. In 2006, for example, the Maria da Penha Law made it a guideline for all higher education courses to include gender, human rights, ethno-racial relations, and domestic violence as compulsory curriculum content. However, this provision has been ignored even by higher education regulatory and evaluation bodies. As a general rule, legal courses lack subjects that address these themes or introduce feminist legal theories to students. The Maria da Penha Law, by and large, is studied in criminal procedure or criminal law courses, separate from essential content necessary for a serious examination of the subject, such as gender studies, feminist theories, and intersectionality theories. In this context, there still exists a tamed interpretation of one of the most important legal achievements of Brazilian feminism, which primarily emphasizes its penal provisions (SEVERI, 2018).

Experiences in university extension, supervised curricular internships, or didactic-pedagogical practices involving gender, ethnic-racial relations, and domestic violence issues have also been quite scarce. Exceptions that we can mention here include projects such as those of Promotoras Legais Populares, Human Rights Clinics, and Women's Human Rights, as well as extension practices in popular legal education or popular legal aid models involving women's groups, indigenous populations, or social minorities (SOUSA JUNIOR; FONSECA; BAQUEIRO, 2019; LAPA, 2014; BELLO; FERREIRA, 2018).

Many of the Brazilian female professors participating in the feminist rewriting project originate from or have played pivotal roles in the aforementioned exceptions, either because they were involved in them as students or because, now as educators, they maintain some form of interaction with these activity models. Most of these activities are characterized by taking seriously the role of democratic and dialogical relations between students and educators, as well as between the university and society, as indispensable conditions for liberatory education and the development of critical thinking. They are also known for challenging the ways in which academia has historically appropriated popular knowledge, either de-characterizing it or instrumentalizing it for the competitive purposes of technocratic and elitist university models. However, a significant portion of these practices remain marginalized in terms of course curricula, involve a small percentage of students, and depend on external funding sources for their survival, as most private institutions are not legally required to include research and extension practices or programs in their courses.

In 2018, new national curriculum guidelines for law programs were approved (Resolution CES/CNE No. 5/2018), and part of the public debate prior to the construction of the new document concerned the potential symbolic nature of the changes in the pedagogical project aimed at incorporating the 2004 guidelines (CERQUEIRA, 2019). Some of the changes introduced by the document included requirements that i) topics such as human rights education, ethno-racial relations education, and gender policy education be integrated into the curricula of law programs in the country, and ii) the activities of legal practice centers be more closely aligned with the didactic activities of courses.

Thus, when we thought about having an impact on law courses based on the practice of rewriting judicial decisions from a feminist perspective, we worked with the hypothesis that the inclusion of didactic-pedagogical practices informed by feminist approaches in regular subjects of any legal course, whether general or technical-professional, could contribute to this long-standing set of efforts aimed at promoting the critical and interdisciplinary training of law students. Rewriting a judgment from a feminist perspective can be an activity carried out in any subject (criminal law, introduction to law, civil law, procedural law, etc.). The design of the activity can vary, from presenting a rewritten decision for students to compare with the original, to having the group construct a rewrite themselves, following the development of curricular content focused on the theoretical-methodological approaches related to it throughout the semester.

Another didactic interest of ours would be to reinvigorate our own critical teaching, research, and university extension experiences, which have been underway for years in the country, by repairing some of their "gaps". For example, rewriting can encourage the inclusion of feminist, anti-racist, and decolonial literature in subjects aimed at general education, recognizing its fundamentality in any debate that claims to be critical and interdisciplinary. Rewriting practices can also introduce other contributions to popular university extension experiences, in terms of models of practice forged through interaction with feminist and women's movements. Why, for example, are bell hooks'³ contributions to popular education not circulating in Extension classrooms along with Paulo Freire's reflections, given that the black American feminist's thinking emerged from her direct engagement with the Brazilian author and transformed his later production? In other words, even in critical extension practices, feminist and anti-racist authors and approaches are not necessarily present.

In this initial phase of the development of the feminist rewriting project in Brazil, we aimed to draw attention to the category of legal education. The commitment to the training of undergraduate and postgraduate law students is of paramount importance, and this aspect will be further explored below through the analysis of the interviews.

However, we also want to emphasize that all individuals directly or indirectly involved in the rewriting process are participants in the whole process. This means, for example, that the participating educators also have the opportunity to enhance their own education. Given that many of these educators were trained in a legal framework that lacked integration of feminist perspectives and that some only encountered these perspectives in an individual effort, the process of rewriting offers fresh prospects for education (as academics, advocates, or instructors), reflection, and experimentation with diverse methodologies, practices, and approaches.

Working collaboratively in a network, sharing challenges, choices, and evaluating the process between groups of diverse social, racial, sexual, and regional backgrounds can significantly impact legal education beyond the group involved in the rewrite. When participants are exposed to the explicit results of the rewriting process, it is possible to anticipate developments in the agendas of all the disciplines in which they are involved: The pursuit of varied theoretical frameworks for discourse; the approach to supervising academic work and writing opinions for journals and research funding bodies; the commitment to communicating ideas (whether through writing, speaking at events, in the classroom, at meetings, in technical-administrative functions, in legal clinics, in judicial bodies, and in the most diverse spaces of coexistence); among other effects that can be perceived through constant reflection on such experiences, as evidenced in other articles that also make up this dossier.

This is an opportunity to implicate legal education in the outcomes subject to rewriting. What responsibility, in terms of education, do we (re)produce in the decisions we set out to rewrite? To what extent does our rewriting (re)produce aspects we identify as incapable of effecting change? How effectively can we integrate the lessons learned from rewriting into all our forms of practice? Which individuals and situations still remain outside of these procedures? How can we broaden the community of participants and recognize diverse capacities for rewriting? How can we connect rewriting to political processes that strive for a fairer society? Our list of inquiries is extensive, and we aim to constantly update it, with our present material contributing to this process.

It is important to analyze the experiences of teachers with the projects and the network in the future. However, this article only focuses on the perceptions of students who participated in one of the activities carried out in different regions of the country regarding the learning, skills, or abilities that resulted from the practice of rewriting judgments from a feminist perspective.

2. Methodology

The study was qualitative, conducted with students who participated in rewriting projects between 2021 and 2022. We developed a virtual questionnaire to collect data directly from undergraduate and postgraduate students. The questionnaire consisted of two sets of questions. The first set was related to questions that could provide us with information about the respondents' sociodemographic profiles. The second set included questions about the participants' perceptions regarding the effects of rewriting practices on their legal education. In order for a person to access the form, they had to read the informed consent form on the virtual page and provide their consent at a designated location on the form.

We received feedback from 36 students. For analysis purposes, we organized the feedback based on the frequency of predefined codes used in the dataset. Afterwards, we categorized the codes with the highest occurrences into profiles, activity descriptions, and the resulting learning outcomes from the rewriting activities. We aligned the content of these categories with two previously presented sets of literature: legal education in the country and the pedagogical impacts of feminist rewriting projects on judicial decisions. Direct quotes from the responses below are anonymized using assigned participant numbers.

3. Findings and discussion

a) Profile of respondents:

The data from the respondents suggest that the Brazilian rewriting projects, at this initial stage, predominantly involved the participation of students with the following profile: cisgender women, young, white, without disabilities, heterosexual, undergraduates, coming from public high schools, without children, single, residing in the Southeast region of the country, engaged in professional internships or some form of academic scholarship.

Among the questionnaire respondents, 75% identified as white, 2% as yellow, and 23% as black. Almost all of the respondents, 92% of them, are cisgender women, and 63% of the total are heterosexual. There are no respondents who have declared any type of disability. The majority are single (80%), without children (92%). Almost all (98%) are either currently studying or have graduated in law. Of the total, 53% reported pursuing an undergraduate degree, 25% a master's, and 22% a Ph.D. Half of the respondents are aged 26 or younger, with the youngest being 21 and the oldest being over 39. Of the total, 45% of the respondents completed all or most of their high school education in public schools. The majority have or had some form of scholarship (67%), with 8% receiving scholarships related to the rewriting project developed at their educational institution. Most of the respondents are involved in some form of professional internship or are already employed (84%). Regarding their state of origin, 63% are in the state of São Paulo, 14% in Rio de Janeiro, 9% in Roraima, and fractions of 3% in the Federal District, Pará, Paraíba, and Paraná.

b) Description of how the rewrite activities were performed

The answers we received helped us to describe how rewriting activities were developed by the network of teachers formed between 2021 and 2022. These experiences took place in at least three different academic contexts: a) undergraduate or postgraduate courses; b) research groups; and c) human rights clinics, supervised curricular internships, and university extension practices.

In the first scenario, rewriting activities were incorporated as a didactic resource in existing subjects within the academic curricula of the courses where the projects were developed and for which the participating professors were formally responsible. In some cases, these were subjects that already included content related to law and feminism in their program. However, many experiences involved significant modifications to the course plan to accommodate the proposal. Some of the subjects where the practices were implemented included criminal law, criminal procedure law, civil law, criminology, human rights laboratory, and procedural law.

In terms of teaching strategies, certain courses at the undergraduate or postgraduate level adopted a two-phase approach. The first theoretical-conceptual phase featured lectures and reading workshops designed to enhance students' comprehension of feminist legal theories and methods. The second phase centered on rewriting practices and involved selecting cases and approaches to be used. The classes were subsequently split into small groups, and each group completed a proposal. Another approach involved selecting a singular case for analysis by the entire group, with the quality of the resulting alternate decision used to evaluate the class's performance in the subject.

In several of the experiences, in addition to the teacher's evaluation, the rewrites were reviewed by others, who could have been professors, legal professionals, students from other classes, community leaders, and/or feminist activists. The following descriptions provide an account of the observed practices during rewriting exercises in a theoretical class:

It was an elective course in the master's program where we discussed (i) introductory texts that explained the feminist rewriting activity - what it involved, its contributions, challenges, and gains from concrete rewriting projects and related topics; (ii) the gender perspective judgment protocol from the CNJ - criticisms and suggestions; and (iii) a concrete example of feminist rewriting by a former student of the program. These discussions provided support for the final assessment activity of the course: a seed of feminist rewriting, which included (i) the decision to be rewritten; (ii) the problem identified in the original decision that motivated the rewriting; and (iii) the general argumentative line intended for the rewrite. Thus, the rewriting activity itself was carried out individually. Each student was free to choose the decision they would rewrite on their own. In the last class of the course, each one presented their proposal to the others, receiving critiques and suggestions to incorporate and improve their future rewrite. (Interviewee 14).

The rewriting activity was conducted during an elective course in the postgraduate Law program. The case chosen for rewriting was based on prior experiences at the Public Defender's Office of São Paulo. A case of police lethality, previously handled by one of us, was selected due to its flawed decision-making process, resulting in a negative impact on the mother's rights, and inadequate argumentation and legality. The structure of our rewriting endeavor initially involved studying the case and selecting arguments as a final project for a course. Upon completion of the course, we proceeded to further develop the case and compose a new decision for presentation at national and international conferences. Furthermore, we presented our ongoing work at the Gender Studies Center of the Faculty, refining our proposal, arguments, and the structure of the dissenting opinion through exchanges with fellow researchers. The decision's final draft was created by three coauthors using a shared document. Initially, we utilized texts that had been composed and presented at conferences. Next, we distributed the composition of the judicial decision's arguments, and finally, we performed a cross-review of the entire manuscript. Throughout the process, we held virtual meetups to exchange information, address uncertainties, and supervise the writing process. (Interviewee 11).

In the context of research group experiences, two main strategies were identified. The first was the selection of a decision in relation to the group's area of expertise or area of law. The second strategy was to base the decision on previous studies conducted by the group analyzing a decision or decisions with a similar profile. In both cases, the teams divided their work by carrying out preliminary literature reviews on task-related topics and scheduling frequent meetings to assign tasks and participate in discussions. Partial versions of the works were presented at academic conferences as a way to validate the results. There are also several situations where the studies around the group's rewriting had an impact on the research projects of undergraduate research fellows, master's, and doctoral students who were members of these groups.

We selected two decisions on the same theme related to social security law, as our study group (...) has expertise on this issue. We gathered to discuss the content of the decisions, debate why we chose this topic (an area of our expertise that likely wouldn't be the focus of other groups, and in this sense, we could make our unique contribution, addressing the invisibility of women in decisions on the chosen topic). We collectively structured how the text would be and divided into pairs or trios to write each part and for the revision. In the end, everyone read the entire document, and a review was conducted to ensure coherence and fluidity of the text." (Interviewee 05)

Initially, we only had the criterion that it had to be a decision in the area of criminal law. So each of the researchers did a wide-ranging search for controversial and stereotypical rulings in which women were at both ends of the spectrum. After discussing what we had found most interesting, we decided to rewrite a decision that dealt with an issue that interested all of us, which was drunkenness in the case of rape of a vulnerable person. The actual rewriting process only began after a series of meetings with assigned readings, in which we were able to delve into feminist research methodologies, which until then were quite new to me.After establishing the theoretical framework, we divided the tasks according to research topics. One to two researchers were assigned to each topic, and we focused on finding relevant materials, such as books, articles, and previous research, with a specific emphasis on the assigned topic. Finally, we commenced writing the paper, which necessitated several in-person meetings to refine the tone and unify the content for seamless cohesion. Accomplishing this was particularly challenging due to the multitude of authors involved. (Interviewee 29)

In the third case, experiences within the context of human rights clinics, supervised internships, or university extension programs, similar to those developed in research groups, the rewrites were created by students who already had some expertise in law and feminist topics or in the specific legal area to which the original case belonged. One of the rewrites was based on a case in which the group provided legal assistance to one of the parties. In this situation, the client was involved in some phases of the rewrite development:

The case under consideration involves a patient who sought assistance from the UFPA Violence Care Clinic. This case has been under observation since 2017, taking into account all legal and psychosocial implications. To rewrite the judgment, we consulted with everyone who had been involved in helping Pilar (fictitious name), identified the key materials for the rewritten judgment, and analyzed these materials from a psychological, social work, and legal perspective. Individuals involved in the psychosocial aspect emphasized the significance of soliciting input from both the mother and the children before the judge renders a decision. Those within the legal field expressed concerns regarding inadequate procedural safeguards and potential violations of the Constitution. Following this, I synthesized both perspectives to craft the article. (Interviewee 30).

What seems to have been common to all three groups was the collective nature of the choice of the decision to be rewritten, the strong commitment to reading texts related to feminist rewriting projects, and the in-depth theoretical study of law and feminisms.

c) Knowledge provided by the experience of rewriting

In terms of knowledge gained through participation in the rewriting projects, most of the respondents indicated exposure to feminist theories, which were previously unknown or poorly understood. Some of the most frequently mentioned theoretical approaches were intersectional theories and decolonial theories. Even when there was prior knowledge of feminist theories, participation in rewriting activities allowed the participants to delve more deeply into them and understand how they can be valuable contributions to the judicial decision-making process. Some more classical legal theories could also be discovered or explored more thoroughly, now through feminist lenses or with the purpose of feminist rewriting:

Well, before the project, I didn't think my knowledge of feminist theories was developed enough for the rewrite. After the course, I learned about feminist theories other than the so-called traditional ones. The one that most fascinated me was intersectional feminism (Interviewee 34).

In my case, since I already study (studied) gender, the theoretical input mainly contributed from a practical perspective, providing knowledge that can be applied. (Interviewee 31)

I'd never had any experience of academic research, let alone research that used feminist methodology, so all the works I came into contact with, and all the methodological content was new to me. (Interviewee 29).

I wouldn't say they were unknown. I would say there was a deeper dive into readings on intersectionality, especially Patricia Collins' work, as well as efforts, even abroad, to address the credibility deficit of victims, victim-blaming, and biases. (Interviewee 36)

At the time, we had to criticize the classic theory of civil liability in order to argue that affective abandonment was a wrongful act. Learning about this theory and its criticisms forced me to solidify my knowledge of civil liability. (Interviewee 1).

In addition to classroom practice, the activities have resulted in scientific articles, master's and doctoral theses, final papers, and monographs. Some of the experiences have been presented at scientific congresses. So it's possible to say that the rewriting experiences have allowed students to move constantly between different genres of writing, from procedural documents to academic texts.

Some of the respondents referred to a broadening of their critical awareness beyond theoretical learning:

Feminist rewriting is a powerful tool for raising awareness. It has the potential to show us how gender exists and makes a difference even in seemingly neutral cases. This learning goes beyond the work done within my group, as we were in contact with the rewriting work of the other groups. This networking was also very powerful because the project brought together researchers from all over the country, from different areas of law, with a common goal. (Interviewee 33).

I was introduced to feminist methodology, which revolutionized the way I interpret and study law, as well as other areas of knowledge and perceptions of reality. (Interviewee 16).

This feminist judgments project has provided me with valuable lessons, such as increasing my sensitivity and awareness of gender issues, inequality and discrimination. This involvement also leads me to a deeper understanding of the experiences and struggles of women and other gender minorities. In addition, by rewriting judgments from a feminist perspective, I understand the importance of a more inclusive and empowering language that recognizes and values the diversity of gender experiences and identities. The project is an opportunity to promote gender equality and contribute to the dissemination of fairer and more representative messages. (Interviewee 17).

The respondents noted a development in their technical legal knowledge, specifically regarding how to apply critical legal approaches in their professional practice. This allows for the identification of the silencing of subalternized groups and the usage of stereotypes about women that undermine their rights in case processes and judicial decisions.

1. That social discrimination against women directly affects both the way a process is conducted and its final outcome.

2. That there is still a lack of preparation on the part of the judiciary in relation to gender.

3. That a prepared judiciary can make a big difference in reinforcing or confronting the various forms of violence suffered by girls and women in this country. (Interviewee No. 31).

Another aspect mentioned involves improving skills for drafting legal documents using accessible language, conducting multidisciplinary studies, and collaborating on research in groups and networks. In the latter case, networking is seen not only as a technical skill, but also in a political dimension of problematizing the relationship between law and social transformation:

Among the many lessons I learned from taking part in the project, I believe the main one was teamwork. I've always preferred to work alone, and after we finished the rewrite I could see that the combination of efforts towards a common goal can bring a brilliant result that could never have been achieved individually. Of course, the realization only became even more explicit and took on another magnitude when I saw the final result of the project, summarized in the book. As I read each new chapter, I became more convinced that the most effective method for utilizing our endeavors in the feminist movement is through networking. (Interviewee 29).

In general, it made me think about the transformative potential of reformist initiatives like rewriting. While we can't just throw everything away and abandon the law, it provides a certain "comfort" to know that we have other paths of struggle. I believe that the exercise of imagining a new law based on what we already have today is very valuable. Making a revolution and imagining something not shared by the social imagination, something for which we don't have the vocabulary to access, is challenging. I see rewriting as an imaginative exercise that builds repertoire and brings us closer to that. (Interviewee 14).

During my participation in the project, I had the opportunity to work with women who were highly educated, Ph.D. holders, lawyers, who are engaged in the field of criminal law. All the knowledge I gained in their company will be taken into my professional life. Moreover, I had access to many brilliant academic texts written by female authors, which was excellent for my improvement. Finally, being able to reformulate an unjust judgment with a gender perspective in law is an unparalleled feeling, even though the reality has not yet changed. (Interviewee 26).

The project gave me access to a previously unknown pedagogical tool with the potential to transform narratives and the application of law in concrete cases. It also allowed researchers to exchange ideas and increased the network of contacts at the national level, which favors collective work. (Interviewee 10).

In a way, the experience of the rewrites promoted a critical understanding of the relationship between justice and society and the notion of judicial impartiality, helping participants to understand that technical knowledge of the law does not necessarily prevent the influence of subjective aspects on decision-making:

The project helps to show the existence of various narrative disputes within the law. In law school, we learn that the judge should be impartial and neutral, and the project helps to break this paradigm, showing that it is possible to have different judicial responses while following the same legal parameters but starting from different premises. The project also helps to give voice to perspectives that are often silenced and/or invisible in the law curriculum. (Interviewee 4).

d) Impact of the projects on legal courses

In addition to the questions about learning, we also asked about the impact the project had (or could have) on the course or institution where it was developed. The main didactic-pedagogical impact reported was the greater incorporation of feminist theories and gender and intersectional approaches into the curricula of legal courses:

I believe that the project has a positive impact on the educational institution, as it ensures that gender studies are incorporated into the regular curriculum, bringing little-known feminist authors and experiences into the debate. The project also involves students in a pedagogical research activity and enables them to produce articles and papers for publication. (Interviewee 10)

I believe that the project can significantly impact the law course by adopting a feminist approach to legal language, promoting gender equality in the legal system, raising awareness of gender issues and empowering women and minorities. The use of inclusive language can reflect a fairer and more equitable vision in legal decisions and processes, contributing to a more equal and representative environment in the practice of law. In addition, the project can inspire institutional change and influence the creation of policies that address gender discrimination and promote diversity and inclusion in the legal field. (Interviewee 17)

I can't assess that at the moment. I think it was a very specific activity that may not have a significant impact on the institution or the master's program. What I can see is that it plants a little seed for the rewriting project in Brazil. It puts us in contact with it, with you who are leading this initiative here, with our feminist networks. I think it will take a while for this to shake up university curricula and things like that. (Interviewee 14).

None of the respondents reported any kind of wider, institutional impact, and some of them were unable to identify any impact on the course caused by the project. The longest and most detailed answers were given to the question about personal learning from the experience.

Conclusions

In general, the analysis of the responses obtained confirms the results already reported by rewriting experiences in other countries. The proposal proved to be an effective didactic-pedagogical strategy for critical legal education, especially as it brought students and researchers closer to feminist literature as a result of a practical activity in a disciplinary context.

A fraction of what we have identified as possible to be rewritten is the result of the legal education provided until now. The Brazilian project "Feminist Judgments Project: The Brazilian Experience" is oriented toward an education committed to building a truly democratic society. Part of the work cannot be done solely by the Brazilian legal academy; it will need to be coordinated with social movements and various legal careers.

It is anticipated that these rewritings can continually provide us with new theoretical and methodological frameworks, new procedural routines, greater attention to the language we use (so that it is capable of facilitating communication with the whole of society). Judgments ought to acknowledge the diversity of our identities and lifestyles while avoiding the reproduction of hierarchies of oppression that disproportionally distribute power and violence.

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• 1
  T.N.University extension in Brazil, often referred to as "extensão universitária" in Portuguese, is a significant component of the Brazilian higher education system. It involves a variety of activities and programs offered by universities to engage with the community and apply academic knowledge to address real-world issues.
• 2
  According to data provided by the Ministry of Education's E-MEC platform, on October 8, 2023, there were 1919 law courses in the country, together offering 364,856 places. Of the total number of courses, 173 are free, offered by public educational institutions.
• 3
  One of the author's works in which it is possible to identify the dialogue she maintained with the works of Paulo Freire is "Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom" (2013).

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  15 Dec 2023
• Date of issue
  Oct-Dec 2023

History

• Received
  13 Oct 2023
• Accepted
  15 Oct 2023